WorldWideScience

Sample records for smeared quantum stress

  1. Quantum space and quantum completeness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurić, Tajron

    2018-05-01

    Motivated by the question whether quantum gravity can "smear out" the classical singularity we analyze a certain quantum space and its quantum-mechanical completeness. Classical singularity is understood as a geodesic incompleteness, while quantum completeness requires a unique unitary time evolution for test fields propagating on an underlying background. Here the crucial point is that quantum completeness renders the Hamiltonian (or spatial part of the wave operator) to be essentially self-adjoint in order to generate a unique time evolution. We examine a model of quantum space which consists of a noncommutative BTZ black hole probed by a test scalar field. We show that the quantum gravity (noncommutative) effect is to enlarge the domain of BTZ parameters for which the relevant wave operator is essentially self-adjoint. This means that the corresponding quantum space is quantum complete for a larger range of BTZ parameters rendering the conclusion that in the quantum space one observes the effect of "smearing out" the singularity.

  2. Quantum aspects of black objects in string theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hyakutake, Yoshifumi [College of Science, Ibaraki University,Bunkyo 2-1-1, Mito, Ibaraki 310-8512 (Japan)

    2017-01-17

    One of important directions in superstring theory is to reveal the quantum nature of black hole. In this paper we embed Schwarzschild black hole into superstring theory or M-theory, which we call a smeared black hole, and resolve quantum corrections to it. Furthermore we boost the smeared black hole along the 11th direction and construct a smeared quantum black 0-brane in 10 dimensions. Quantum aspects of the thermodynamic for these black objects are investigated in detail. We also discuss radiations of a string and a D0-brane from the smeared quantum black 0-brane.

  3. Entanglement between smeared field operators in the Klein-Gordon vacuum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zych, Magdalena; Costa, Fabio; Kofler, Johannes; Brukner, Caslav

    2010-01-01

    Quantum field theory is the application of quantum physics to fields. It provides a theoretical framework widely used in particle physics and condensed matter physics. One of the most distinct features of quantum physics with respect to classical physics is entanglement or the existence of strong correlations between subsystems that can even be spacelike separated. In quantum fields, observables restricted to a region of space define a subsystem. While there are proofs on the existence of local observables that would allow a violation of Bell's inequalities in the vacuum states of quantum fields as well as some explicit but technically demanding schemes requiring an extreme fine-tuning of the interaction between the fields and detectors, an experimentally accessible entanglement witness for quantum fields is still missing. Here we introduce smeared field operators which allow reducing the vacuum to a system of two effective bosonic modes. The introduction of such collective observables is motivated by the fact that no physical probe has access to fields in single spatial (mathematical) points but rather smeared over finite volumes. We first give explicit collective observables whose correlations reveal vacuum entanglement in the Klein-Gordon field. We then show that the critical distance between the two regions of space above which two effective bosonic modes become separable is of the order of the Compton wavelength of the particle corresponding to the massive Klein-Gordon field.

  4. Pap smear

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... AGUS - Pap; Atypical squamous cells - Pap; HPV - Pap; Human papilloma virus - Pap cervix - Pap; Colposcopy - Pap Images Female reproductive anatomy Pap smear Uterus Pap smear Cervical erosion References ...

  5. Blood smear

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... smear URL of this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003665.htm Blood smear To use the sharing features on this ... view of cellular parasites Malaria, photomicrograph of cellular parasites Red blood cells, sickle cells Red blood cells, sickle and ...

  6. Conformational Smear Characterization and Binning of Single-Molecule Conductance Measurements for Enhanced Molecular Recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korshoj, Lee E; Afsari, Sepideh; Chatterjee, Anushree; Nagpal, Prashant

    2017-11-01

    Electronic conduction or charge transport through single molecules depends primarily on molecular structure and anchoring groups and forms the basis for a wide range of studies from molecular electronics to DNA sequencing. Several high-throughput nanoelectronic methods such as mechanical break junctions, nanopores, conductive atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling break junctions, and static nanoscale electrodes are often used for measuring single-molecule conductance. In these measurements, "smearing" due to conformational changes and other entropic factors leads to large variances in the observed molecular conductance, especially in individual measurements. Here, we show a method for characterizing smear in single-molecule conductance measurements and demonstrate how binning measurements according to smear can significantly enhance the use of individual conductance measurements for molecular recognition. Using quantum point contact measurements on single nucleotides within DNA macromolecules, we demonstrate that the distance over which molecular junctions are maintained is a measure of smear, and the resulting variance in unbiased single measurements depends on this smear parameter. Our ability to identify individual DNA nucleotides at 20× coverage increases from 81.3% accuracy without smear analysis to 93.9% with smear characterization and binning (SCRIB). Furthermore, merely 7 conductance measurements (7× coverage) are needed to achieve 97.8% accuracy for DNA nucleotide recognition when only low molecular smear measurements are used, which represents a significant improvement over contemporary sequencing methods. These results have important implications in a broad range of molecular electronics applications from designing robust molecular switches to nanoelectronic DNA sequencing.

  7. Quantum horizon fluctuations of an evaporating black hole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roura, Albert

    2007-01-01

    The quantum fluctuations of a black hole spacetime are studied within a low-energy effective field theory approach to quantum gravity. Our approach accounts for both intrinsic metric fluctuations and those induced by matter fields interacting with the gravitational field. Here we will concentrate on spherically symmetric fluctuations of the black hole horizon. Our results suggest that for a sufficiently massive evaporating black hole, fluctuations can accumulate over time and become significant well before reaching Planckian scales. In addition, we provide the sketch of a proof that the symmetrized two-point function of the stress-tensor operator smeared over a null hypersurface is actually divergent and discuss the implications for the analysis of horizon fluctuations. Finally, a natural way to probe quantum metric fluctuations near the horizon is briefly described

  8. Removal factor determination of some local smear papers for surface contamination smear test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suratman; Indriyotomo, D.; Aminjoyo, S.

    1996-01-01

    Removal factor determination of some local smear papers has been done, using dry smear test method. The aim of this research is to find removal values of local smear papers on some surfaces, to replace import smear papers. Smear test was done on the various surfaces i.e.: porcelain, formica, glass, stainless steel, steel and PVC, with the local smear papers I.e.: Padalarang, Diagonal, Concorde, Marga, Hard Cloth, and import smear paper. The artificial contaminant which used were I-131 and P-32. The removal factor values of Padalarang paper for surfaces: porcelain, formica, glass stainless steel, steel and PVC were: 24.5%, 20.0%, 27.0%, 6.8%, 4.9%, and 13.6% respectively. The removal factor values of Diagonal paper were:18.4%, 15.9%, 5.7%, 3.5%, and 9.1% respectively. The removal factor values of concord paper were: 18.5%, 20.3%, 23.1%, 6.6%, 3.8%, and 9.0% respectively. The removal factor values of Marga paper were: 16.7%, 13.5%, 21.1%, 4.2%, 4.1% and 8.1% respectively. The removal factor values of Hard Cloth were: 18.6%, 12.6%, 20.5%, 8.2%, and 10.1% respectively. The removal factor values of import smear paper were: 17.8%, 15.0%, 18.8%, 9.1%, 4.8%, and 14.4% respectively . Substitution alternative of import smear paper is Padalarang. (author)

  9. Perceptions and concerns of women undergoing Pap smear examination in a tertiary care hospital of India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiwari, A; Kishore, J; Tiwari, A

    2011-01-01

    Cervical cancer is one of the major causes of deaths due to cancer among women in India. Pap smear is one of the best methods to detect early changes in cervix. However, there is lack of data on awareness level of women about Pap smear and various risk factors for cervical cancer. To study the awareness about various risk factors for cervical cancer, health-seeking behavior and hygienic practices among women and to assess the distress experienced by these women before the Pap smear examination. This cross-sectional study was carried out on women coming for a Pap smear examination in a tertiary teaching hospital in New Delhi. A pretested interview schedule was used to get information after obtaining their informed consent. Fifty-seven percent stated that they did not consult a doctor when they noticed the symptoms the first time. Sixty-one percent did not know what a cervical cancer is and a same percentage of women did not know what a Pap smear examination was. Older age group, Muslim and literate women had higher number of abnormal Pap smear results. Women who reported being stressed in their lives had higher number of abnormal smears as compared to women who claimed to lead a stress free life. Poor hygienic practices among these women from urban areas were also associated with abnormal Pap smear results. The study concluded that factors such as poor awareness, shyness, poor hygiene, and old age could be responsible for abnormal Pap smears and this needs special attention in cancer prevention activities of the government.

  10. Sputum smear examination and time to diagnosis in patients with smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in the Pacific.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viney, K; Bissell, K; Tabutoa, K; Kienene, T; Linh, N N; Briand, K; Harries, A D

    2012-12-21

    National tuberculosis programmes (NTPs) in Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, 2006-2010. To determine the proportion of all tuberculosis (TB) cases that were pulmonary smear-negative, and for these patients to determine how many sputum smears were examined and the time from sputum smear examination to registration. A retrospective cross-sectional study involving a record review of national TB and laboratory registers. Of 2420 TB cases identified, 709 (29%) were registered as smear-negative pulmonary TB. Of the 695 (98%) with information on smear examination, 222 (32%) had no smear recorded, 61 (9%) had one smear, 86 (12%) two smears and 326 (47%) three smears. Among the 473 patients who had at least one smear, 238 (50%) were registered before sputum examination, 131 (28%) within 1 week, 72 (15%) between 1 and 4 weeks, and 34 (7%) >4 weeks after sputum examination. NTPs in Kiribati and the Marshall Islands are diagnosing 29% of all TB patients as smear-negative pulmonary TB. Many patients do not have smears done or are registered before undergoing smear examination. Corrective measures are needed.

  11. Comparison of Chest X-Ray Findings of Smear Positive and Smear Negative Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebrahimzadeh, Azadeh; Mohammadifard, Mahyar; Naseh, Godratallah

    2014-01-01

    Tuberculosis is a chronic pulmonary infectious disease that has affected one-third of the people in the world. It causes nine million new cases and two million deaths per year. Chest radiography associated with Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining procedure significantly helps the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Chest radiography can help the diagnosis of tuberculosis in patients with a negative smear sample result that is mainly diagnosed with delay. In this study, chest X-ray findings of PTB were compared in two groups of smear positive and smear negative patients. In this retrospective descriptive-analytical study, 376 patients who had been confirmed with PTB were referred to Birjand Health Care Center from 2001 to 2006. Out of the 376 patients, 100 patients with a positive smear based on WHO criteria were selected. In addition, among negative smear patients, 100 were selected in whom similar demographic characteristics with positive smear patients were seen. All of them had undergone chest radiographies that were then interpreted by two expert radiologists independently. Moreover, all patients’ sputa were examined by an expert laboratory technician at the reference laboratory of the health center. The obtained data were analyzed by means of frequency distribution table and descriptive statistics using SPSS (version 15) and Chi-square statistical test. Except reticulo-nodular infiltration, the relative frequency of other radiographic findings in positive smear patients were more than negative smear patients; and only differences in calcification variables, mediastinal widening, patchy infiltration and hilar adenopathy were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Based on the results of this study, although radiographic findings are not diagnostic in PTB, they are helpful if the assessment associates with the view of clinical manifestations and sputum smears

  12. UV Suppression by Smearing and Screening Correlators

    OpenAIRE

    Gupta, Sourendu; Karthik, Nikhil

    2013-01-01

    We investigate the mechanism of smearing in the APE, Stout, HYP and HEX schemes through their effect on glue and quark Fourier modes. Using this, we non-perturbatively tune the smearing parameters to their optimum values. Smearing causes a super-linear improvement in taste symmetry breaking in the high temperature phase of QCD. We use optimal smearing in the high temperature phase and find close agreement of meson screening masses with weak coupling predictions.

  13. CSF smear

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003768.htm CSF smear To use the sharing features on this ... around the spinal cord and brain. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protects the brain and spinal cord from injury. ...

  14. Smear grading and the Mantoux skin test can be used to predict sputum smear conversion in patients suffering from tuberculosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saffari, Mahmood

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Smear scores and induration sizes resulting from the PPD (tuberculin purified protein derivative test can serve as indicators of whether a patient suffering from tuberculosis shows smear conversion or not. Methods: Using microbiological methods smear and sputum tests, patients diagnosed as infected with between 2002 and 2015 were included in this study. All of the assumed factors that may have a role in smear conversion were studied, in addition to the prolongation of tuberculosis. Results: 398 of 512 patients fulfilled all the inclusion criteria and formed the basis of this study. 215 patients (54% were females and 183 (46% were males. The median age for both men and women was 36 years. We found a statistically significant difference between the size of induration resulting from the PPD skin test and the rate of non-conversion (=0.002. Further univariate analysis also showed that smear grading and an induration size of ≥10 mm were independently associated with delayed smear conversion. Patients with cavitary lesions showed a higher rate of non-conversion after two months, which was not significant. We could not find any association between some of the variables, such as age, sex, weight, smoking, alcoholism, addictions, respiratory diseases, diabetes mellitus, alternative anti-TB treatment, and smear conversion. Conclusion: Intensified treatment and precautions against transmission should be especially considered for TB patients with high smear grading and an induration size of more than 10 mm.

  15. Stress-directed compositional patterning of SiGe substrates for lateral quantum barrier manipulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghosh, Swapnadip; Kaiser, Daniel; Sinno, Talid; Bonilla, Jose; Han, Sang M.

    2015-01-01

    While vertical stacking of quantum well and dot structures is well established in heteroepitaxial semiconductor materials, manipulation of quantum barriers in the lateral directions poses a significant engineering challenge. Here, we demonstrate lateral quantum barrier manipulation in a crystalline SiGe alloy using structured mechanical fields to drive compositional redistribution. To apply stress, we make use of a nano-indenter array that is pressed against a Si 0.8 Ge 0.2 wafer in a custom-made mechanical press. The entire assembly is then annealed at high temperatures, during which the larger Ge atoms are selectively driven away from areas of compressive stress. Compositional analysis of the SiGe substrates reveals that this approach leads to a transfer of the indenter array pattern to the near-surface elemental composition, resulting in near 100% Si regions underneath each indenter that are separated from each other by the surrounding Si 0.8 Ge 0.2 bulk. The “stress transfer” process is studied in detail using multiscale computer simulations that demonstrate its robustness across a wide range of applied stresses and annealing temperatures. While the “Si nanodot” structures formed here are not intrinsically useful as quantum structures, it is anticipated that the stress transfer process may be modified by judicious control of the SiGe film thickness and indenter array pattern to form more technologically useful structures

  16. Thick Smear is a Good Substitute for the Thin Smear in Parasitological Confirmation of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Mello, Cintia Xavier; Figueiredo, Fabiano Borges; Mendes Júnior, Artur Augusto Velho; Miranda, Luciana de Freitas Campos; de Oliveira, Raquel de Vasconcellos Carvalhaes; Madeira, Maria de Fátima

    2016-07-06

    Although direct examination methods are important for diagnosing leishmaniasis, such methods are often neglected because of their low sensitivity relative to other techniques. Our study aimed to evaluate the performance of bone marrow (BM) thick smears and cytocentrifugation tests as alternatives to direct examination for diagnosing canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). Ninety-two dogs exhibiting leishmaniasis seroreactivity were evaluated. The animals were euthanized; and healthy skin, spleen, popliteal lymph node, and BM puncture samples were cultured. BM cultures were used as the reference standard. Of the 92 dogs studied, 85.9% exhibited positive cultures, and Leishmania infantum (synonym Leishmania chagasi) was confirmed in all positive culture cases. The sensitivity rates for cytocentrifugation as well as thin and thick smears were 47.1%, 52.8%, and 77%, respectively. However, no association between the dogs' clinical status and culture or direct examination results was found. To our knowledge, this was the first study to use thick smears and cytocentrifugation for diagnosing CVL. Our results indicate that BM thick smears have a good sensitivity and their use reduces the time required to read slides. Therefore, thick smears can provide a rapid and safe alternative to parasitological confirmation of seroreactive dogs. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

  17. Raising Awareness About Cervical Cancer Using Twitter: Content Analysis of the 2015 #SmearForSmear Campaign.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenoir, Philippe; Moulahi, Bilel; Azé, Jérôme; Bringay, Sandra; Mercier, Gregoire; Carbonnel, François

    2017-10-16

    Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women under 45 years of age. To deal with the decrease of smear test coverage in the United Kingdom, a Twitter campaign called #SmearForSmear has been launched in 2015 for the European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week. Its aim was to encourage women to take a selfie showing their lipstick going over the edge and post it on Twitter with a raising awareness message promoting cervical cancer screening. The estimated audience was 500 million people. Other public health campaigns have been launched on social media such as Movember to encourage participation and self-engagement. Their result was unsatisfactory as their aim had been diluted to become mainly a social buzz. The objectives of this study were to identify the tweets delivering a raising awareness message promoting cervical cancer screening (sensitizing tweets) and to understand the characteristics of Twitter users posting about this campaign. We conducted a 3-step content analysis of the English tweets tagged #SmearForSmear posted on Twitter for the 2015 European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week. Data were collected using the Twitter application programming interface. Their extraction was based on an analysis grid generated by 2 independent researchers using a thematic analysis, validated by a strong Cohen kappa coefficient. A total of 7 themes were coded for sensitizing tweets and 14 for Twitter users' status. Verbatims were thematically and then statistically analyzed. A total of 3019 tweets were collected and 1881 were analyzed. Moreover, 69.96% of tweets had been posted by people living in the United Kingdom. A total of 57.36% of users were women, and sex was unknown in 35.99% of cases. In addition, 54.44% of the users had posted at least one selfie with smeared lipstick. Furthermore, 32.32% of tweets were sensitizing. Independent factors associated with posting sensitizing tweets were women who experienced an abnormal smear test (OR [odds ratio] 13

  18. Thermodynamical inequivalence of quantum stress-energy and spin tensors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becattini, F.; Tinti, L.

    2011-01-01

    It is shown that different couples of stress-energy and spin tensors of quantum-relativistic fields, which would be otherwise equivalent, are in fact inequivalent if the second law of thermodynamics is taken into account. The proof of the inequivalence is based on the analysis of a macroscopic system at full thermodynamical equilibrium with a macroscopic total angular momentum and a specific instance is given for the free Dirac field, for which we show that the canonical and Belinfante stress-energy tensors are not equivalent. For this particular case, we show that the difference between the predicted angular momentum densities for a rotating system at full thermodynamical equilibrium is a quantum effect, persisting in the nonrelativistic limit, corresponding to a polarization of particles of the order of (ℎ/2π)ω/KT (ω being the angular velocity) and could in principle be measured experimentally. This result implies that specific stress-energy and spin tensors are physically meaningful even in the absence of gravitational coupling and raises the issue of finding the thermodynamically right (or the right class of) tensors. We argue that the maximization of the thermodynamic potential theoretically allows us to discriminate between two different couples, yet for the present we are unable to provide a theoretical method to single out the best couple of tensors in a given quantum field theory. The existence of a nonvanishing spin tensor would have major consequences in hydrodynamics, gravity and cosmology.

  19. Analysis of threshold current of uniaxially tensile stressed bulk Ge and Ge/SiGe quantum well lasers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jialin; Sun, Junqiang; Gao, Jianfeng; Zhang, Ruiwen

    2017-10-30

    We propose and design uniaxially tensile stressed bulk Ge and Ge/SiGe quantum well lasers with the stress along direction. The micro-bridge structure is adapted for introducing uniaxial stress in Ge/SiGe quantum well. To enhance the fabrication tolerance, full-etched circular gratings with high reflectivity bandwidths of ~500 nm are deployed in laser cavities. We compare and analyze the density of state, the number of states between Γ- and L-points, the carrier injection efficiency, and the threshold current density for the uniaxially tensile stressed bulk Ge and Ge/SiGe quantum well lasers. Simulation results show that the threshold current density of the Ge/SiGe quantum well laser is much higher than that of the bulk Ge laser, even combined with high uniaxial tensile stress owing to the larger number of states between Γ- and L- points and extremely low carrier injection efficiency. Electrical transport simulation reveals that the reduced effective mass of the hole and the small conduction band offset cause the low carrier injection efficiency of the Ge/SiGe quantum well laser. Our theoretical results imply that unlike III-V material, uniaxially tensile stressed bulk Ge outperforms a Ge/SiGe quantum well with the same strain level and is a promising approach for Si-compatible light sources.

  20. Effects of interfering constituents on tritium smears

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levi, G.D. Jr.; Cheeks, K.E.

    1993-01-01

    Tritium smears are performed by Health Protection Operations (HPO) to assess transferable contamination on work place surfaces, materials for movement outside Radiologically Controlled Areas (RCA), and product containers being shipped between facilities. Historically, gas proportional counters were used to detect transferable tritium contamination collected by smearing. Because tritium is a low-energy beta emitter, gas proportional counters do not provide the sensitivity or the counting efficiency to accurately measure the tritium activity on the smear. Liquid Scintillation Counters (LSC) provide greater counting efficiency for the low-energy beta particles along with greater reliability and reproducibility compared to gas flow proportional counters. The purpose of this technical evaluation was to determine the effects of interfering constituents such as filters, dirt and oil on the counting efficiency and tritium recoveries of tritium smears by LSC

  1. Analysis of cervical smears in a Muslim population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wasti, Shahnaz; Ahmed, Waleed; Jafri, Abbas; Khan, Behram; Sohail, Rizwan; Hassan, Sheema

    2004-01-01

    Screening for the cancer of the cervix remains a neglected health care issue in Pakistan. To provide baseline data for future efforts to improve screening, we conducted a retrospective analysis of cervical smears taken in the obstetrics and gynaecological clinics of the Agha Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. We collected data on cervical smear cytology for cervical smears taken from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1996. We assessed risk factors for dysplasia, including age, age at first marriage, and number of pregnancies. The overall prevalence of abnormal smears in our study was 0.5%. Of 20,995 cervical smears, showed non-specific inflammation, 7302 (34.8%) were reported as normal, 809 (3.85%) showed monillial infection, 148 (0.71%) showed atypia, 105 (0.5%) had dyplastic cytology and 52 (0.25%) samples were inadequate. The highest incidence of dysplastic smears was seen in the age group 35 to 44 years. Of 105 patients with dysplasia 12 were pregnant, and all were asymptomatic. The low prevalence of abnormal smears, compared with the data from Western populations, could be due to the internet bias of health awareness in the women who attended our hospital. The results of this study may serve as baseline for for future comparisons. A large community-based study may establish the exact prevalence of malignant and premalignant lesions so as to plan for future screening. (author)

  2. An audit of a cervical smear screening programme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moodie, P J; Kljakovic, M; McLeod, D K

    1989-07-26

    An audit of a computer based screening and recall programme in a Wellington group general practice is reported (practice population 13,866). The records of all women aged between 20 and 59 years (4133 women) were checked to determine if they had had a cervical smear test in the previous two years. A random sample of women who had a cervical smear result recorded in the notes (107 women called "responders") showed that 71% gave "familiarity with the family doctor" and "acting in response to a recall letter" as reasons for choosing the place of their last smear. Satisfaction with the service was indicated by 95% of these women stating they would have their next smear at the medical centre. In the audit of all the records, a group of 667 women who had been sent a letter inviting them to have a smear done and who had apparently declined the procedure was identified (called "nonresponders"). A random sample of this group (168 women) was taken and an attempt made to interview them. In fact only 38 women could be identified as requiring a smear and even if those who refused to be interviewed (13) and those unable to be contacted (23) are added, then less than half of this sample were "true nonresponders". This suggests that the percentage of women in the practice who have been offered a smear and have refused to have one is less than 8%.

  3. Entirely saturated unilateral smear of laser spot in CCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Zhen; Zhou Menglian; Zhang Jianmin; Lin Xinwei

    2013-01-01

    In the video of linear CCD camera being irradiated by 532 nm CW laser, the entirely saturated unilateral smear of laser spot was found. The smear area does not represent the distribution of laser. Since this smear lies merely in one side of laser spot, it can not be induced by light leaking or carriers blooming, and it may be induced by charge transfer loss. However, the feature that the smear area is entirely saturated can not be explained by the current constant model of charge transfer inefficiency. Based on the inner structure and operating principle of buried channel CCD, a new model of charge transfer inefficiency that varies with charge quantity is proposed, which can explain the entirely saturated unilateral smear of laser spot. (authors)

  4. Hydrostatic stress dependence of the exciton-phonon coupled states in cylindrical quantum dots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El Moussaouy, A.; Bria, D.; Nougaoui, A.

    2005-01-01

    We investigate theoretically the effects of compressive stress on the binding energy of an exciton in a cylindrical quantum dot (QD) using a variational procedure within the effective mass approximation. The stress was applied in the z direction and the interaction between the charge carriers (electron and hole) and confined longitudinal optical (LO) phonon modes was taken into account. Specific applications of these results are given for GaAs QDs embedded in a Ga 1-x Al x As semiconductor. The result shows that the binding energy and the polaronic correction increases linearly with increasing stress. Moreover, we obtain the binding energy and the polaronic contribution in the limit in which the QD turns into a quantum well

  5. Sputum smear microscopy at two months into continuation-phase: should it be done in all patients with sputum smear-positive tuberculosis?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohit Padamchand Gandhi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP of India recommends follow-up sputum smear examination at two months into the continuation phase of treatment. The main intent of this (mid-CP follow-up is to detect patients not responding to treatment around two-three months earlier than at the end of the treatment. However, the utility of mid-CP follow-up under programmatic conditions has been questioned. We undertook a multi-district study to determine if mid-CP follow-up is able to detect cases of treatment failures early among all types of patients with sputum smear-positive TB. METHODOLOGY: We reviewed existing records of patients with sputum smear-positive TB registered under the RNTCP in 43 districts across three states of India during a three month period in 2009. We estimated proportions of patients that could be detected as a case of treatment failure early, and assessed the impact of various policy options on laboratory workload and number needed to test to detect one case of treatment failure early. RESULTS: Of 10055 cases, mid-CP follow-up was done in 6944 (69% cases. Mid-CP follow-up could benefit 117/8015 (1.5% new and 206/2040 (10% previously-treated sputum smear-positive cases by detecting their treatment failure early. Under the current policy, 31 patients had to be tested to detect one case of treatment failure early. All cases of treatment failure would still be detected early if mid-CP follow-up were discontinued for new sputum smear-positive cases who become sputum smear-negative after the intensive-phase of treatment. This would reduce the related laboratory workload by 69% and only 10 patients would need to be tested to detect one case of treatment failure early. CONCLUSION: Discontinuation of mid-CP follow-up among new sputum smear-positive cases who become sputum smear-negative after completing the intensive-phase of treatment will reduce the laboratory workload without impacting overall early

  6. Low sputum smear positive tuberculosis among pulmonary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Low sputum smear positive tuberculosis among pulmonary tuberculosis suspects in a tertiary hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania. ... The risk factors among smear positive TB patients were co-illness (32.5%), previous history of TB (7.5%) and history of positive TB contact (4.7%). These findings also show that as CD4+ T Cells ...

  7. Smeared quantum lattices exhibiting PT -symmetry with positive P

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Znojil, Miloslav; Geyer, H.B.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 61, 2-3 (2013), s. 111-123 ISSN 0015-8208 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP203/11/1433 Institutional support: RVO:61389005 Keywords : cryptohermiticity * quantum lattices * unphysical and physical inner products Subject RIV: BE - Theoretical Physics OBOR OECD: Atomic, molecular and chemical physics (physics of atoms and molecules including collision, interaction with radiation, magnetic resonances, Mössbauer effect) Impact factor: 1.233, year: 2013

  8. Knowledge of cervical cancer, attitude and husband’s support of Pap smear among multiparous women which have Pap’s smear examination in Aviati clinic Padang Bulan Medan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feriyawati, L.; Anggraini, D. R.; Fitrie, A. A.; Anggreini, R. N.

    2018-03-01

    Cervical cancer is a serious health problem and stated as the second cause of death of woman worldwide. Several studies have noted a higher incidence of cervical cancer with increasing parity. Early detection with Pap smear is proven to reduce mortality of patients. Knowledge, attitude and husband’s support contributed to theled womanto follow Pap smear examination. This study explores the knowledge of cervical cancer, attitude and husband’ s support of Pap smearin multiparous women that have Pap smear examination. This research is a quantitative study with cross sectional approach recruited 50 respondents as multiparous women that have Pap smear examination inAviati Clinic, Padang Bulan, Medan. The data were collected by self-reports using structured objectives by questionnaires. The result of this study showed that 66% respondents have high knowledge of cervical cancer and 76% respondents have ahigh attitude of Pap smear, but they almost have low husband’s support of Pap smear including information support (62%), emotional support (46%) and real support (50%). This study has revealed that multiparous women that had Pap smear examination generally had high knowledge about cervical cancer and positive attitude about Pap smear, even most of them had low husband’s support.

  9. Extraction and detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA from ZNCF-stained skin smear slides for better identification of negative skin smears

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kamble R

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Identification of Mycobacterium leprae, which causes leprosy, is done by Ziehl Neelsen Carbol Fuchsin (ZNCF stained slit skin smear microscopy that aids in the diagnosis and quantification of approximate bacterial load carried by the patient. We attempted M. leprae DNA extraction from 46 stained slit skin smear negative slides, using Proteinase K and SDS lysis, followed by ethanol precipitation. M. leprae specific primers (16SrRNA were used for PCR-based amplification of DNA. We could detect M. leprae DNA in 15 (32.6% samples. The method can be useful in the diagnosis of apparently slit skin smear negative leprosy cases.

  10. Bandgap tuning with thermal residual stresses induced in a quantum dot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Eui-Hyun; Joo, Soo-Hyun; Park, Hyun-Jin; Song, Seungwoo; Chang, Yong-June; Kim, Hyoung Seop; Jang, Hyun Myung

    2014-09-24

    Lattice distortion induced by residual stresses can alter electronic and mechanical properties of materials significantly. Herein, a novel way of the bandgap tuning in a quantum dot (QD) by lattice distortion is presented using 4-nm-sized CdS QDs grown on a TiO2 particle as an application example. The bandgap tuning (from 2.74 eV to 2.49 eV) of a CdS QD is achieved by suitably adjusting the degree of lattice distortion in a QD via the tensile residual stresses which arise from the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between CdS and TiO2. The idea of bandgap tuning is then applied to QD-sensitized solar cells, achieving ≈60% increase in the power conversion efficiency by controlling the degree of thermal residual stress. Since the present methodology is not limited to a specific QD system, it will potentially pave a way to unexplored quantum effects in various QD-based applications. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  11. Prevalence of Abnormal Cervical Smears from Sporadic Screening ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The aim of the study was to find the prevalence of abnormal smears in an unscreened population of sexually active women attending a gynaecological clinic. “Pap” smears were taken sporadically for cytological examination from sexually active women attending gynaecological clinics at the Federal Medical Centre Gombe.

  12. PAPNET-assisted primary screening of conventional cervical smears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cenci, M; Nagar, C; Vecchione, A

    2000-01-01

    The PAPNET System is the only device with a neural-network-based-artificial intelligence to detect and show the images of abnormal cells on the monitor to be evaluated in an interactive way. We effectively used the PAPNET in rescreening of conventional cervical smears and we detected its advantages and its disadvantages. In this paper, we report our results from PAPNET-assisted primary screening performed on 20,154 conventional smears. The smears were classified as Negative or as Review. The Negative cases were rapidly rescreened mainly near the coverslip edges, which are the slide areas not analyzed by automated devices because of focusing problems. The Review cases were fully reanalyzed by the optic microscope. In summary, 140 positive smears were detected: 57 cases showed changes due to HPV, 63 LSIL, 15 HSIL, and 5 carcinomas. Therefore, the PAPNET System was confirmed as useful in primary screening of conventional cervical samples as well as rescreening.

  13. Plastic spatula with narrow long tip provides higher satisfactory smears for Pap test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Pervinder; Kushtagi, Pralhad

    2013-07-01

    Ayre spatula for cervical smear collection is being used despite the suggestion that different modified spatulas provide more satisfactory sampling. To see whether the cytological pickup improves with the use of long tipped spatula. Rurally based University Hospital; crossover study. Pap smear using Ayre spatula in 500 and with plastic narrow long tip (Szalay) spatula in 500 clinic attending women was taken and analyzed. Crossover smears were taken with modified spatula in 163 and using Ayre spatula in 187 women after 2 weeks of initial smears. The same pathologist made cytological reporting for all smears and was unaware of the type of spatula used. Smears from Ayre spatula had significantly higher reports of inadequate smears (94 of 500 vs. 68 of 500 for Ayre and Szalay, respectively; P = 0.032) and it remained so even after crossover (94 of 187 vs. 70 of 163 for Ayre and Szalay, respectively; P = 0.2). Cellular quality appeared better with smears taken using Szalay spatula, but the overall abnormal smear detection rate remained similar with either collection tool (χ(2) = 1.5; P = 0.2). Proportion of satisfactory smears is higher when long tip plastic spatula is used for collection of sample.

  14. [Adhesion of sealer cements to dentin with and without smear layer].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gettleman, B H; Messer, H H; ElDeeb, M E

    1991-01-01

    The influence of a smear layer on the adhesion of sealer cements to dentin was assessed in recently extracted human anterior teeth. A total of 120 samples was tested, 40 per sealer; 20 each with and without the smear layer. The teeth were split longitudinally, and the internal surfaces were ground flat. One-half of each tooth was left with the smear layer intact, while the other half had the smear removed by washing for 3 min with 17% EDTA followed by 5.25% NaOCI. Evidence of the ability to remove the smear layer was verified by scanning electron microscopy. Using a specially designed jig, the sealer was placed into a 4-mm wide x 4 mm deep well which was then set onto the tooth.

  15. Actinomyces-like organisms in the cervical smears of IUCD users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farida Jamal; Mohd Salleh Mohd Yasin; Zooraidah Zainal; Hamid Arshat

    1983-01-01

    Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a well-documented complication of IUD use. The presence of tails on the IUDs appears to facilitate ascent of bacteria from the vagina into the uterus. In this study, cervical smears of 128 IUD users were stained by Gram's stain and screened for the presence of Actinomyces-like organisms. 5.5% of the smears were positive for these organisms. Pus was seen in 20.1% of the smears, and yeast cells were seen in 10.2%. The average duration of IUD insertion was 8 months. Smears of 103 controls were negative for Actinomyces-like organisms, pus cells were present in 8.7%, and yeast cells in 4.8%. Of the 7 smears positive for the organisms, only 1 was from the user of a plastic device. All cases included were asymptomatic and were visiting the clinic for routine follow-up. These data suggest that colonization by Actinomyces-like organisms does not appear to be a significant problem in IUD users in Malaysia.

  16. Plastic spatula with narrow long tip provides higher satisfactory smears for Pap test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pervinder Kaur

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Ayre spatula for cervical smear collection is being used despite the suggestion that different modified spatulas provide more satisfactory sampling. Aims: To see whether the cytological pickup improves with the use of long tipped spatula. Setting and Design: Rurally based University Hospital; crossover study. Materials and Methods: Pap smear using Ayre spatula in 500 and with plastic narrow long tip (Szalay spatula in 500 clinic attending women was taken and analyzed. Crossover smears were taken with modified spatula in 163 and using Ayre spatula in 187 women after 2 weeks of initial smears. The same pathologist made cytological reporting for all smears and was unaware of the type of spatula used. Results: Smears from Ayre spatula had significantly higher reports of inadequate smears (94 of 500 vs. 68 of 500 for Ayre and Szalay, respectively; P = 0.032 and it remained so even after crossover (94 of 187 vs. 70 of 163 for Ayre and Szalay, respectively; P = 0.2. Cellular quality appeared better with smears taken using Szalay spatula, but the overall abnormal smear detection rate remained similar with either collection tool (χ2 = 1.5; P = 0.2. Conclusions: Proportion of satisfactory smears is higher when long tip plastic spatula is used for collection of sample.

  17. Prevalence of abnormal Pap smears in a consecutive and previously unscreened population in Romania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stolnicu, Simona; Musca, Simona; Micu, Dorian; Micu, Luminita; Moldovan, Cosmin; Puscasiu, Lucian

    2014-02-01

    To determine the prevalence of abnormal cervical smears in a previously unscreened and asymptomatic population in Romania and to compare the data with those from other countries in Europe. In a retrospective study, data were reviewed from smears obtained from women in Romania who had been referred to the gynecologist between January 2006 and December 2011. The smears were collected through 3 regional opportunistic programs of cervical screening and were classified according to the Bethesda system. During the study period, 50536 smear tests were carried out. Of these, 100 smears (0.2%) were unsatisfactory and excluded from the study. Among the remaining 50436 smears, 2965 patients (5.9%) had abnormal epithelial changes. Most of the abnormal smears were represented by atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (2.6% of all smears). The data confirmed that there is a high prevalence of high-grade intraepithelial squamous-type lesions (0.9% of all smears) in Romania, and of abnormal smears in women younger than 25years of age (14.0% of all abnormal smears). The data show that there is a high prevalence of epithelial abnormalities among cervical smears in Romania compared with other European countries that run a national screening program. © 2013.

  18. Incremental yield of bronchial washing for diagnosing smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alonso Soto

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To assess the increased diagnostic yield for pulmonary tuberculosis using bronchial washing cultures compared with sputum cultures. METHODS Study conducted with 61 adults in Lima, Peru, from January 2006 to December 2007. The yield of sputum cultures was compared with the yield of acid-fast bacilli smears and cultures of bronchial washing for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis in suspected cases of clinical tuberculosis with negative acid fast bacilli sputum smears. RESULTS Twenty seven (95%CI 32;58 of the cases were eventually diagnosed with smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis. Bronchial washing samples detected 23 (95%CI 72;99 of the smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis cases compared with 15 (95%CI 37;74 for sputum cultures (p = 0.02. The incremental diagnostic yield of acid fast bacilli smear and culture of bronchial washing specimens over sputum culture was 44% (95%CI 25;65. CONCLUSIONS In function of the epidemiological context and the resources available, bronchoscopy should be deployed as part of a comprehensive work up that optimizes smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis and minimizes risk and costs.

  19. Analysis of smear in high-resolution remote sensing satellites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wahballah, Walid A.; Bazan, Taher M.; El-Tohamy, Fawzy; Fathy, Mahmoud

    2016-10-01

    High-resolution remote sensing satellites (HRRSS) that use time delay and integration (TDI) CCDs have the potential to introduce large amounts of image smear. Clocking and velocity mismatch smear are two of the key factors in inducing image smear. Clocking smear is caused by the discrete manner in which the charge is clocked in the TDI-CCDs. The relative motion between the HRRSS and the observed object obliges that the image motion velocity must be strictly synchronized with the velocity of the charge packet transfer (line rate) throughout the integration time. During imaging an object off-nadir, the image motion velocity changes resulting in asynchronization between the image velocity and the CCD's line rate. A Model for estimating the image motion velocity in HRRSS is derived. The influence of this velocity mismatch combined with clocking smear on the modulation transfer function (MTF) is investigated by using Matlab simulation. The analysis is performed for cross-track and along-track imaging with different satellite attitude angles and TDI steps. The results reveal that the velocity mismatch ratio and the number of TDI steps have a serious impact on the smear MTF; a velocity mismatch ratio of 2% degrades the MTFsmear by 32% at Nyquist frequency when the TDI steps change from 32 to 96. In addition, the results show that to achieve the requirement of MTFsmear >= 0.95 , for TDI steps of 16 and 64, the allowable roll angles are 13.7° and 6.85° and the permissible pitch angles are no more than 9.6° and 4.8°, respectively.

  20. Combined analysis of cervical smears. Cytopathology, image cytometry and in situ hybridization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Multhaupt, H; Bruder, E; Elit, L

    1993-01-01

    . HPV infection correlated with DNA polyploidy but was seen in 15 of 29 smears classified as cytologically normal. Morphologically abnormal Papanicolaou smears correlated with aneuploid DNA content. Smears classified as intraepithelial neoplasia correlated with aneuploid DNA content in all 12 cases...

  1. Making mock-FNA smears from fresh surgical pathology specimens to improve smear preparation technique and to create cytohistological correlation series.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tibor Mezei

    Full Text Available Fine needle aspiration (FNA cytology is a well-established diagnostic method based on the microscopic interpretation of often scant cytological material; therefore, experience, good technique and smear quality are equally important in obtaining satisfactory results.We studied the use of fresh surgical pathology specimens for making so-called mock-FNA smears with the potential of cytohistological correlation. Additionally, we studied how this process aids the improvement of preparation technique and smear quality.Cytological aspirates from 32 fresh biopsy specimens from various sites: lung (20, lymph nodes (6, and breast (6 were obtained, all with a clinical diagnosis of tumor. Aspiration was performed from grossly palpable tumors. 25 G needle and Cameco-type syringe holder was used with minimal or no suction.Unfixed surgical specimens provided sufficient cytological material that resulted in good quality smears. After standard processing of specimens into microscopic sections from paraffin embedded tissues, cytohistological case-series were created. No significant alteration was reported in tissue architecture on hematoxylin-eosin stained sections after the aspiration procedure. A gradual, but steady improvement was observed in smear quality just after a few preparations.Our study proved that surgical specimens may be used as a source of cytological material to create cytohistological correlation studies and also to improve FNA cytology skills. The use of very fine gauge needle (25 G, 0,6 mm diameter during the sampling process does not alter tissue architecture therefore the final histopathological diagnosis is not compromised. We conclude that by using fresh surgical specimens useful cytohistological collections can be created both as a teaching resource and as improving experience.

  2. Variability Study between Pap Smear, Colposcopy and Cervical Histopathology Findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akhter, S.; Bari, A.; Hayat, Z.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To determine the agreement/variability between colposcopic findings, Pap smear cytology and histopathological diagnosis in gynaecology patients. Methods: The cross-sectional cohort study was conducted from October 2010 to September 2011 at the Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, and comprised women who presented to the out-patient department with various gynaecological complaints. Colposcopy was performed in all women with unhealthy cervix during gynaecological examination, abnormal Pap smear report, recurrent vaginal discharge and postcoital bleeding. Pap smear was performed before colposcopy if not done earlier. Colposcopic findings were recorded on a specially-designed proforma. Biopsies from abnormal areas were taken and sent for histopathology. Colposcopic findings were compared with histopathology and Pap smear reports The agreement between the methods was evaluated by using Kappa coefficient and chi square test at a significance level of 5 percent. Results: The mean age of the 143 women was 44 8.5 years (range: 25-72 years). Colposcopic findings were normal in 66(46 percent) women, while 77(54 percent) had abnormal findings and among the latter, 62(80.5 percent) had abnormal histopathology, indicating strong agreement (K=0.65; p<0.001). Pap smear report was abnormal in 48(33.5 percent) cases and among them histopathology was abnormal in 28(58 percent). In the remaining 95(66.4 percent) patients with normal Pap smear, histopathology was abnormal in 44((46 percent), indicating weak agreement between Pap smear and histopathological diagnosis (K=0.10; p=0.08). Conclusion: There was a strong agreement between colposcopic findings and histopathological diagnosis. However, agreement between cytological findings and colposcopic findings and cytology and histopathological diagnosis remained weak. (author)

  3. Effects of Different Temperatures for Drying Cervical Mucus Smear ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The effects of different room temperatures for drying cervical mucus on crystallisation of fern-tree patterns was determined using cervical mucus smears from 60 women undergoing investigation for infertility at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Cervical mucus smears were dried in the oven at 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35C ...

  4. Cervical pap smear- A prospective study in a tertiary hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S Pudasaini

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Cervical cancer is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity among women worldwide and most common gynaecological cancer in developing countries. Papanicolaou smear is a simple and cost effective screening test for cervical cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate and interpret the cervical pap smear cytology in a tertiary hospital. The interpretation and reporting of the pap smear is based on 2001Bethesda system.Materials and methods: This is a prospective study conducted in a tertiary hospital, Nepal Medical College over a period of two and a half years (January 2013 to June 2015. All cervical pap smears received in the department of Pathology in the study period were included.Results: A total of 4160 cervical pap smears were reported in the study period. Majority of the cases were Negative for Intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (87.9%. Bacterial vaginosis, atrophy and reactive cellular changes associated with inflammation were seen in 5.3%, 2.4% and 1.5% cases respectively.   Epithelial cell abnormalities (0.5% include Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and High grade intraepithelial lesion. 88% of Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion was seen in reproductive age group (20-45 years.Conclusion: Cervical cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in the developing countries. Pap smear is the simple and cost effective screening tool to detect pre invasive cervical epithelial lesions.

  5. [Evaluation of sputum smear examination--from the cases of Nepal, Yemen and the Philippines].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujiki, A

    1992-01-01

    Evaluation of sputum smear examination was carried out with smear slides stained by the Ziehl-Neelsen method, which were collected from Nepal, Yemen and the Philippines. The smear slides were checked macroscopically and microscopically according to the following points: 1) smear area size, 2) thickness of smear, 3) evenness of smear, 4) decolorizing condition by Ziehl-Neelsen stain, 5) smear cleanliness, 6) presence of cells in sputum and 7) smear reading accuracy by cross-checking. As the result of smear slide evaluation, it was concluded that proper sputum specimens have been smeared but smears were generally too thin and contaminated with too many dirt . Agreement rate of the slide reading in Nepal, Yemen and the Philippines were 73%, 90% and 88% respectively. Disagreement cases were concentrated in the subtle number of acid-fast bacilli or (+/-) and (+) results. The cause of disagreement might be attributed to contamination with debris, deposit etc., which hindered reading or were misread as acid-fast bacilli. Some improvement should be considered to eliminate the dirt , such as filtration of carbol fuchsin solution, preparation of proper quantity of carbol fuchsin solution to be consumed within three months, mixing the fuchsin stock solution and 5% carbol solution just before use, rinsing the mouth before sputum collection, usage of clean sputum container and slides, and smearing and drying of the slides within clean environment. However, in many developing countries there are many difficulties for facilities, equipments, system and management. Some of these difficulties may be solved by the efforts of laboratory side but some are beyond the limits of their efforts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  6. The agreement between self-reported cervical smear abnormalities and screening programme records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canfell, Karen; Beral, Valerie; Green, Jane; Cameron, Rebecca; Baker, Krys; Brown, Anna

    2006-01-01

    The Million Women Study is a cohort study of women aged 50-64 years in England and Scotland. As a component of the follow-up questionnaire, participants were asked to indicate if they had an abnormal cervical smear in the previous five years. This study compared self-reported cervical abnormalities with screening records obtained from the National Health Service Cervical Screening Programme. For 1944 randomly selected Million Women Study participants in Oxfordshire, screening records were assessed over a six-year period prior to the date of self-reporting. The six-year period was chosen to allow for errors in the recall of timing of abnormal smears. A total of 68 women (3.5%) had a record of at least one equivocal or abnormal smear within the last six years, whereas 49 women (2.5%) self-reported an abnormality. There was a strong trend for an increased probability of self-reporting a history of an abnormal smear as the severity of the recorded abnormality increased (P screening programme records show an abnormal smear, the proportion self-reporting an abnormality increases with the severity of the recorded lesion. Almost all women with a record of negative or inadequate smear(s) correctly interpret the result and do not self-report an abnormality.

  7. The local quantum-mechanical stress tensor in Thomas-Fermi approximation and gradient expansion method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaschner, R.; Graefenstein, J.; Ziesche, P.

    1988-12-01

    From the local momentum balance using density functional theory an expression for the local quantum-mechanical stress tensor (or stress field) σ(r) of non-relativistic Coulomb systems is found out within the Thomas-Fermi approximation and its generalizations including gradient expansion method. As an illustration the stress field σ(r) is calculated for the jellium model of the interface K-Cs, containing especially the adhesive force between the two half-space jellia. (author). 23 refs, 1 fig

  8. Survival among patients with HIV infection and smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis - United States, 1993-2006.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J Sean Cavanaugh

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: In patients with HIV and tuberculosis (TB in resource-constrained settings, smear-negative disease has been associated with higher mortality than smear-positive disease. Higher reported mortality may be due to misdiagnosis, diagnostic delays, or because smear-negative disease indicates more advanced immune suppression. METHODS: We analyzed culture-confirmed, pulmonary TB among patients with TB and HIV in the United States from 1993-2008 to calculate prevalence ratios (PRs for smear-negative disease by demographic and clinical characteristics. Allowing two years for treatment outcome to be reported, we determined hazard ratios (HRs for survival by smear status, adjusted for significant covariates on patients before 2006. RESULTS: Among 16,710 cases with sputum smear results, 6,739 (39% were sputum smear-negative and 9,971 (58% were sputum smear-positive. The prevalence of smear-negative disease was lower in male patients (PR: 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-0.93 and in those who were homeless (PR: 0.92, CI: 0.87-0.97 or used alcohol excessively (PR: 0.91, CI: 0.87-0.95, and higher in persons diagnosed while incarcerated (PR: 1.20, CI: 1.13-1.27. Patients with smear-negative disease had better survival compared to patients with smear-positive disease, both before (HR: 0.82, CI: 0.75-0.90 and after (HR: 0.81, CI: 0.71-0.92 the introduction of combination anti-retroviral therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In the United States, smear-negative pulmonary TB in patients with HIV was not associated with higher mortality, in contrast to what has been documented in high TB burden settings. Smear-negative TB can be routinely and definitively diagnosed in the United States, whereas high-burden countries often rely solely on AFB-smear microscopy. This difference could contribute to diagnostic and treatment delays in high-burden countries, possibly resulting in higher mortality.

  9. Smears and cultures for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in an asymptomatic immigrant population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Assael R

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Roberto Assael, Joaquin Cervantes, Gerardo Barrera Clinica Medica Internacional, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Background: The World Health Organization estimated in 2010 that 8.8 million new tuberculosis (TB cases. About one-third of the world's population is infected and 10% will develop active TB disease. While cultures remain the international gold standard for diagnosing TB disease, in many other low-income countries, sputum smears remain the only and most accessible tool with which to diagnose active TB disease. As a consequence, in patients with TB who have negative smears, their TB remains undetected. Aim: The objective of the study reported here was to demonstrate the proportion of smear-positive/culture-positive cases compared with smear-negative/culture-positive TB cases in Mexican immigrants bound for the USA. Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken of the medical records of 122 active TB cases diagnosed at a clinic in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, from 2009 to 2012. All cases were confirmed by culture, regardless of the sputum smear results. Results: Of the cases, 80% (97 active TB cases had negative sputum smears, while only 25 cases (20% had at least one positive smear. All of the cultures were confirmed as positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Conclusion: The fact that 80% of the TB cases were smear negative and 20% smear positive shows that there is a clear gap between the actual state of active TB disease within patients under screening conditions, meaning that eight out of ten actual cases are being missed when sputum smear is the only diagnostic tool in asymptomatic patients with abnormal chest X-rays. Based on these results, it is highly recommended that countries that have not standardized culturing as the gold standard for the diagnosis of active TB do so, so that TB cases – which may endanger global public health – are not missed. It is also recommended that further studies be undertaken to determine the clinical

  10. High prevalence of abnormal Pap smears among young women co ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Standardised questionnaires were used to collect sociodemographic and clinical presentation data from women attending family planning and other reproductive health services. Pap smears were done using standard methods. Pap smear data were linked to HIV serostatus. Results. Four hundred and sixty-six women were ...

  11. Gravity waves from quantum stress tensor fluctuations in inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Chun-Hsien; Hsiang, Jen-Tsung; Ford, L. H.; Ng, Kin-Wang

    2011-01-01

    We consider the effects of the quantum stress tensor fluctuations of a conformal field in generating gravity waves in inflationary models. We find a nonscale invariant, non-Gaussian contribution which depends upon the total expansion factor between an initial time and the end of inflation. This spectrum of gravity wave perturbations is an illustration of a negative power spectrum, which is possible in quantum field theory. We discuss possible choices for the initial conditions. If the initial time is taken to be sufficiently early, the fluctuating gravity waves are potentially observable both in the CMB radiation and in gravity wave detectors, and could offer a probe of trans-Planckian physics. The fact that they have not yet been observed might be used to constrain the duration and energy scale of inflation. However, this conclusion is contingent upon including the contribution of modes which were trans-Planckian at the beginning of inflation.

  12. Gravity waves from quantum stress tensor fluctuations in inflation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chun-Hsien; Hsiang, Jen-Tsung; Ford, L. H.; Ng, Kin-Wang

    2011-11-01

    We consider the effects of the quantum stress tensor fluctuations of a conformal field in generating gravity waves in inflationary models. We find a nonscale invariant, non-Gaussian contribution which depends upon the total expansion factor between an initial time and the end of inflation. This spectrum of gravity wave perturbations is an illustration of a negative power spectrum, which is possible in quantum field theory. We discuss possible choices for the initial conditions. If the initial time is taken to be sufficiently early, the fluctuating gravity waves are potentially observable both in the CMB radiation and in gravity wave detectors, and could offer a probe of trans-Planckian physics. The fact that they have not yet been observed might be used to constrain the duration and energy scale of inflation. However, this conclusion is contingent upon including the contribution of modes which were trans-Planckian at the beginning of inflation.

  13. Application of nose smear method to the assessment of internal contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyabe, K.; Ishiguro, H.; Nakata, K.; Fukuda, S.

    1985-01-01

    At PNC Tokai Works, the plutonium fuel fabrication facility has been operating since 1967. Lung counting and bioassay for urine are performed routinely for internal radiation dosimetry in this facility. The nose smear method is used for assessing the significance of intake whenever an incident involving inhalation of radioactive material occurs. It was found empirically on the basis of 22 inhalation cases that nose smear samples were useful for assessing tentatively the intake in an incidental inhalation of plutonium aerosol. In 80% of the cases of plutonium inhalation, the amount in the early faecal excretion (5 days after inhalation) is less than 10 times the plutonium in the nose smear samples over the activity region from 0.074 to 28 Bq of nose smear samples. It is suggested that the amount of plutonium in early excreted faeces be estimated by applying the factor of 10 to the activity in nose smear samples. As an example, when PuO 2 (class Y, AMAD 1 μm) 0.074 Bq corresponding to the minimum detectable amount is measured in the nose smear samples, the early faecal excretion and the total intake can be estimated approximately to be 0.74 Bq and 1.55 Bq, respectively, applying the clearance model of ICRP 30, and the committed dose equivalent of bone surface is estimated as 1.6 mSv. (author)

  14. The utilization and barriers of Pap smear among women with visual impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Wen-Hui; Yen, Chia-Feng; Hu, Jung; Lin, Jin-Ding; Loh, Ching-Hui

    2016-04-12

    Many evidences illustrate that the Pap smear screening successfully reduces if the cervical cancer could be detected and treated sufficiently early. People with disability were higher comorbidity prevalence, and less likely to use preventive health care and health promotion activities. There were also to demonstrate that people with visual impairment has less access to appropriate healthcare services and is less likely to receive screening examinations. In Taiwan, there was no study to explore utilization of Pap smear, associated factors and use barriers about Pap smear screening test among women with visual impairment. The purpose is to explore the utilization and barriers of using Pap smear for women with visual impairment in Taiwan. To identify the barriers of women with visual from process of receiving Pap smear screening test. The cross-sectional study was conducted and the totally 316 participators were selected by stratified proportional and random sampling from 15 to 64 year old women with visual impairment who lived in Taipei County during December 2009 to January 2010. The data was been collected by phone interview and the interviewers were well trained before interview. The mean age was 47.1 years old and the highest percentage of disabled severity was mile (40.2 %). Totally, 66.5 % of participators were ever using Pap smear and 38.9 % used it during pass 1 year. Their first time to accept Pap smear was 38.8 year old. There was near 50 % of them not to be explained by professionals before accepting the Pap smear. For non-using cases, the top two percentage of barriers were "feel still younger" (22.3 %), the second was "there's no sexual experience" (21.4 %). We found the gynecology experiences was key factor for women with visual impairment to use Pap smear, especially the experiences was during 1 year (OR = 4). Associated factors and barriers to receive Pap smear screening test for women with visual impairment can be addressed through interventions

  15. Effectiveness of a computer-based tutorial for teaching how to make a blood smear.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preast, Vanessa; Danielson, Jared; Bender, Holly; Bousson, Maury

    2007-09-01

    Computer-aided instruction (CAI) was developed to teach veterinary students how to make blood smears. This instruction was intended to replace the traditional instructional method in order to promote efficient use of faculty resources while maintaining learning outcomes and student satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a computer-aided blood smear tutorial on 1) instructor's teaching time, 2) students' ability to make blood smears, and 3) students' ability to recognize smear quality. Three laboratory sessions for senior veterinary students were taught using traditional methods (control group) and 4 sessions were taught using the CAI tutorial (experimental group). Students in the control group received a short demonstration and lecture by the instructor at the beginning of the laboratory and then practiced making blood smears. Students in the experimental group received their instruction through the self-paced, multimedia tutorial on a laptop computer and then practiced making blood smears. Data was collected from observation, interview, survey questionnaires, and smear evaluation by students and experts using a scoring rubric. Students using the CAI made better smears and were better able to recognize smear quality. The average time the instructor spent in the room was not significantly different between groups, but the quality of the instructor time was improved with the experimental instruction. The tutorial implementation effectively provided students and instructors with a teaching and learning experience superior to the traditional method of instruction. Using CAI is a viable method of teaching students to make blood smears.

  16. No increased risk for cervical cancer after a broader definition of a negative Pap smear

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rebolj, Matejka; van Ballegooijen, Marjolein; van Kemenade, Folkert

    2008-01-01

    in 1996, the proportion of these smears dropped from 10% to less than 2%. Because this may have caused a loss in smear sensitivity, we analysed the changes in the incidence of cervical cancer after a negative Pap smear. All negative smears made at ages 30-64 in 1990-1995 (n = 1,546,252) and 1998-2006 (n...... = 3,552,716), registered in the national registry of histo- and cytopathology (PALGA), were followed for up to 9 years. During follow-up of the 1990-1995 smears, 377 women developed cervical cancer within 5,232,959 woman-years at risk, while during the follow-up of the 1998-2006 smears, 619 women...... developed cervical cancer within 11,210,675 woman-years at risk. The cumulative incidence after the definition change was not significantly higher than before: e.g. at 6 years, the cumulative incidence for smears made in 1990-1995 was 46 per 100,000 (95% CI: 41-52), and for smears in 1998-2006 was 48 per...

  17. A pilot study of short-duration sputum pretreatment procedures for optimizing smear microscopy for tuberculosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Daley

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Direct sputum smear microscopy for tuberculosis (TB lacks sensitivity for the detection of acid fast bacilli. Sputum pretreatment procedures may enhance sensitivity. We did a pilot study to compare the diagnostic accuracy and incremental yield of two short-duration (<1 hour sputum pretreatment procedures to optimize direct smears among patients with suspected TB at a referral hospital in India.Blinded laboratory comparison of bleach and universal sediment processing (USP pretreated centrifuged auramine smears to direct Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN and direct auramine smears and to solid (Loweinstein-Jensen (LJ and liquid (BACTEC 460 culture. 178 pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB suspects were prospectively recruited during a one year period. Thirty six (20.2% were positive by either solid or liquid culture. Direct ZN smear detected 22 of 36 cases and direct auramine smears detected 26 of 36 cases. Bleach and USP centrifugation detected 24 cases each, providing no incremental yield beyond direct smears. When compared to combined culture, pretreated smears were not more sensitive than direct smears (66.6% vs 61.1 (ZN or 72.2 (auramine, and were not more specific (92.3% vs 93.0 (ZN or 97.2 (auramine.Short duration sputum pretreatment with bleach and USP centrifugation did not increase yield as compared to direct sputum smears. Further work is needed to confirm this in a larger study and also determine if longer duration pre-treatment might be effective in optimizing smear microscopy for TB.

  18. Smear layer-deproteinizing improves bonding of one-step self-etch adhesives to dentin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thanatvarakorn, Ornnicha; Prasansuttiporn, Taweesak; Thittaweerat, Suppason; Foxton, Richard M; Ichinose, Shizuko; Tagami, Junji; Hosaka, Keiichi; Nakajima, Masatoshi

    2018-03-01

    Smear layer deproteinizing was proved to reduce the organic phase of smear layer covered on dentin surface. It was shown to eliminate hybridized smear layer and nanoleakage expression in resin-dentin bonding interface of two-step self-etch adhesive. This study aimed to investigate those effects on various one-step self-etch adhesives. Four different one-step self-etch adhesives were used in this study; SE One (SE), Scotchbond™ Universal (SU), BeautiBond Multi (BB), and Bond Force (BF). Flat human dentin surfaces with standardized smear layer were prepared. Smear layer deproteinizing was carried out by the application of 50ppm hypochlorous acid (HOCl) on dentin surface for 15s followed by Accel ® (p-toluenesulfinic acid salt) for 5s prior to adhesive application. No surface pretreatment was used as control. Microtensile bond strength (μTBS) and nanoleakage under TEM observation were investigated. The data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test and t-test at the significant level of 0.05. Smear layer deproteinizing significantly improved μTBS of SE, SU, and BB (player observed in control groups of SE, BB, and BF, and reticular nanoleakage presented throughout the hybridized complex in control groups of BB and BF were eliminated upon the smear layer deproteinizing. Smear layer deproteinizing by HOCl and Accel ® application could enhance the quality of dentin for bonding to one-step self-etch adhesives, resulting in the improving μTBS, eliminating hybridized smear layer and preventing reticular nanoleakage formation in resin-dentin bonding interface. Copyright © 2018 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Identifying risk factors associated with smear positivity of pulmonary tuberculosis in Kazakhstan.

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    Sabrina Hermosilla

    Full Text Available Sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB patients have a high risk of transmission and are of great epidemiological and infection control significance. Little is known about the smear-positive populations in high TB burden regions, such as Kazakhstan. The objective of this study is to characterize the smear-positive population in Kazakhstan and identify associated modifiable risk factors.Data on incident TB cases' (identified between April 2012 and March 2014 socio-demographic, risk behavior, and comorbidity characteristics were collected in four regions of Kazakhstan through structured survey and medical record review. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine factors associated with smear positivity.Of the total sample, 193 (34.3% of the 562 study participants tested smear-positive. In the final adjusted multivariable logistic regression model, sex (adjusted odds ratio (aOR = 2.0, 95% CI:1.3-3.1, p < 0.01, incarceration (aOR = 3.6, 95% CI:1.2-11.1, p = 0.03, alcohol dependence (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI:1.2-5.7, p = 0.02, diabetes (aOR = 5.0, 95% CI:2.4-10.7, p < 0.01, and physician access (aOR = 2.7, 95% CI:1.3-5.5p < 0.01 were associated with smear-positivity.Incarceration, alcohol dependence, diabetes, and physician access are associated with smear positivity among incident TB cases in Kazakhstan. To stem the TB epidemic, screening, treatment and prevention policies should address these factors.

  20. Identification of mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum smear slide using automatic scanning microscope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rulaningtyas, Riries; Suksmono, Andriyan B.; Mengko, Tati L. R.; Saptawati, Putri

    2015-04-01

    Sputum smear observation has an important role in tuberculosis (TB) disease diagnosis, because it needs accurate identification to avoid high errors diagnosis. In development countries, sputum smear slide observation is commonly done with conventional light microscope from Ziehl-Neelsen stained tissue and it doesn't need high cost to maintain the microscope. The clinicians do manual screening process for sputum smear slide which is time consuming and needs highly training to detect the presence of TB bacilli (mycobacterium tuberculosis) accurately, especially for negative slide and slide with less number of TB bacilli. For helping the clinicians, we propose automatic scanning microscope with automatic identification of TB bacilli. The designed system modified the field movement of light microscope with stepper motor which was controlled by microcontroller. Every sputum smear field was captured by camera. After that some image processing techniques were done for the sputum smear images. The color threshold was used for background subtraction with hue canal in HSV color space. Sobel edge detection algorithm was used for TB bacilli image segmentation. We used feature extraction based on shape for bacilli analyzing and then neural network classified TB bacilli or not. The results indicated identification of TB bacilli that we have done worked well and detected TB bacilli accurately in sputum smear slide with normal staining, but not worked well in over staining and less staining tissue slide. However, overall the designed system can help the clinicians in sputum smear observation becomes more easily.

  1. TTV and HPV co-infection in cervical smears of patients with cervical lesions

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    Tachezy Ruth

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The female lower genital tract is a gateway for pathogens entering the host through the mucous membrane. One of the prevalent human viruses is Torque teno virus (TTV. The major reported routes of TTV transmission are fecal-oral and parenteral. Furthermore, other modes of transmission, e.g. sexual contact, are suggested. To investigate the sexual route of TTV transmission, cervical smears of healthy women and those with cervical lesions were screened for the presence of TTV DNA. Methods TTV DNA was studied in cervical smears of 95 patients with cervical lesions and 55 healthy women. Paired serum samples were available from 55 and 42 women, respectively. All healthy women had normal cytology while 44 patients had histologically confirmed low-grade lesion (LGL and 51 high-grade lesion (HGL. TTV DNA was detected with primers specific for the non-coding region. In 40 paired cervical smears and serum samples, the phylogenetic group of TTV isolates was determined. The presence of HPV DNA in cervical smears was detected by means of PCR with MY09/11 primers. Results The prevalence of TTV DNA in cervical smears of healthy women was 52.7% and was comparable with that in paired serum samples (50%. Symptomatic women had significantly higher prevalence of TTV DNA in cervical smears (74.7% than healthy controls. The TTV DNA prevalence in patient serum samples was 51%. The phylogenetic groups of TTV serum isolates were concordant with those of TTV from cervical smears of the same subjects. In cervical smears, a wider variety of TTV isolates was found. The viral loads in cervical smears were 10 to 1000 times as high as in sera. The HPV-positive study subjects had significantly higher TTV DNA prevalence than HPV negatives. The prevalence of TTV was not associated with disease severity. Conclusion High prevalence of TTV in cervical smears suggests that sexual transmission is another mode of expansion of TTV infection among the population. The

  2. [Pap smear for mass screening: Results of an African experiment].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Somé, O-R; Zongo, N; Ka, S; Wardini, R; Dem, A

    2016-06-01

    To assess the impact of smear test in the fight against cervix uteri cancer in Senegal. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 1836 Pap smears performed in patients over 15 years during several screening campaigns in Senegal conducted between June 2010 and June 2012. We analyzed epidemiological data, pathological smears, and the proposed management. In 69% of cases, the women were less than 45 years old. They were mostly multiparous and did not use contraceptive methods before. The smears were interpreted in 91.4% (n=1661) and were pathological in 5.2% of cases. They revealed mainly atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, squamous intraepithelial low-grade lesions, and squamous intraepithelial high-grade lesions, respectively in 2.5% (n=46), 1.7% (n=30) and 1% (n=19) of cases. Multiparity, early marriages were the main risk factors. Patients with pathological smars had colposcopy with cryotherapy (23 cases), and colposcopy and biopsy (13 cases). A hysterectomy was performed in 4 cases. The pathological smear rate found in this study confirms the interest to continue cervical cancer screening with this practice. Strengthening of its geographical and financial access through a national prevention program will effectively help to lower cases of cervical cancer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  3. Relationship Between Pelvic Organ Prolapse and Non-Human Papillomavirus Pap Smear Abnormalities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menhaji, Kimia; Harvie, Heidi S; Cheston, Emily; Levin, Pamela J; Arya, Lily A; Andy, Uduak U

    2017-07-13

    The aim of this study was to determine the association between pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and non-human papillomavirus (HPV) Papanicolaou (Pap) smear abnormalities. This was a retrospective cohort study of women aged 40 to 70 years who presented for consultation at our institution between 2010 and 2015 and had results of a Pap smear and HPV test available within 5 years of their visit. We extracted demographic information, medical and social history, Pap smear, and HPV results from the electronic medical record. Associations between the presence of POP and non-HPV Pap smear abnormalities were estimated using univariable and multivariable analyses. We reviewed 1590 charts and excluded 980 women, leaving 610 women in the study: 183 with POP and 427 without POP. Women with POP were significantly older (58.2 ± 7.2 vs 55.6 ± 6.6, P 10 year) history of abnormal Pap smear (24.0% vs 14.8%, P women with POP.

  4. A comparison of cervical smear adequacy using either the cytobrush ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A comparison of cervical smear adequacy using either the cytobrush or the Ayre spatula: a practice audit. ... The purpose of this study was to compare the adequacy of cervical smears taken with the Ayre spatula as opposed to the cytobrush. Methods: This was a retrospective analytical study. One sampler, an experienced ...

  5. Quantum fields interacting with colliding plane waves: the stress-energy tensor and backreaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorca, M.; Verdaguer, E.

    1997-01-01

    Following a previous work on the quantization of a massless scalar field in a space-time representing the head on collision of two plane waves which focus into a Killing-Cauchy horizon, we compute the renormalized expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of the quantum field near that horizon in the physical state which corresponds to the Minkowski vacuum before the collision of the waves. It is found that for minimally coupled and conformally coupled scalar fields the respective stress-energy tensors are unbounded in the horizon. The specific form of the divergences suggests that when the semiclassical Einstein equations describing the backreaction of the quantum fields on the space-time geometry are taken into account, the horizon will acquire a curvature singularity. Thus the Killing-Cauchy horizon which is known to be unstable under ''generic'' classical perturbations is also unstable by vacuum polarization. The calculation is done following the point-splitting regularization technique. The dynamical colliding wave space-time has four quite distinct space-time regions, namely, one flat region, two single plane wave regions, and one interaction region. Exact mode solutions of the quantum field equation cannot be found exactly, but the blueshift suffered by the initial modes in the plane wave and interaction regions makes the use of the WKB expansion a suitable method of solution. To ensure the correct regularization of the stress-energy tensor, the initial flat modes propagated into the interaction region must be given to a rather high adiabatic order of approximation. (orig.)

  6. Comparison of visual inspection of cervix and pap smear for cervical cancer screening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tayyeb, R.; Khawaja, N.P.; Malik, N.

    2003-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the performance of visual inspection of cervix (VIA) after application of 3% acetic acid in cervical cancer screening in comparison with PAP smear. Results: Out of 540 subjects, 356 were negative with both screening techniques. One hundred and fifty-six subjects were positive with VIA (28.9%) while PAP smear was positive in seventy-eight subjects (14.4%). The sensitivity of VIA was 93.9% and of PAP smear was 46.9%. Corresponding specificities were 30.4% and 69.5%. There was no significant difference between the positive predictive value (PPV) of both test (p<0.05). The accuracy of VIA was 77.5% compared to 52.8% of PAP smear. The difference was highly significant (p < 0.01). Conclusion: These results indicate that VIA is more sensitive and has a higher accuracy as compared to PAP smear. It could, therefore, be valuable in detection of precancerous lesions of cervix. Low cost, easy applicability and immediate results make VIA a useful screening test in developing countries like Pakistan as compared to PAP smear. (author)

  7. Rate of Opportunistic Pap Smear Screening and Patterns of Epithelial Cell Abnormalities in Pap Smears in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

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    Rizwana B. Shaik

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of women undergoing Papanicolaou (Pap smear examinations, and the frequency of epithelial cell abnormalities in a teaching hospital in one emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE during a three-year period. Methods: A retrospective study of 602 patient records from July 2007 to July 2010 was done in a teaching hospital in Ajman, UAE. The variables studied were age, ethnicity, menopausal status, and abnormalities in the Pap smear. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and presented mainly as percentages; to assess associations, the chi-square test was used. Results: The total number of outpatients who attended the Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department from July 2007 to July 2010 was 150,111 patients, of which 602 (0.4% of the total had a Pap smear test. The sample was 50.1% Arabs and 49.9% other nationalities. While 73% of the outpatients had specific complaints, 27% came for a routine screening. Epithelial cell abnormalities were seen in 3.3% of the sample, with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS found in 1.8%, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs found in 1.2%, and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs found in 0.3%. There were no cases of squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusion: Voluntary routine Pap smear screening was remarkably low in the study group. ASCUS was the most common epithelial cell abnormality. Community health education and opportunistic screening for cervical cancer are recommended for both national and expatriate women in the region.

  8. Rate of Opportunistic Pap Smear Screening and Patterns of Epithelial Cell Abnormalities in Pap Smears in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Eyd, Ghaith J.; Shaik, Rizwana B.

    2012-01-01

    Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of women undergoing Papanicolaou (Pap) smear examinations, and the frequency of epithelial cell abnormalities in a teaching hospital in one emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during a three-year period. Methods: A retrospective study of 602 patient records from July 2007 to July 2010 was done in a teaching hospital in Ajman, UAE. The variables studied were age, ethnicity, menopausal status, and abnormalities in the Pap smear. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and presented mainly as percentages; to assess associations, the chi-square test was used. Results: The total number of outpatients who attended the Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department from July 2007 to July 2010 was 150,111 patients, of which 602 (0.4% of the total) had a Pap smear test. The sample was 50.1% Arabs and 49.9% other nationalities. While 73% of the outpatients had specific complaints, 27% came for a routine screening. Epithelial cell abnormalities were seen in 3.3% of the sample, with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) found in 1.8%, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs) found in 1.2%, and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) found in 0.3%. There were no cases of squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusion: Voluntary routine Pap smear screening was remarkably low in the study group. ASCUS was the most common epithelial cell abnormality. Community health education and opportunistic screening for cervical cancer are recommended for both national and expatriate women in the region. PMID:23275844

  9. [The dentinal smear layer. Characteristics and interactions. 2].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negri, P L; Eramo, S; Lotito, M; De Pino, C

    1991-03-15

    The Authors, after the presentation (in the first part of the Dossier) of a large literature review about the physical, chemical and clinical characteristics of formation, interaction, remotion of "smear layer" during cavity preparation in hard tooth tissue, describe the results of a scanning microelectronic research about the action as cleanser (for the dentinal cavity wall) of the CK101 (Caridex) versus wather, Tubulicid and phosphoric acid. The experimental results obtained "in vitro" show that the substance has relative action, without removing the tubular portion of "smear layer".

  10. Determination of plutonium in air and smear samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hinton, E.R. Jr.; Tucker, W.O.

    1981-01-01

    A method has been developed for the determination of plutonium in air samples and smear samples that were collected on filter papers. The sample papers are digested in nitric acid, extracted into 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA)-xylene, and evaporated onto stainless steel disks. Alpha spectrometry is employed to determine the activity of each plutonium isotope. Each sample is spiked with plutonium-236. All glassware used in the procedure is disposable. The detection limits are 3 and 5 dpm (disintegrations per minute) for air and smear samples, respectively, with an average recovery of 87%

  11. Low cost automated whole smear microscopy screening system for detection of acid fast bacilli.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan Nei Law

    Full Text Available In countries with high tuberculosis (TB burden, there is urgent need for rapid, large-scale screening to detect smear-positive patients. We developed a computer-aided whole smear screening system that focuses in real-time, captures images and provides diagnostic grading, for both bright-field and fluorescence microscopy for detection of acid-fast-bacilli (AFB from respiratory specimens.To evaluate the performance of dual-mode screening system in AFB diagnostic algorithms on concentrated smears with auramine O (AO staining, as well as direct smears with AO and Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN staining, using mycobacterial culture results as gold standard.Adult patient sputum samples requesting for M. tuberculosis cultures were divided into three batches for staining: direct AO-stained, direct ZN-stained and concentrated smears AO-stained. All slides were graded by an experienced microscopist, in parallel with the automated whole smear screening system. Sensitivity and specificity of a TB diagnostic algorithm in using the screening system alone, and in combination with a microscopist, were evaluated.Of 488 direct AO-stained smears, 228 were culture positive. These yielded a sensitivity of 81.6% and specificity of 74.2%. Of 334 direct smears with ZN staining, 142 were culture positive, which gave a sensitivity of 70.4% and specificity of 76.6%. Of 505 concentrated smears with AO staining, 250 were culture positive, giving a sensitivity of 86.4% and specificity of 71.0%. To further improve performance, machine grading was confirmed by manual smear grading when the number of AFBs detected fell within an uncertainty range. These combined results gave significant improvement in specificity (AO-direct:85.4%; ZN-direct:85.4%; AO-concentrated:92.5% and slight improvement in sensitivity while requiring only limited manual workload.Our system achieved high sensitivity without substantially compromising specificity when compared to culture results. Significant improvement

  12. Urothelial cells in smears from cervix uteri

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaoro, Luis Alberto; Guerra, Fernando; Angeleri, Anabela; Palamas, Marta; Melba, Sardi-Segovia; Rocher, Adriana Esther

    2012-01-01

    Objectives: To establish the cytological criteria to identify the urothelial cells in cervical smears in order to avoid mistakes in the cytological diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Cervical smears from 34 post menopausal women with vesicovaginal fistulas, advanced bladder prolapse and genital erosive lichen planes (vulvar kraurosis) (Group 1) and transitional cell metaplasia of the cervix (TCM, Group 2) were stained with Papanicolaou technique. The cervical samples were taken during the routine annual examination for prevention of the uterine cancer. Results: The smears of cervix from Group 1 showed urothelial cells from the three layers of the transitional epithelium. The umbrella cells are the bigger ones with relatively large nuclei. Frequently, they are multinucleated with single or multiple nucleoli and a typical “frothy” cytoplasm (cytoplasmic vacuoles). The cells of the Group 2 showed nuclei with oval to spindled shapes, some tapered ends, less cytoplasm than squamous metaplastic cells, powdery chromatin, small nucleoli and nuclear grooves. Conclusions: The umbrella cells may be mistaken for dysplastic cells originating in low grade squamous intraepithelial lesions lesions (LSILs) due to their nuclear and cytoplasm sizes. Therefore, it is important to know the possibility of their appearance in the cervical smears, especially in post menopausal patients in order to avoid a false diagnosis of an intraepithelial lesion. It is unlikely that deeper cells of urothelium would be confused with high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) cells. However, their presence might be a reason of mistake in the diagnosis. TCM is an under-recognized metaplastic phenomenon of the cervix and vagina, which is a mimicker of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. The differential characteristic between umbrella cells, cells from TCM and the deeper urothelial cells, and LSIL and HSIL are detailed in the present paper. PMID:22438615

  13. The limits of pap smear in diagnosing preinvasive cervical neoplasias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorina Neacsu

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The cervical-vaginal cytology can be interpreted after many classifications, starting from Babeú- Papanicolaou and ending with the Bethesda system, but no matter what the interpretation manner is it is really important to have a good quality of the smears and an experienced cytologist. If we refer to the total number of cases from the lot presented - 16732 cases, the results are satisfactory; 83% smears having normal limits, 10.14% MCB, 2.71% L-SIL, 0.82% H-SIL, 2.77% ASCUS, 0.10% AGC. In Iaúi there are significantly more patients with benign cell changes and L- SIL, while in Buzău there are significantly more patients with a normal smear, but there is also a higher frequency of theatypical squamous cells with an undetermined significance. Classically specialists say that 50-75% of the false negative results are due to the errors made when harvesting the sample. In conclusion we estimate that considering the present conditions in our country where the lack of interest and financial possibilities do not allow an action of detecting the lesions of the cervix organized nationwide, we can still make a selection of the cases with a high risk by making a free Pap smear for all the patients that come to a specialized service, either state or private, provided they respect the protocol of harvesting the cervical secretions, of preparing and reading/interpreting the smears.

  14. Anorectal smear in the diagnosis of anorectal adenocarcinoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D Demirel

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this case report is to point out the diagnostic value of cytologic smears in patients presenting with anorectal complaints, such as bleeding, pain or discomfort, which may suggest a neoplastic lesion. We present a case of a 64-year-old man with a 3 months′ history of anal bleeding and pain during defecation. He was diagnosed as having hemorrhoids and a hemorrhoidectomy was performed. The patient developed an anal stricture postoperatively that required operative dilation. He continued to complain about anorectal pain for 2 months and a subsequent rectoscopy revealed the presence of tumor 5 to 7 cm above the dentate line. The tumor was resected laparoscopically and was reported as an adenocarcinoma. Rectal bleeding recurred 18 months postoperatively and a smear was procured from the anorectal mucosal surface for cytologic evaluation. A definitive diagnosis of adenocarcinoma was rendered based on cytologic and histologic examination of the material. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of anorectal adenocarcinoma diagnosed by cytologic smear in the English literature.

  15. The pathogenic microorganisms in papanicolaou vaginal smears and correlation with inflammation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esmat Barouti

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Non-specific cervicitis or inflammatory changes in a smear report are common which are usually unclear for clinical approaches. To investigate the frequency of inflammation and pathogenic vaginal microorganisms in cervical smears among an Iranian population sample.This cross-sectional study was carried out on Pap smear samples of women referred to gynecological clinic of Taleghani Hospital in Tehran, Iran, between October 2008 and March 2009. This study was conducted on 528 conventional Papanicolaou cervical smears. The frequency and severity of inflammation and prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV, Trichomonas vaginalis (TV, and vaginal candidiasis (VC was determined in the samples. Also co-infection of the microorganisms in Pap samples was evaluated. percentage, mean±standard deviation of the outcome parameters were calculated. The comparison between data was performed with the Pearson's chi square or Fisher's exact test.The prevalence of BV, VC, and TV in Pap samples was 17%, 11%, and 0.4% respectively. Overall, the prevalence of these microorganisms in women of reproductive age was higher than menopausal women. There was a significant association between VC and the presence of inflammation in our samples.Based on our results, inflammation in the Pap smears can suggest an infection of VC and the patients should be considered for proper VC treatment.

  16. Dysbacteriosis in silver-stained cervical smears of Dutch-Moroccan immigrants : HPV infection and preneoplasia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verbruggen, BSM; Boon, ME; van Schie, MA; Wijsman-Grootendorst, R; Kok, LP

    The vaginal/cervical smears of a group of Moroccan immigrants were used to compare vaginal dysbacteriosis (i.e., a bacterial population change with a decrease in lactobacilli and an increase of coccoid bacteria in vaginal/cervical smears) with Dutch women. From our archives, 779 smears from Moroccan

  17. Use of and attitudes and knowledge about pap smears among women in Kuwait.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Hammasi, Khadija; Samir, Ola; Kettaneh, Soania; Al-Fadli, Athari; Thalib, Lukman

    2009-11-01

    To estimate the lifetime prevalence of Pap smear among women in Kuwait and to assess their knowledge about and attitude toward Pap smears. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study using a multistage cluster sampling method. We interviewed 299 women attending polyclinics in Kuwait using a self-administered questionnaire. Factors related to history of having a Pap smear, knowledge level, and willingness to participate in a screening program were evaluated. The lifetime prevalence of Pap smear was found to be 37% (95% CI 33-43). Forty-four percent of women in our study had a Pap smear only once in their lives. History of having at least one Pap smear was significantly related to such factors as age, total family income, marital status, history of cervical infection, and knowledge. The level of knowledge about cervical cancer varied among the participants. Forty-six percent of women were uncertain about the symptoms of cervical cancer. About half the women recognized cervical infection, smoking, and having multiple sexual partners as risk factors for cervical cancer; however, only 10% recognized early sexual intercourse as a risk factor. Willingness to participate in a future screening program varied significantly according to educational level, employment status, and total family income. Although cervical cancer incidence and mortality are relatively low in Kuwait, they may be underreported in the absence of a screening program. Moreover, lifetime prevalence of having a Pap smear was found to be considerably lower in Kuwait compared with developed countries.

  18. Detection of the HTLV-I gene on cytologic smear slides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kashima, Kenji; Nagahama, Junji; Sato, Keiji; Tanamachi, Hiroyuki; Gamachi, Ayako; Daa, Tsutomu; Nakayama, Iwao; Yokoyama, Shigeo

    2002-01-01

    To apply the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of the HTLV-I gene from cytologic smear slides. Samples were from seven cases of serum anti-ATL antibody (ATLA)-positive T-cell lymphoma and three from ATLA-negative T-cell lymphoma. Six of the seven ATLA-positive cases were confirmed to be ATLL by Southern blotting. From the seventh case a fresh sample for blotting could not obtained. DNA was extracted from the cytologic smear slides of all 10 cases; they had been stained with Papanicolaou or May-Giemsa stain, digested with proteinase K and precipitated with phenol and ethanol. The target sequence in the pX region of the HTLV-I gene was amplified by PCR. All seven ATLA-positive cases, including one that had not yet been confirmed by Southern blotting, showed a single band, as predicted, while the three ATLA-negative cases showed no band. If cytologic smear slides are available but a fresh sample is not, the PCR method should provide evidence that the virus is present since in our study sufficient DNA templates were successfully extracted from the stained cytologic smear slides for detection of the virus.

  19. [Abnormalities in cervical smears stored in plastic bags: potential cause of false negatives].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortega-González, Patricia; González-Bravo, Margarita S; Jiménez-Muñoz-Ledo, Gustavo; Macías, Alejandro E

    2011-01-01

    Cervical smear is the most economic and efficient diagnostic tool for the screening of cervical cancer. However, since plastic bags have been used in Guanajuato to transport and store smears, we have observed cytological abnormalities which difficult the diagnosis and lead to false negatives. To describe those abnormalities. Out of 340 women registered in a primary care center in Mexico, 68 were selected through systematic random sampling during 2007. A cervical smear was obtained and placed on two slides. The first sample was allowed to dry but the second one was placed into the plastic bag immediately after fixation. After 15 days all the smears were stained with the Papanicolaou technique. A certified pathologist, blinded about the variable of study, interpreted the samples according to the Bethesda system, and evaluated the presence of necrosis, edema, holes, and opportunistic microorganisms. Of the 68 smears exposed to a humid storage, 36 (53%) were inadequate for diagnosis (Fisher's exact probability plastic bags.

  20. Smear correction of highly variable, frame-transfer CCD images with application to polarimetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iglesias, Francisco A; Feller, Alex; Nagaraju, Krishnappa

    2015-07-01

    Image smear, produced by the shutterless operation of frame-transfer CCD detectors, can be detrimental for many imaging applications. Existing algorithms used to numerically remove smear do not contemplate cases where intensity levels change considerably between consecutive frame exposures. In this report, we reformulate the smearing model to include specific variations of the sensor illumination. The corresponding desmearing expression and its noise properties are also presented and demonstrated in the context of fast imaging polarimetry.

  1. Age distribution of abnormal pap smear in a secondary hospital in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Age distribution of abnormal pap smear in a secondary hospital in south-west Nigeria. ... Objective: To determine the age distribution pattern of abnormal Paps smear in women in our environment in order to have a basis for the points of entry and exit for cervical cancer screening protocol. Materials and Method: In this ...

  2. Sputum Conversion Among Patients With Smear Positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soudbakhsh A R

    2003-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: In the patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB bacteriologic assessment of sputum for detection of acid bacilli (AFB Has essential role. This evaluation is accomplished by direct sputum smear & sputum culture. These examinations must be done in regular and preferably monthly after beginning of treatment. These tests have two important aims, including, determining of treatment efficacy & duration of isolation."nMethods and Materials: Most of the studies have that classic six month regimen led to sputum smear conversion & negative sputum culture in 85% of patient. This treatment regimen has two phases, including, attack phase and maintenance phase. In the attack phase we use four drugs, including, Isoniazid (INH, Rifampin (RMP, Pyrazinamide (PZA and Ethambutol (EMB for the first 2 months and if necessary until the end of third month. In the maintenance phase we use INH and Rif for the remaining of treatment course. The main objectives of this study were to determine the time needed for smear conversion and assessment of probable factors which may influence the smear conversion until 4 months after beginning of therapy. The factors that were assessed, were, Age, nationality, sex, clinical symptoms, underlying diseases, chest radiography (number of cavities, smoking, drug abuse and concentration of AF13 in the sputum Generally, we did this cross sectional study on the patient's records, who had been observed in Imam Khomeni Hospital, west health service center and masih daneshvary hospital between."nResults: This study showed that from totally 218 patients, 138(74.6% patients had sputum conversion at the first 2 months of treatment and until the end of 3rd & 4th month this rate reached to 83.3% respectively. So in the end of fourth month only 32(14.7% patients did not show sputum smear conversion. On the other hand this study showed that two factors including presence of cavities in chest radiography

  3. Validation of a model for predicting smear-positive active pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with initial acid-fast bacilli smear-negative sputum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yeh, Jun-Jun [Department of Chest Medicine, Section of Thoracic Imaging, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi City (China); Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan (China); Meiho University, Pingtung (China); Pingtung Christian Hospital, Pingtung (China); Heng Chun Christian Hospital, Pingtung (China)

    2018-01-15

    The objective of this study was to develop a predictive model for final smear-positive (SP) active pulmonary tuberculosis (aPTB) in patients with initial negative acid fast bacilli (AFB) sputum smears (iSN-SP-aPTB) based on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Eighty (126, 21) patients of iSN-SP-aPTB and 402 (459, 876) patients of non-initial positive acid fast bacilli (non-iSP) pulmonary disease without iSN-SP-aPTB were included in a derivation (validation, prospective) cohort. HRCT characteristics were analysed, and multivariable regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to develop a score predictive of iSN-SP-aPTB. The derivation cohort showed clusters of nodules/mass of the right upper lobe or left upper lobe were independent predictors of iSN-SP-aPTB, while bronchiectasis in the right middle lobe or left lingual lobe were negatively associated with iSN-SP-aPTB. A predictive score for iSN-SP-aPTB based on these findings was tested in the validation and prospective cohorts. With an ideal cut-off score = 1, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the prediction model were 87.5% (90%, 90.5%), 99% (97.1%, 98.4%), 94.6% (81.3%, 57.5%), and 97.6% (97%, 99.8%) in the derivation (validation, prospective) cohorts, respectively. The model may help identify iSN-SP-aPTB among patients with non-iSP pulmonary diseases. circle Smear-positive active pulmonary tuberculosis that is initial smear-negative (iSN-SP-aPTB) is infectious. (orig.)

  4. Sputum smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis: sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mugusi Ferdinand M

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV is complicated by the increased presence of sputum smear negative tuberculosis. Diagnosis of smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis is made by an algorithm recommended by the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme that uses symptoms, signs and laboratory results. The objective of this study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the tuberculosis treatment algorithm used for the diagnosis of sputum smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods A cross-section study with prospective enrollment of patients was conducted in Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania. For patients with sputum smear negative, sputum was sent for culture. All consenting recruited patients were counseled and tested for HIV. Patients were evaluated using the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme guidelines and those fulfilling the criteria of having active pulmonary tuberculosis were started on anti tuberculosis therapy. Remaining patients were provided appropriate therapy. A chest X-ray, mantoux test, and Full Blood Picture were done for each patient. The sensitivity and specificity of the recommended algorithm was calculated. Predictors of sputum culture positive were determined using multivariate analysis. Results During the study, 467 subjects were enrolled. Of those, 318 (68.1% were HIV positive, 127 (27.2% had sputum culture positive for Mycobacteria Tuberculosis, of whom 66 (51.9% were correctly treated with anti-Tuberculosis drugs and 61 (48.1% were missed and did not get anti-Tuberculosis drugs. Of the 286 subjects with sputum culture negative, 107 (37.4% were incorrectly treated with anti-Tuberculosis drugs. The diagnostic algorithm for smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis had a sensitivity and specificity of 38.1% and 74.5% respectively. The presence of a dry cough, a high respiratory rate, a low eosinophil count, a mixed type of anaemia and

  5. Crack Models for Concrete, Discrete or Smeared? Fixed, Multi-Directional or Rotating?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rots, J.G.; Blaauwendraad, J.

    1989-01-01

    Numerical tools to simulate cracking in concrete and similar materials are developed. Firstly, a treatment is given of smeared and discrete crack concepts, which start from the notion of a continuum and a discontinuum respectively. With the smeared crack concept a distinction is furthermore made

  6. Factors associated with negative T-SPOT.TB results among smear-negative tuberculosis patients in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Wanli; Wu, Meiying; Yang, Kunyun; Ertai, A; Wu, Shucai; Geng, Shujun; Li, Zhihui; Li, Mingwu; Pang, Yu; Tang, Shenjie

    2018-03-09

    We compared the positive rates of T-SPOT.TB and bacterial culture in the smear-negative PTB, and analyzed the factors affecting the results of negative T-SPOT.TB and bacterial culture. Retrospective evaluation of data from smear-negative PTB patients who underwent T-SPOT.TB and bacterial culture were done. The agreement and concordance were analyzed between T-SPOT.TB and bacterial culture. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to explore the factors associated with positive results of T-SPOT.TB and bacterial culture in smear-negative PTB. 858 eligible smear-negative PTB patients were included in the study. The agreement rate was 25.6% (22.7~28.5%) between T-SPOT.TB and bacterial culture in smear- negative PTB patients. The positive rate of T-SPOT.TB was higher than that of bacterial culture in smear-negative PTB patients (p SPOT.TB and bacterial culture (p > 0.05). Using multivariable logistic regression analysis we found that older age ≥ 60 years (OR = 0.469, 95% CI: 0.287-0.768) and decreased albumin (OR = 0.614, 95% CI: 0.380-0.992) were associated with negative diagnostic results of T-SPOT.TB in smear-negative PTB patients. Female (OR = 0.654, 95% CI: 0.431-0.992) were associated with negative diagnostic results of bacteria culture in smear-negative PTB patients. Our results indicated that the older age and decreased albumin were independently associated with negative T-SPOT.TB responses.

  7. Auditing smear microscopy results according to time to detection using the BACTEC™ MGIT™ TB system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elsaghier, A A F

    2015-09-01

    Smear microscopy is a rapid method for the identification of the most infectious patients with mycobacterial infection. Suboptimal smear microscopy may significantly compromise or delay patient isolation and contact tracing. A stringent method for auditing mycobacterial smear results is thus needed. This article proposes an auditing tool based on time to detection (TTD) of culture-positive samples using the automated BACTEC™ MGIT™ 960 TB system. In our study, sputum samples subjected to liquefaction and concentration before staining with a TTD of ≤ 13 days using the BACTEC system should be positive on smear microscopy.

  8. A note on the Poisson bracket of 2d smeared fluxes in loop quantum gravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cattaneo, Alberto S.; Perez, Alejandro

    2017-05-01

    We show that the non-Abelian nature of geometric fluxes—the corner-stone in the definition of quantum geometry in the framework of loop quantum gravity (LQG)—follows directly form the continuum canonical commutations relations of gravity in connection variables and the validity of the Gauss law. The present treatment simplifies previous formulations and thus identifies more clearly the root of the discreteness of geometric operators in LQG. Our statement generalizes to arbitrary gauge theories and relies only on the validity of the Gauss law.

  9. Tuberculosis transmission by patients with smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in a large cohort in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tostmann, Alma; Kik, Sandra V.; Kalisvaart, Nico A.; Sebek, Maruschka M.; Verver, Suzanne; Boeree, Martin J.; van Soolingen, Dick

    2008-01-01

    Background. Sputum smear microscopy is commonly used for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB). Although patients with sputum smear-negative TB are less infectious than patients with smear-positive TB, they also contribute to TB transmission. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of TB

  10. Tuberculosis transmission by patients with smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in a large cohort in the Netherlands.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tostmann, A.; Kik, S.V.; Kalisvaart, N.A.; Sebek, M.M.; Verver, S.; Boeree, M.J.; Soolingen, D. van

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Sputum smear microscopy is commonly used for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB). Although patients with sputum smear-negative TB are less infectious than patients with smear-positive TB, they also contribute to TB transmission. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of TB

  11. The urethral smear as a tool in diagnosing adenovirus-induced urethritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tønsberg, E; Hartgill, U

    2014-12-01

    Adenovirus is a recognised cause of non-gonococcal urethritis, and is not uncommonly associated with extragenital signs and symptoms. This case report describes a patient with symptoms of conjunctivitis, meatitis and urethritis. The urethral smear revealed almost exclusively monocytes microscopically, raising the suspicion of a viral aetiology. Results confirmed the presence of adenovirus in both the eyes and urethra. Despite waning reliance on the urethral smear in sexual health clinics, it can still be an important diagnostic tool in assessing the aetiology of non-specific urethritis. Finding an obvious monocytic cell response in the urethral smear can indicate a viral cause and allow the clinician to optimise management, counsel appropriately, and potentially reduce unnecessary antibiotic use. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  12. Evaluation of the relationship between smear positivity and high-resolution CT findings in children with pulmonary tuberculosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bolursaz, Mohammad Reza; Mehrian, Payam; Aghahosseini, Farahnaz; Lotfian, Ferial; Khalilzadeh, Soheila; Baghaie, Nooshin; Hassanzad, Maryam; Velayati, Ali Akbar

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study is to find a relationship between the radiological manifestations of childhood tuberculosis on a high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and the results of sputum smear. This study aims to propose an alternative indicator of infectivity in terms of prevention of disease transmission through selective isolation policy in children whose clinical condition is highly suggestive of tuberculosis. This retrospective comparative study was performed on 95 children under 15 years of age diagnosed with tuberculosis based on both WHO criteria and positive sputum culture for mycobacterium Tuberculosis. The children were admitted for TB screening in the pediatric department of national research institute of tuberculosis and lung disease (NRITLD) between 2008–2012. Direct smear collected from sputum or gastric lavage, as well as HRCT were performed in all children prior to administration of medical therapy. Children were divided into 2 groups based on positive and negative smear results. HRCT abnormalities, as well as their anatomical distribution were compared between these 2 groups using multivariate analytic model. The most prevalent abnormalities in the positive smear group were consolidation, tree-in-bud pattern, upper lobe nodular infiltration and cavitation. The negative smear group featured lymphadenopathy, consolidation, collapse and nodular infiltration in the upper lobe. Cavity, tree- in-bud pattern and upper lobe nodular infiltration were highly associated with smear positivity in children. Conversely, lymphadenopathy and collapse had significant association with a negative smear. This study revealed that cavity, tree-in-bud and upper lobe nodular infiltration has significant association with smear positivity in childhood tuberculosis. On the other hand, lymphadenopathy and collapse were closely associated with smear negativity in this age group. It was also demonstrated that children with a positive smear most likely presented with

  13. Herpes simplex virus in postradiation cervical smears. A morphologic and immunocytochemical study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longatto Filho, A.; Maeda, M.Y.; Oyafuso, M.S.; Kanamura, C.T.; Alves, V.A.

    1990-01-01

    From January 1987 to August 1988, cytomorphologic criteria of both herpes simplex virus (HSV) and radiation effects were observed in Papanicolaou smears from 3 of 1,340 patients who had received radiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase staining, using a rabbit IgG polyclonal HSV antibody, confirmed the presence of HSV antigen in those three postradiation smears. Both multinucleated molded cells and epithelial cells that lacked cytopathic effects were positive for HSV. Three other postradiation smears from these cases were similarly positive for HSV antigen; the one preradiation smear was negative. In situ hybridization and immunoperoxidase studies on sections from the preradiation biopsies were negative: severely altered neoplastic cells showed no reactivity. The absence of HSV markers in the preradiation specimens suggests that the HSV infections were secondary to the radiotherapy; further studies are needed to prove this association and to assess the possible mechanisms. These cases clearly indicate that the overlapping features of radiation and viral effects (such as multinucleation) may be present simultaneously

  14. A comparative study of blood smear, QBC and antigen detection for diagnosis of malaria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parija, S C; Dhodapkar, Rahul; Elangovan, Subashini; Chaya, D R

    2009-01-01

    Rapid diagnosis is prerequisite for effective treatment and reducing mortality and morbidity of malaria. This study was taken up to compare the efficacy of various methods available, i.e., thick and thin smear, quantitative buffy coat (QBC), plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase and aldolase in blood of patient. A total of 411 samples were collected from patients presenting with classic symptoms of malaria. For traditional microscopy; thick and thin smears were prepared and stained with Leishman's stain, taking thick smear as gold standard, thin smear had a sensitivity and specificity of 54.8% and 100%, respectively. QBC and antigen detection was done using commercially available kits; out of 411 samples, QBC and Malariagen were positive in 66 and 62 cases, with a sensitivity of 78% and 75%, respectively. Leishman's thick smear, although cost effective, is difficult to interpret for inexperienced microscopists; so if facilities are available, QBC should be used for routine diagnosis. In places where facilities are not available, rapid, simple and easy to interpret antigen detection test can be used despite low sensitivity.

  15. A comparative study of blood smear, QBC and antigen detection for diagnosis of malaria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parija S

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Rapid diagnosis is prerequisite for effective treatment and reducing mortality and morbidity of malaria. This study was taken up to compare the efficacy of various methods available, i.e., thick and thin smear, quantitative buffy coat (QBC, plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase and aldolase in blood of patient. A total of 411 samples were collected from patients presenting with classic symptoms of malaria. For traditional microscopy; thick and thin smears were prepared and stained with Leishman′s stain, taking thick smear as gold standard, thin smear had a sensitivity and specificity of 54.8% and 100%, respectively. QBC and antigen detection was done using commercially available kits; out of 411 samples, QBC and Malariagen were positive in 66 and 62 cases, with a sensitivity of 78% and 75%, respectively. Leishman′s thick smear, although cost effective, is difficult to interpret for inexperienced microscopists; so if facilities are available, QBC should be used for routine diagnosis. In places where facilities are not available, rapid, simple and easy to interpret antigen detection test can be used despite low sensitivity.

  16. Management of ASCUS findings in Papanicolaou smears. A retrospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iavazzo, C; Boutas, I; Grigoriadis, C; Vrachnis, N; Salakos, N

    2012-01-01

    Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) are a cervical cytologic finding category suggestive but not definitive of squamous intraepithelial lesions. ASCUS remains an incompletely described entity and accounts for even 5%-10% of reported Papanicolaou (Pap) smears. The management of women with such cytologic findings remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytology laboratory findings with regards to ASCUS diagnosis, using cervical Pap smears, and colposcopic biopsies, as well as their management. This is a retrospective study of patients with ASCUS Pap smears taken during the period January 2010 - December 2010 in the Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aretaieion Hospital. During the study period, 657 Pap smears were examined at the Aretaieion Hospital; moreover, seven patients, whose Pap smears were cytologically diagnosed with ASCUS, were referred from other clinics, providing a total of 42 cases with a descriptive diagnosis of ASCUS for review. Of the 42 cases, eight were not studied because they were either lost in follow-up or they did not have available data. The remaining 34/42 patients were evaluated by colposcopic examination and directed biopsies where necessary. The ratio of ASCUS to low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LGSIL), high-grade squamous cell intraepithelial lesion (HGSIL) or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was 5/34, 1/34, and 0/34, respectively. In the 34 ASCUS cases evaluated by colposcopy, the age distribution varied from 22 to 54 years. Eight of 34 cases did not have a child, 7/34 were primigravida, 18/34 were secondi-gravida, and 1/34 had four children. Four out of 34 cases were postmenopausal, 3/34 referred no history of abnormal bleeding, 21/34 were smokers, 6/34 used oral contraceptives, 2/34 used intrauterine devices, 1/34 took replacement of hormones, 4/34 had prior abnormal Pap smears human papillomavirus (HPV), or 1/34 had previous cancer (breast cancer). Colposcopy was

  17. Development of an automatic smear sampler and evaluation of surface contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seo, B. K.; Lee, B. J.; Lee, K. W.; Park, J. H.

    2004-01-01

    The surface contamination level of a radiation-controlled area is measured periodically according to atomic energy law and connection regulations. The measurement of surface contamination by an indirect method is subject to various kinds of error depending on the sampling person and consumes much time and effort in the sampling of large nuclear facilities. In this research, an automatic smear sampler is developed to solve these problems. The developed equipment is composed of a rotating sampling part, a sample transferring part, a power supply part a control part, and vacuum part. It improved the efficiency of estimation of the surface contamination level achieved periodically in a radiation-controlled area. Using an automatic smear sampler developed in this research, it is confirmed that radioactive contaminated materials are uniformly transferred to smear paper more than any sampling method by an operator. (authors)

  18. Significance of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance on ThinPrep papanicolaou smears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eltabbakh, G H; Lipman, J N; Mount, S L; Morgan, A

    2000-10-01

    The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors predictive of dysplasia among women seen in a gynecologic oncology service with the cytologic diagnosis of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) on Papanicolaou smears obtained by the ThinPrep method. Patients with ASCUS ThinPrep Papanicolaou smears seen at the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Vermont, between 1997 and 1999 were identified. The cytologic smears were reviewed and subtyped into reactive or suggestive of squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL). The charts of these patients were reviewed and the following information was abstracted: age, gravidity, parity, menopausal status, use of hormonal replacement therapy, smoking, history of pelvic cancer, history of radiation therapy, history of abnormal Papanicolaou smear and its treatment, history of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and follow-up information including results of repeat Papanicolaou smears, colposcopy, and biopsies. The prevalence of dysplasia was calculated. The demographic features of women with ASCUS, reactive, were compared with those with ASCUS, SIL, using a two-sample t test, chi(2), and Fisher's exact test. Risk factors predictive of dysplasia were calculated using the odds ratio and the 95% confidence interval. P ASCUS on ThinPrep Papanicolaou smear were identified; 63 patients had ASCUS, reactive, and 63 patients had ASCUS, SIL. The demographic features of both groups were similar. The overall prevalence of dysplasia was 15.9% and was significantly higher among women with ASCUS, SIL, than among women with ASCUS, reactive (25.4% versus 6.4%, P = 0.003). The type of ASCUS cytology (reactive versus SIL), smoking, and history of HPV were significant risk factors for dysplasia (P = 0.003, 0.037, and 0. 042, respectively). The prevalence of dysplasia among women seen in a gynecologic oncology service with ASCUS cytology on ThinPrep Papanicolaou smears is 15.9%. Women with ASCUS favor

  19. A Comparative Scanning Electron Microscopy Evaluation of Smear ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2018-02-07

    Feb 7, 2018 ... scanning electron microscopy evaluation of smear layer removal with chitosan and .... this compound has considerably increased its concentration in rivers and .... of the images was done by three investigators who calibrated ...

  20. Interactions between yeasts and bacteria in the smear surface-ripened cheeses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corsetti, A; Rossi, J; Gobbetti, M

    2001-09-19

    In the initial phase of ripening, the microflora of bacterial smear surface-ripened cheeses such as Limburger, Taleggio, Brick, Münster and Saint-Paulin and that of surface mould-ripened cheeses such as Camembert and Brie may be similar, but at the end of the ripening, bacteria such as Brevibacterium spp., Arthrobacter spp., Micrococcus spp., Corynebacterium spp. and moulds such as Penicillium camemberti are, respectively, the dominant microorganisms. Yeasts such as Candida spp., Cryptococcus spp., Debaryomyces spp., Geotrichum candidum, Pichia spp., Rhodotorula spp., Saccharomyces spp. and Yarrowia lipolytica are often and variably isolated from the smear surface-ripened cheeses. Although not dominant within the microorganisms of the smear surface-ripened cheeses, yeasts establish significant interactions with moulds and especially bacteria, including surface bacteria and lactic acid bacteria. Some aspects of the interactions between yeasts and bacteria in such type of cheeses are considered in this paper.

  1. Pap-smear Benchmark Data For Pattern Classification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jantzen, Jan; Norup, Jonas; Dounias, Georgios

    2005-01-01

    This case study provides data and a baseline for comparing classification methods. The data consists of 917 images of Pap-smear cells, classified carefully by cyto-technicians and doctors. Each cell is described by 20 numerical features, and the cells fall into 7 classes. A basic data analysis in...

  2. Symptomatic candidiasis: Using self sampled vaginal smears to establish the presence of Candida, lactobacilli, and Gardnerella vaginalis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engberts, M K; Boon, M E; van Haaften, M; Heintz, A P M

    2007-10-01

    In a prospective cohort study, 10 symptomatic women with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis were taught how to prepare vaginal smears of their own vaginal fluids on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. The 40 smears were stained with the PAS-method and examined by three different cytopathologists for presence of Candida. Thereafter, the smears were restained with Giemsa-stain to determine presence of lactobacilli, Gardnerella vaginalis ("clue cells") and neutrophils. All three cytopathologists unequivocally established Candida blastospores and (pseudo)hyphae in 27 out of the 40 PAS-stained vaginal smears, whereas in the remaining 13 smears Candida was not found. All 10 patients had Candida in their smears during the second half of their menstrual cycle.Self sampled smears prove to be reliable for establishing the presence of Candida in symptomatic patients with candidiasis. Candida is associated with a lactobacillus-predominated vaginal flora, but with the absence of Gardnerella vaginalis. Further studies may be directed towards the interaction between the various members of the vaginal flora. This study should open molecular methodology for determining the possible interactions of lactobacilli and Candida. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  3. Diagnostic value of an abnormal smear in non-pregnant women. Evaluation of positive smear from the surface of the portio obtained by the cottonswab method or by the dry wooden Ayre spatula and the relevance of positive smear from the endocervix and/or from the surface of the portio

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundvall, L; Højgaard, L L; Højgaard, K

    1990-01-01

    During a 3-4 year period, 324 women with a positive smear were registered consecutively and prospectively and divided into two groups according to the design of the investigation. In one group the smear was taken with an Ayre spatula and in the other group with a cotton swab. The purpose of this ...

  4. 17 Smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis among HIV patients ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    conducted in February 2009 to assess the effect of the level of CD4 lymphocyte ... development of smear positive pulmonary TB (PTB) among HIV patients before ..... (2000) Impact of combination antiretroviral therapy on the risk of tuberculosis.

  5. Cadmium sulfide quantum dots induce oxidative stress and behavioral impairments in the marine clam Scrobicularia plana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buffet, Pierre-Emmanuel; Zalouk-Vergnoux, Aurore; Poirier, Laurence; Lopes, Christelle; Risso-de-Faverney, Christine; Guibbolini, Marielle; Gilliland, Douglas; Perrein-Ettajani, Hanane; Valsami-Jones, Eugenia; Mouneyrac, Catherine

    2015-07-01

    Cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots have a number of current applications in electronics and solar cells and significant future potential in medicine. The aim of the present study was to examine the toxic effects of CdS quantum dots on the marine clam Scrobicularia plana exposed for 14 d to these nanomaterials (10 µg Cd L(-1) ) in natural seawater and to compare them with soluble Cd. Measurement of labile Cd released from CdS quantum dots showed that 52% of CdS quantum dots remained in the nanoparticulate form. Clams accumulated the same levels of Cd regardless of the form in which it was delivered (soluble Cd vs CdS quantum dots). However, significant changes in biochemical responses were observed in clams exposed to CdS quantum dots compared with soluble Cd. Increased activities of catalase and glutathione-S-transferase were significantly higher in clams exposed in seawater to Cd as the nanoparticulate versus the soluble form, suggesting a specific nano effect. The behavior of S. plana in sediment showed impairments of foot movements only in the case of exposure to CdS quantum dots. The results show that oxidative stress and behavior biomarkers are sensitive predictors of CdS quantum dots toxicity in S. plana. Such responses, appearing well before changes might occur at the population level, demonstrate the usefulness of this model species and type of biomarker in the assessment of nanoparticle contamination in estuarine ecosystems. © 2015 SETAC.

  6. Comparison of Pap smear screening results between Akha hill tribe and urban women in Chiang Rai province, Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kritpetcharat, Onanong; Wutichouy, Wiwat; Sirijaichingkul, Suchat; Kritpetcharat, Panutas

    2012-01-01

    Cervical cancer is an important woman's health problems worldwide, especially in low socio-economic countries. The aim of this study was to compare the Pap smear screening results between Akha hill tribe and urban women who live in Chiang Rai province, Thailand. Screening was conducted for 1,100 Akha women and 1,100 urban women who came to have the Pap smear at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital and 1 private cytology laboratory from January to June 2008. The demographic characteristics and factors related to abnormal Pap smears of these women were gathered using closed model questionnaires. Abnormal Rap smears were defined according to the Bethesda 2001 system. The results showed that the prevalence of abnormal Pap smears was 12.2% in Akha women and 4.5% in urban women. The highest prevalence of Pap abnormalities was found in the 41-50 years age group in both populations (4.5% in Akha and 1.7% in urban women). In both populations, abnormal Pap smears were found in education level. In conclusion, cervical cancer control by education and early detection by Pap smear screening is necessary for hill tribe women. More Pap smear screening service units should be set to improve the coverage for the risk group women who got married in young age, especial in ethnic groups.

  7. Quantum corrections to the stress-energy tensor in thermodynamic equilibrium with acceleration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becattini, F.; Grossi, E.

    2015-08-01

    We show that the stress-energy tensor has additional terms with respect to the ideal form in states of global thermodynamic equilibrium in flat spacetime with nonvanishing acceleration and vorticity. These corrections are of quantum origin and their leading terms are second order in the gradients of the thermodynamic fields. Their relevant coefficients can be expressed in terms of correlators of the stress-energy tensor operator and the generators of the Lorentz group. With respect to previous assessments, we find that there are more second-order coefficients and that all thermodynamic functions including energy density receive acceleration and vorticity dependent corrections. Notably, also the relation between ρ and p , that is, the equation of state, is affected by acceleration and vorticity. We have calculated the corrections for a free real scalar field—both massive and massless—and we have found that they increase, particularly for a massive field, at very high acceleration and vorticity and very low temperature. Finally, these nonideal terms depend on the explicit form of the stress-energy operator, implying that different stress-energy tensors of the scalar field—canonical or improved—are thermodynamically inequivalent.

  8. Lot quality assurance sampling of sputum acid-fast bacillus smears for assessing sputum smear microscopy centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selvakumar, N; Murthy, B N; Prabhakaran, E; Sivagamasundari, S; Vasanthan, Samuel; Perumal, M; Govindaraju, R; Chauhan, L S; Wares, Fraser; Santha, T; Narayanan, P R

    2005-02-01

    Assessment of 12 microscopy centers in a tuberculosis unit by blinded checking of eight sputum smears selected by using a lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) method and by unblinded checking of all positive and five negative slides, among the slides examined in a month in a microscopy centre, revealed that the LQAS method can be implemented in the field to monitor the performance of acid-fast bacillus microscopy centers in national tuberculosis control programs.

  9. Papshop: Not a 'melon'choly Pap smear workshop!

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    of cervical cancer will take several decades to be apparent. There are more effective ways of screening, such as HPV DNA testing,[2] ... ARTICLE. Papshop: Not a 'melon'choly Pap smear workshop! C Gordon, MB ChB, Diploma in HIV ...

  10. Validation study of HPV DNA detection from stained FNA smears by polymerase chain reaction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Channir, Hani Ibrahim; Larsen, Christian Grønhøj; Ahlborn, Lise Barlebo

    2016-01-01

    and corresponding surgical specimens were collected from 71 patients with known HPV-positive OPSCC, 12 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), 20 patients with branchial cleft cysts, and 20 patients with Warthin tumors. Thirty-eight patients with OPSCC and 7 patients with OSCC had FNA smears available...... was detected in 68 of the 71 FNA smears from OPSCC metastases. All corresponding surgical specimens from primary tumors (n = 71) and metastases (n = 38) were p16- and HPV DNA-positive. All the surgical specimens and corresponding FNA smears from OSCCs, Warthin tumors, and branchial cleft cysts were HPV DNA...

  11. SEM Analysis of MTAD Efficacy for Smear Layer Removal from Periodontally Affected Root Surfaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. K. Tabor

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Biopure® MTAD (Dentsply Tulsa Dental, USA has been developed as a final irrigant following root canal shaping to remove intracanal smear layer. Many of the unique properties of MTAD potentially transfer to the conditioning process of tooth roots during periodontal therapy. The aim of this ex vivo studywas to evaluate the effect of MTAD on the removal of smear layer from root surfaces.Materials and Methods: Thirty two longitudinally sectioned specimens from 16 freshly extracted teeth diagnosed with advanced periodontal disease were divided into four groups. In group 1 and 2, the root surfaces were scaled using Gracey curettes. In group 3 and 4, 0.5 mm of the root surface was removed using a fissure bur. The specimens in group 1 and 3 were then irrigated by normal saline. Thespecimens in groups 2 and 4 were irrigated with Biopure MTAD.All specimens were prepared for SEM and scored according to the presence of smear layer.Results: MTAD significantly increased (P=0.001 the smear layer removal in both groups 2 and 4 compared to the associated control groups, in which only saline was used.Conclusion: MTAD increased the removal of the smear layer from periodontally affected root surfaces. Use of MTAD as a periodontal conditioner may be suggested.

  12. Pap-smear Classification Using Efficient Second Order Neural Network Training Algorithms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ampazis, Nikolaos; Dounias, George; Jantzen, Jan

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we make use of two highly efficient second order neural network training algorithms, namely the LMAM (Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum) and OLMAM (Optimized Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum), for the construction of an efficient pap-smear test classifier. The alg......In this paper we make use of two highly efficient second order neural network training algorithms, namely the LMAM (Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum) and OLMAM (Optimized Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum), for the construction of an efficient pap-smear test classifier...

  13. Self-reported history of Pap-smear in HIV-positive women in Northern Italy: a cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ghinelli Florio

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The incidence of invasive cervical cancer in HIV-positive women is higher than in the general population. There is evidence that HIV-positive women do not participate sufficiently in cervical cancer screening in Italy, where cervical cancer is more than 10-fold higher in women with AIDS than in the general population. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the history of Pap-smear in HIV-positive women in Italy in recent years. We also examined the sociodemographic, clinical, and organizational factors associated with adherence to cervical cancer screening. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2006 and June 2007 in Emilia-Romagna region (Northern Italy. All HIV-positive women who received a follow-up visit in one of the 10 regional infectivology units were invited to participate. History of Pap-smear, including abnormal smears and subsequent treatment, was investigated through a self-administered anonymous questionnaire. The association between lack of Pap-smear in the year preceding the interview and selected characteristics was assessed by means of odds ratios (OR and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for study centre and age. Results A total of 1,002 HIV-positive women were interviewed. Nine percent reported no history of Pap-smear, and 39% had no Pap-smear in the year prior to the date of questionnaire (last year. The lack of Pap-smear in the last year was significantly associated with age Three hundred five (34% women reported a previous abnormal Pap-smear, and of the 178 (58% referred for treatment, 97% complied. Conclusions In recent years the self-reported history of Pap-smear in HIV-positive women, in some public clinics in Italy, is higher than previously reported, but further efforts are required to make sure cervical cancer screening is accessible to all HIV-positive women.

  14. The value of Tzanck smear test in diagnosis of erosive, vesicular, bullous, and pustular skin lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durdu, Murat; Baba, Mete; Seçkin, Deniz

    2008-12-01

    Tzanck smear is generally used for the diagnosis of the pemphigus group of autoimmune bullous diseases and mucocutaneous herpesvirus infections. There are only a few studies in the literature investigating its diagnostic value. We aimed to investigate Tzanck smear findings and to determine the diagnostic value of this test in moist (erosive, vesicular, bullous, and pustular) skin lesions. We also aimed to develop an algorithmic approach for the diagnosis of these types of skin lesions according to the Tzanck smear findings. Samples were stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa and evaluated by the same dermatologist. In some patients, methylene blue and Gram staining or direct immunofluorescence examinations were additionally performed. In all of the study cases, after the evaluation of clinical and laboratory findings (including, when appropriate, potassium hydroxide examination; viral serology; bacterial and fungal cultures; histopathology; direct and indirect immunofluorescence; patch testing), the definite diagnosis was established. We also determined the sensitivity and the specificity of certain Tzanck smear findings. Tzanck smear was performed in a total of 400 patients with moist skin lesions. The sensitivities of multinucleated giant cells and acantholytic cells in herpetic infections, dyskeratotic acantholytic cells and cocci in bullous impetigo, pseudohyphae in candidiasis, acantholytic cells in pemphigus and more than 10 tadpole cells (magnification x100) in spongiotic dermatitis were 84.7%, 92%, 100%, 100%, and 81.5%, respectively. Because Tzanck smears were evaluated by the same dermatologist, no comment could be made regarding the interobserver reliability of this test and how the level of experience with this technique might affect the results. Also, the sensitivity and the specificity of Tzanck smear test findings for certain diseases could not be calculated because of an insufficient number of patients. The Tzanck smear test is an inexpensive, useful

  15. Evaluation of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) solution and gel for smear layer removal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dotto, Sidney Ricardo; Travassos, Rosana Maria Coelho; de Oliveira, Elias Pandonor Motcy; Machado, Manoel Eduardo de Lima; Martins, José Luiz

    2007-08-01

    The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the efficacy of 24% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) gel and 17% EDTA solution in cleaning dentine walls after root canal instrumentation. Thirty human canine teeth were divided into three groups of 10 teeth each. In Group 1, 1% sodium hypochlorite was used as the irrigating solution; in Group 2, 1% sodium hypochlorite was used with 17% EDTA solution; and in Group 3, 1% sodium hypochlorite was used with 24% EDTA gel. The presence of a smear layer was analysed after instrumentation using scanning electron microscopy. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed a statistical difference (P 0.05). The results indicate that 1% sodium hypochlorite alone does not remove the smear layer and that there was no statistical difference between EDTA gel and EDTA solution in smear layer removal.

  16. TEMPORAL SMEARING OF TRANSIENT RADIO SOURCES BY THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Macquart, Jean-Pierre; Koay, Jun Yi

    2013-01-01

    The temporal smearing of impulsive radio events at cosmological redshifts probes the properties of the ionized intergalactic medium (IGM). We relate the degree of temporal smearing and the profile of a scattered source to the evolution of a turbulent structure in the IGM as a function of redshift. We estimate the degree of scattering expected by analyzing the contributions to the scattering measure of the various components of baryonic matter embedded in the IGM, including the diffuse IGM, intervening galaxies, and intracluster gas. These estimates predict that the amount of temporal smearing expected at 300 MHz is typically as low as ∼1 ms and suggests that these bursts may be detectable with low-frequency widefield arrays. A generalization of the dispersion-measure-scattering-measure relation observed for Galactic scattering to the densities and turbulent conditions relevant to the IGM suggests that scattering measures on the order of 10 –6 kpc m –20/3 would be expected at z ∼ 1. This scattering is sufficiently low enough that its effects would not, for most lines of sight, be manifested in existing observations of the scatter broadening in images of extragalactic compact sources. The redshift dependence on the temporal smearing discriminates between scattering that occurs in the host galaxy of the burst and the IGM, with τ host ∝(1 + z) –3 if the scattering probes length scales below the inner scale of the turbulence or τ host ∝(1 + z) –17/5 if the turbulence follows a Kolmogorov spectrum. This differs strongly from the expected IGM scaling τ IGM ∼ z 2 for z ∼ 0.2–0.5 for z ∼> 1

  17. Evaluation of final irrigation regimens with maleic acid for smear layer removal and wettability of root canal sealer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballal, Nidambur Vasudev; Ferrer-Luque, Carmen Maria; Sona, Mrunali; Prabhu, K Narayan; Arias-Moliz, Teresa; Baca, Pilar

    2018-04-01

    To evaluate the smear layer removal and wettability of AH Plus sealer on root canal dentin treated with MA (maleic acid), MA + CTR (cetrimide) and MA + CTR + CHX (chlorhexidine) as final irrigating regimens. For smear layer removal, 40 teeth were instrumented to size F4 and divided into four groups: (1) 7% MA, (2) 7% MA + 0.2% CTR, (3) 7% MA + 0.2% CTR + 2% CHX, (4) distilled water (control). After irrigation, teeth were subjected to SEM analysis. For contact angle analysis, 20 teeth were split longitudinally and divided into four groups similar to smear layer analysis. AH plus sealer was placed on each specimen and contact angle was analysed. In both smear layer (p = .393) and contact angle analysis (p = .961), there was no significant difference between the groups MA and MA + CTR. However, MA + CTR + CHX removed smear layer less effectively (p = .023) and increased the contact angle of the sealer (p = .005). In smear layer analysis, specimens in negative control group were heavily smeared. In case of contact angle analysis, samples in the control group had least contact angle. MA alone or in combination with CTR removed smear layer effectively and increased the wettability of AH plus sealer to root canal dentin.

  18. Stress evolution during growth of bilayer self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schaadt, D.M.; Krauss, S.; Koch, R.; Ploog, K.H.

    2006-01-01

    We investigated the stress evolution during molecular-beam epitaxy of bilayer InAs/GaAs(001) quantum dot (QD) structures in real time and with sub-monolayer precision using an in-situ cantilever beam setup. During growth of the InAs at 470 C a stress of 5.1 GPa develops in the wetting layer, in good agreement with the theoretical misfit stress. At a critical thickness of 1.5 monolayers the strain is relieved by the QD formation. In the case of InAs/GaAs bilayer structures, the second InAs layer grows identical to the first for GaAs spacer thicknesses exceeding ∝13 nm. For thinner spacers the critical thickness for the 2D/3D transition in the second layer decreases. The stress of the second InAs layer does not reach the value of the first, indicating that InAs QDs grow on partially strained areas due to the strain field of the previous InAs layer. (orig.)

  19. Evaluating the Pap Smear Reports of Pathology Laboratories in Ahvaz, Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirin Zargar Shoushtari

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Background & aim: Pap smear is a screening procedure for cervical cancer. The incidence and mortality rate of cervical cancer has decreased up to 90% in the regular screening in women aged 20-65 years. This study aimed to investigate the Pap smear reports of pathology laboratories in Ahvaz, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1,006 Pap smear reports were collected from pathology laboratories via cluster sampling method. Data was analyzed by a self-structured questionnaire. In addition, variables such as age, type of infection, grade of inflammation, metaplastic changes, and epithelial cell abnormalities in cervix were studied in this study. Data analysis was performed in SPSS V.16.0 using descriptive analysis, ANOVA, Fisher’s exact, and Chi-square tests. Results: While no infection was reported in 94.43% (n=950 of cases, the highest incidence rate of infections in the remaining samples (5.56%, n=56 was related to Candida Albicans (4.77%, n=48. Various grades of inflammation were reported in 83.69% (n=842 of the samples. Moreover, the highest grade of inflammation in fungal infections was 2+, whereas the grades in Trichomonas and bacterial infections were 1+ and 3+, respectively. Cervical dysplasia and metaplasia were reported in 0.29% (n=3 and 1.19% (n=12 of the cases, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of cervical-vaginal infections, cervical metaplasia, and dysplasia were relatively low in Pap smear reports of laboratories in Ahvaz.

  20. Sputum, sex and scanty smears: new case definition may reduce sex disparities in smear-positive tuberculosis

    OpenAIRE

    Ramsay, A; Bonnet, M; Gagnidze, L; Githui, W; Varaine, F; Guérin, P J

    2009-01-01

    SETTING: Urban clinic, Nairobi. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of specimen quality and different smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) case (SPC) definitions on SPC detection by sex. DESIGN: Prospective study among TB suspects. RESULTS: A total of 695 patients were recruited: 644 produced > or =1 specimen for microscopy. The male/female sex ratio was 0.8. There were no significant differences in numbers of men and women submitting three specimens (274/314 vs. 339/380, P = 0.43). Significantly ...

  1. PENYULUHAN METODE PAP SMEAR TERHADAP TINGKAT PENGETAHUAN DAN SIKAP WANITA TUNA SUSILA DALAM PENDETEKSIAN KANKER SERVIKS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ismi Wulandari AS

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: The Effectiveness Of Pap smear Test’s Counseling Regarding To The Level Of Knowledge And Behaviour In Prostitution Worker For Detection Of Cervical Cancer In Bintang Mas Kubu Raya 2014. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectivity of counseling toward knowledge and behavior. in prostitution worker about pap smear and cervical cancer. This research was quasi-experimental with one group pretest-postest design. There are 38 respondents. McNemar test showed there are significant. improvement of knowledge (p<0.05, and significance behavior change (p<0.05 in all respondents before and after counseling. Keyword : knowledge, behaviour, cervical cancer, pap smear Abstrak : Penyuluhan Metode Pap smear Terhadap Tingkat Pengetahuan Dan Sikap Wanita Tuna Susila Dalam Pendeteksian Kanker Serviks. Tujuan penelitian ini yaitu untuk melihat efektivitas terhadap pengetahuan dan sikap melalui penyuluhan mengenai pap smear kepada para wanita tuna susila. Rancangan penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah quasi eksperimental dengan rancangan one group pretest-postest design. Besar sampel berjumlah 38 orang. Hasil menunjukkan uji McNemar menunjukkan terdapat signifikansi yang bermakna untuk pengetahuan (p < 0,05 dan signifikansi untuk perubahan sikap (p<0.05 pada responden sebelum dan setelah penyuluhan. Kata kunci : pengetahuan, sikap, kanker serviks, pap smear

  2. Development of portable and automatic smear sampler for measuring surface contamination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Bong Jae; Chang, S. Y.; Kim, B. H.; Kim, J. S.; Lee, H. S.; Kim, C. K.; Swol, C. W

    2000-12-01

    In measuring radioactive contamination in radiation controlled area of nuclear facility, the technical criteria to evaluate surface contamination level and to sample by indirect method was established in this paper. Radioactive materials always present on surface within operating nuclear facilities. Because of the presence of interfering radiation field, health physicists take smear samples to monitoring surface contamination according to routine monitoring program. But there are some problems like great errors and difference of personnel. Then, to solve them, The portable and automatic smear sampling apparatus was designed and fabricated.

  3. Development of portable and automatic smear sampler for measuring surface contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Bong Jae; Chang, S. Y.; Kim, B. H.; Kim, J. S.; Lee, H. S.; Kim, C. K.; Swol, C. W.

    2000-12-01

    In measuring radioactive contamination in radiation controlled area of nuclear facility, the technical criteria to evaluate surface contamination level and to sample by indirect method was established in this paper. Radioactive materials always present on surface within operating nuclear facilities. Because of the presence of interfering radiation field, health physicists take smear samples to monitoring surface contamination according to routine monitoring program. But there are some problems like great errors and difference of personnel. Then, to solve them, The portable and automatic smear sampling apparatus was designed and fabricated

  4. Diagnostic accuracy of slit skin smears in leprosy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naveed, T.; Shaikh, Z.

    2015-01-01

    To determine the diagnostic accuracy of slit skin smears in clinically suspected patients of leprosy using histopathology as gold standard. Study Design: Validation study Place and Duration of Study: Study was carried out at Rawalpindi Leprosy Hospital, Dermatology Department Military Hospital (MH) and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi from 18th August 2012 to 18 Feb 2013. Methods: Appropriate technical and ethical approval for the study and patient consent were obtained. All suspected patients of leprosy of any age and either gender having typical hypo-aesthetic or anesthetic, erythematous or hypo-pigmented scaly skin lesions on any part of body were included in this study. All patients who have already received treatment for leprosy, patients with pure neural leprosy, patient not giving their consent for skin biopsy and patients with lepra reactions were excluded from this study. Forty eight patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Sample size had been calculated by using WHO sample size calculator taking confidence level 95%, absolute precision required 14% and anticipated population proportion 40%. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used to collect sample. Results: The results of the study revealed that out of 48 clinically suspected patients of leprosy skin biopsy confirmed the diagnosis in 34 patients (70.8%) and the slit skin smear had diagnostic accuracy of 68.75% with sensitivity 55.8% and specificity and positive predictive value of 100%. Conclusion: Study suggested that although slit skin smears are rapid and inexpensive method of diagnosis but their diagnostic accuracy is low. (author)

  5. Effects of spectral smearing on performance of the spectral ripple and spectro-temporal ripple tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narne, Vijaya Kumar; Sharma, Mridula; Van Dun, Bram; Bansal, Shalini; Prabhu, Latika; Moore, Brian C J

    2016-12-01

    The main aim of this study was to use spectral smearing to evaluate the efficacy of a spectral ripple test (SRt) using stationary sounds and a recent variant with gliding ripples called the spectro-temporal ripple test (STRt) in measuring reduced spectral resolution. In experiment 1 the highest detectable ripple density was measured using four amounts of spectral smearing (unsmeared, mild, moderate, and severe). The thresholds worsened with increasing smearing and were similar for the SRt and the STRt across the three conditions with smearing. For unsmeared stimuli, thresholds were significantly higher (better) for the STRt than for the SRt. An amplitude fluctuation at the outputs of simulated (gammatone) auditory filters centered above 6400 Hz was identified as providing a potential detection cue for the STRt stimuli. Experiment 2 used notched noise with energy below and above the passband of the SRt and STRt stimuli to reduce confounding cues in the STRt. Thresholds were almost identical for the STRt and SRt for both unsmeared and smeared stimuli, indicating that the confounding cue for the STRt was eliminated by the notched noise. Thresholds obtained with notched noise present could be predicted reasonably accurately using an excitation-pattern model.

  6. Sputum, sex and scanty smears: new case definition may reduce sex disparities in smear-positive tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramsay, A; Bonnet, M; Gagnidze, L; Githui, W; Varaine, F; Guérin, P J

    2009-05-01

    Urban clinic, Nairobi. To evaluate the impact of specimen quality and different smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) case (SPC) definitions on SPC detection by sex. Prospective study among TB suspects. A total of 695 patients were recruited: 644 produced > or =1 specimen for microscopy. The male/female sex ratio was 0.8. There were no significant differences in numbers of men and women submitting three specimens (274/314 vs. 339/380, P = 0.43). Significantly more men than women produced a set of three 'good' quality specimens (175/274 vs. 182/339, P = 0.01). Lowering thresholds for definitions to include scanty smears resulted in increases in SPC detection in both sexes; the increase was significantly higher for women. The revised World Health Organization (WHO) case definition was associated with the highest detection rates in women. When analysis was restricted only to patients submitting 'good' quality specimen sets, the difference in detection between sexes was on the threshold for significance (P = 0.05). Higher SPC notification rates in men are commonly reported by TB control programmes. The revised WHO SPC definition may reduce sex disparities in notification. This should be considered when evaluating other interventions aimed at reducing these. Further study is required on the effects of the human immuno-deficiency virus and instructed specimen collection on sex-specific impact of new SPC definition.

  7. Analytical solution for vacuum preloading considering the nonlinear distribution of horizontal permeability within the smear zone.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie Peng

    Full Text Available The vacuum preloading is an effective method which is widely used in ground treatment. In consolidation analysis, the soil around prefabricated vertical drain (PVD is traditionally divided into smear zone and undisturbed zone, both with constant permeability. In reality, the permeability of soil changes continuously within the smear zone. In this study, the horizontal permeability coefficient of soil within the smear zone is described by an exponential function of radial distance. A solution for vacuum preloading consolidation considers the nonlinear distribution of horizontal permeability within the smear zone is presented and compared with previous analytical results as well as a numerical solution, the results show that the presented solution correlates well with the numerical solution, and is more precise than previous analytical solution.

  8. The physics of quantum mechanics

    CERN Document Server

    Binney, James

    2014-01-01

    The Physics of Quantum Mechanics aims to give students a good understanding of how quantum mechanics describes the material world. It shows that the theory follows naturally from the use of probability amplitudes to derive probabilities. It stresses that stationary states are unphysical mathematical abstractions that enable us to solve the theory's governing equation, the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. Every opportunity is taken to illustrate the emergence of the familiarclassical, dynamical world through the quantum interference of stationary states. The text stresses the continuity be

  9. Time to sputum conversion in smear positive pulmonary TB patients on category I DOTS and factors delaying it.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parikh, Raunak; Nataraj, Gita; Kanade, Swapna; Khatri, Vijay; Mehta, Preeti

    2012-08-01

    Sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients expel infectious viable bacilli for a period following commencement of treatment. Patients on Directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse (DOTS) receive intermittent therapy with multidrug regimen. To determine the time to sputum smear and culture conversion following initiation of DOTS treatment and study the factors that influence it. A prospective study was undertaken at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Mumbai over a one year period on a cohort of 71 sputum smear positive patients on Category I DOTS treatment. Patients were followed up weekly for upto 20 weeks or until they underwent smear and culture conversion whichever was earlier. At each follow up, specimens were collected and processed for microscopy and culture using standard protocol. 60/71 [84.55%] patients completed the study. 56/60 [93.3%] patients underwent sputum smear and culture conversion. The median time to smear and culture conversion was end of 5th week [day 35] and 6 1/2 weeks [day 45] respectively. Univariate and stepwise regression analysis showed that patients who had cavitatory disease, high pretreatment smear grade and a past history of tuberculosis were more likely to undergo delayed or nonconversion [P culture conversion under DOTS is similar to previous antituberculosis regimens. Since viable bacilli continue to be expelled for upto two months, infection control measures should be maintained for such time. Patients with cavitatory disease, high pretreatment smear grade or a past history of tuberculosis need to be monitored more closely.

  10. Tuberculosis risk factors in children with smear-positive tuberculosis adult as household contact

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nora Hajarsjah

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Background Children in household contact of adults with smear-positive tuberculosis (TB are at higher risk of TB infection. Screening of these children is a main strategy for eliminating childhood TB. Objective To determine risk factors of TB among children in household contact with smear-positive adult TB patients. Methods This case-control study was conducted in 5 public health centers at Batu Bara District, North Sumatera. We studied children from birth to 18 year-old living in the same house as adults with smear-positive TB. A tuberculosis scoring system was used to diagnosis TB in the children. Associations between risk factors and the incidence of TB were analyzed using Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and logistic regression tests. Results We enrolled 145 children who had household contact with smear-positive adult TB patients. Subjects were allocated to either the case group [TB score >6; 61 subjects (42.0%] or the control group [TB score <6; 84 subjects (58.0%]. Bivariate analysis revealed that nutritional status, immunization status, number of people in the house, sleeping in the same bed, and duration of household contact had significant associations with the incidence of TB. By multivariate logistic regression analysis, nutritional status and duration of household contact were significant risk factors for TB, with OR 5.89 and 8.91, respectively. Conclusion Malnutrition and duration of household contact with smear-positive adult TB patients of more than 6 hours per day were risk factors for TB among children.

  11. Air and smear sample calculational tool for Fluor Hanford Radiological control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    BAUMANN, B.L.

    2003-01-01

    A spreadsheet calculation tool was developed to automate the calculations performed for determining the concentration of airborne radioactivity and smear counting as outlined in HNF--13536, Section 5.2.7, ''Analyzing Air and Smear Samples''. This document reports on the design and testing of the calculation tool. Radiological Control Technicians (RCTs) will save time and reduce hand written and calculation errors by using an electronic form for documenting and calculating work place air samples. Current expectations are RCTs will perform an air sample and collect the filter or perform a smear for surface contamination. RCTs will then survey the filter for gross alpha and beta/gamma radioactivity and with the gross counts utilize either hand calculation method or a calculator to determine activity on the filter. The electronic form will allow the RCT with a few key strokes to document the individual's name, payroll, gross counts, instrument identifiers; produce an error free record. This productivity gain is realized by the enhanced ability to perform mathematical calculations electronically (reducing errors) and at the same time, documenting the air sample

  12. Diagnostic performance of automated liquid culture and molecular line probe assay in smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotwal, Aarti; Biswas, Debasis; Raghuvanshi, Shailendra; Sindhwani, Girish; Kakati, Barnali; Sharma, Shweta

    2017-04-01

    The diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is particularly challenging, and automated liquid culture and molecular line probe assays (LPA) may prove particularly useful. The objective of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of automated liquid culture (ALC) technology and commercial LPA in sputum smear-negative PTB suspects. Spot sputum samples were collected from 145 chest-symptomatic smear-negative patients and subjected to ALC, direct drug susceptibility test (DST) testing and LPA, as per manufacturers' instructions. A diagnostic yield of 26.2% was observed among sputum smear-negative TB suspects with 47.4% of the culture isolates being either INH- and/or rifampicin-resistant. Complete agreement was observed between the results of ALC assay and LPA except for two isolates which demonstrated sensitivity to INH and rifampicin at direct DST but were rifampicin-resistant in LPA. Two novel mutations were also detected among the multidrug isolates by LPA. In view of the diagnostic challenges associated with the diagnosis of TB in sputum smear-negative patients, our study demonstrates the applicability of ALC and LPA in establishing diagnostic evidence of TB.

  13. Quantum fields in curved space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birrell, N.D.; Davies, P.C.W.

    1982-01-01

    The book presents a comprehensive review of the subject of gravitational effects in quantum field theory. Quantum field theory in Minkowski space, quantum field theory in curved spacetime, flat spacetime examples, curved spacetime examples, stress-tensor renormalization, applications of renormalization techniques, quantum black holes and interacting fields are all discussed in detail. (U.K.)

  14. Agreement Between Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid and Papanicolaous Smear as Screening Methods for Cervical Cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naz, U.; Hanif, S.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To determine degree of agreement between visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and Papanicolaous (Pap) smear as screening methods for cervical cancer. Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, from July to December 2012. Methodology: Two hundred and fifty women in reproductive age group presenting with various gynaecological complaints were included in the study. A Papanicolaous smear was taken and visual inspection with 5% acetic acid was done. VIA was reported as positive or negative according to acetowhite changes and cytology result was graded as CIN 1, 2, 3 and squamous carcinoma. Those women who showed positive result with either VIA or Pap smear or both were further subjected to colposcopic directed biopsy which was taken as gold standard. Results were computed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 and statistical test used was kappa. Results: Out of 250 women, VIA was positive in 55 (22%) patients and Pap smear was abnormal in 27 (10.8%). Histological diagnosis of CIN/cancer was made in 36 out of a total 62 patients who underwent biopsy. Conclusion: There was a fair agreement between VIA and Pap smear, with VIA detecting more abnormalities than cytology. In the absence of Pap smear availability, VIA may be a reasonable cervical cancer screening method, especially in low resource settings. (author)

  15. Surface micro-distributions of pigment and the relation between smearing and local mass distribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buelow, K.; Kristiansson, P.; Larsson, T.; Malmberg, S.; Elfman, M.; Malmqvist, K.; Pallon, J.; Shariff, A.

    2001-01-01

    In this work, the process of smearing and its time evolution have been investigated. When smearing occurs, the print is removed from the printed paper and colours other parts of the paper or the printing press and destroys the final product. To study the re-distribution of ink, cyan ink with Cu as a tracer in the coloured pigment has been used. Non-printed paper has been pressed against the paper, 1 and 5 s after the printing. The micro-distributions of ink on both printed and non-printed papers have then been studied using particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Basis weight was measured with the off-axis scanning transmission ion microscopy (STIM) technique and this data was correlated with the data from the print. One conclusion is that the process of smearing is not dependent on the shape of the pigment distribution, i.e. copper, or the content of copper in a specific pixel. On the contrary, the smearing was found to be related to the structure of the paper and that it mainly occurs where the paper is thicker

  16. Awareness and practice of cervical cancer and Pap smear testing in a teaching hospital in Tehran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mansoureh Ghaoomi

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Cervical cancer is known to be preventable because of long period of pre-invasive stage, availability of screening tools, and effective treatments for early invasive cervical lesions. Screening is main measures to prevent the disease and Pap smear is a screening strategy for cervical cancer. Current paper aimed to evaluate levels of awareness and practice regarding Pap smear screening among women aged between 20 to 65 years in Tehran (Iran. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical study conducted in Tehran City of Iran in 2015 at Firoozgar Hospital. The research population included all married, widowed and divorced women aged 20-65 years. Data analysis was performed using the Pearson correlation and Student’s t-tests in SPSS, ver. 23 (Chicago, IL, USA. Results: Among 90 individuals who have fill questionnaire completely, 66.6% subjects had Pap smear tests. 40% of the individuals aged between 30 to 39 and the education level is distributed equally between Intermediate, Diploma and graduate and only 3 percent of them, continue their education to higher level. There was a significant relationship between the awareness of Pap smear and educational level (of both wives and husbands. The people who have graduate degree, have the best awareness. Working women revealed higher level of awareness about Pap smear. Shame and fear of taking the cancer were the most common reasons which lead to avoidance in doing the test by the women, while the most encouraging factors for performing the test were the information mostly provided by physicians and after that, the information provided by friends. Conclusion: The awareness of Pap smear test which was measured by weighting different questions in the questionnaire by experts, prove that the women aged above 39, have an average level of awareness of Pap smear test. Due to high prevalence of cervical cancer and prolonged pre invasive course, role of Pap smear for early diagnosis necessitate the use

  17. Quantum oscillations of conductivity in bismuth wires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Condrea, Elena

    2011-01-01

    Measurements of the resistance of bismuth nanowires with several diameters and different quality reveal oscillations on the dependence of resistance under uniaxial strain at T = 4.2 K. Amplitude of oscillations is significant (38 %) at helium temperature and becomes smearing at T = 77 K. Observed oscillations originate from quantum size effect. A simple evaluation of period of oscillations allows us to identify the groups of carriers involved in transport. Calculated periods of 42.2 and 25.9 nm satisfy approximately the ratio 2:1 for two experimentally observed sets of oscillations from light and heavy electrons.

  18. [Effects of Light Near-Infrared Radiation on Rats Assessed by Succinate Dehydrogenase Activity in Lymphocytes on Blood Smears].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khunderyakova, N V; Zakharchenko, A V; Zakharchenko, M V; Muller, H; Fedotcheva, I; Kondrashova, M N

    2015-01-01

    Biological effects of light near infrared radiation (850 nm), with modulation acoustic frequency of 101 Hz, was studied. The study was conducted on rats, the effect was recorded by succinate dehydrogenase activity in lymphocytes on the blood smear after administration of the activating dose of adrenaline, which simulates the state of the organism in the early stages of the pathogenic effects (stress). A pronounced regulating effect of infrared radiation on the activity of succinate dehydrogenase in animals activated by adrenaline was shown. Infrared radiation has a normalizing effect reducing the degree of inhibition or activation of the enzyme induced by adrenaline and had no effect on the control animals. Thus, by modulating the activity of succinate dehydrogenase infrared radiation regulates energy production in the mitochondria supported by the most powerful oxidation substrate--succinic acid, which is especially pronounced under stress.

  19. Papanicolaou Smear Screening of Women with Intellectual Disabilities: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Lan-Ping; Lin, Jin-Ding; Sung, Chang-Lin; Liu, Ta-Wen; Liu, Yi-Lian; Chen, Li-Mei; Chu, Cordia M.

    2010-01-01

    Although little is known about the incidence of cervical cancer in women with intellectual disabilities (ID), Pap smear screening is an effective public health program to prevent cervical cancer to this group of people. The purposes of this study were to identify and evaluate the factors regarding the utilization of the Pap smears in women with ID…

  20. COMPARABLE CYTOLOGICAL DIAGNOSTIC OF BLOOD SMEARS ON BABESIA INFECTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pokhyl S.І.

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available In last time Babesiosis as a tick-borne hemoprotozoans human disease have a very important role in differentil diagnostics of modern infectious medicine. It caused by protozon of the genus Babesia, which invade and destory erythrocytes. Babesiosis olso has been called tick fever. So, Babesia has been known by other genus names, including Nuttallia, Microbabesia, Babesialla, and Gonderia. Because all Babesia species are piroplasms, a more inclusive term for anthropozoonotic infections caused by these organisms would be piroplasmosis.They detective complicacy are bild that, tick-borne disease agents from prolongate life cycles involving arthropod and vertebrate host. The complexity is enhanced by the diversity of hosts in different biotopes, which depends on factors life type of vegetation, climate and/or human influence, such as restoration of former industrial sites, which leads to the development of new biotopes. So, on the one hand, new habitats for plants and animals including ticks, and nature are created. About the first case of babesiosis infection was reported as a cause of human sickness in 1969 in northeastern United State. Several hundred cases are now reported from this region each year. The disease is characterized by a grandual oncet of malaise with anorexia, fever, headaches, myalgia, and other vague symptoms, which may persist for long period. Occasionally dangerous fulminating infections occur particularly in immunocompromised or aged individuals. The purpose of the present research was to study of the cytological diagnostic of blood smears from object’s with the Babesia infection. Materials and methods. Blood smears (by Romanovsky- Gimze (standart, Wright’s standart and staining, the author’s modification, 2014 of domestic dogs (n = 31 of both sexes with Babesia infection at the age from 3 months to 6 years served as the material for the study. The preparations were fixed during 1-2 seconds with 96 % ethyl alcohol. Then

  1. Knowledge and acceptability of pap smears, self-sampling and HPV vaccination among adult women in Kenya.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne F Rositch

    Full Text Available Our study aimed to assess adult women's knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV and cervical cancer, and characterize their attitudes towards potential screening and prevention strategies.Women were participants of an HIV-discordant couples cohort in Nairobi, Kenya. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on sociodemographic status, and sexual and medical history at baseline and on knowledge and attitudes towards Pap smears, self-sampling, and HPV vaccination at study exit.Only 14% of the 409 women (67% HIV-positive; median age 29 years had ever had a Pap smear prior to study enrollment and very few women had ever heard of HPV (18%. Although most women knew that Pap smears detect cervical cancer (69%, very few knew that routine Pap screening is the main way to prevent ICC (18%. Most women reported a high level of cultural acceptability for Pap smear screening and a low level of physical discomfort during Pap smear collection. In addition, over 80% of women reported that they would feel comfortable using a self-sampling device (82% and would prefer at-home sample collection (84%. Nearly all women (94% reported willingness to be vaccinated to prevent cervical cancer if offered at no or low cost.These findings highlight the need to educate women on routine use of Pap smears in the prevention of cervical cancer and demonstrate that vaccination and self-sampling would be acceptable modalities for cervical cancer prevention and screening.

  2. A Comparative Scanning Electron Microscopy Evaluation of Smear ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2018-02-07

    Feb 7, 2018 ... The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of chitosan and MTAD for the smear layer removal from the root canal through a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Thirty teeth were randomly divided into three groups according to the final irrigants: 0.2% chitosan, MTAD, saline (control group).

  3. A Comparative Scanning Electron Microscopy Evaluation of Smear ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of chitosan and MTAD for the smear layer removal from the root canal through a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Thirty teeth were randomly divided into three groups according to the final irrigants: 0.2% chitosan, MTAD, saline (control group). After the ...

  4. Thermodynamics of noncommutative high-dimensional AdS black holes with non-Gaussian smeared matter distributions

    CERN Document Server

    Miao, Yan-Gang

    2016-01-01

    Considering non-Gaussian smeared matter distributions, we investigate thermodynamic behaviors of the noncommutative high-dimensional Schwarzschild-Tangherlini anti-de Sitter black hole, and obtain the condition for the existence of extreme black holes. We indicate that the Gaussian smeared matter distribution, which is a special case of non-Gaussian smeared matter distributions, is not applicable for the 6- and higher-dimensional black holes due to the hoop conjecture. In particular, the phase transition is analyzed in detail. Moreover, we point out that the Maxwell equal area law maintains for the noncommutative black hole with the Hawking temperature within a specific range, but fails with the Hawking temperature beyond this range.

  5. Efficiency of final irrigation of root canal in removal of smear layer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitić Aleksandar

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction A smear layer forms on the root canal walls as the consequence of root instrumentation. The smear layer formed in such a way considerably influences the quality of root obturation and endodontic treatment outcome. Objective The aim of this study was to ultrastructurally analyze the surface of intracanal dentine after removal of the smear layer by the solution of doxycycline, citric acid and detergent Tween-80 (MTAD. Methods The study involved 60 single-rooted, extracted, human teeth divided into four groups. All samples were instrumented by a step-back technique and manual K-files, and rinsed during instrumentation by 2% CHX and H2O2. The first group of samples was exclusively rinsed by CHX and H2O2; in the second group, besides using CHX and H2O2, MTAD solution was used for the final irrigation. The samples which were rinsed by distilled water (+ control and the samples rinsed by 5.25% NaOCl and 17% Na EDTA (-control served as control groups. All samples were observed under the scanning electronic microscope JEOL-JSM-5300. The coronary, middle and apex thirds of the radix region were analyzed. Results The obtained results of the SEM analysis showed that the application of 2% chlorhexidine and hydrogen peroxide did not give clear dentine walls, and the smear layer could not be removed completely. The application of the same combination (CHX and H2O2, added by the final MTAD irrigation solution, led to the efficient removal of the smear layer, while the morphological structure of dentine surface remained unchanged. Statistical analysis showed that canal walls in the experimental group with MTAD as the final irrigation were significantly clearer compared to the control group (p<0.001. Conclusion Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that MTAD is an efficient solution for the final irrigation of the canal system.

  6. Peripheral blood smear image analysis: A comprehensive review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emad A Mohammed

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Peripheral blood smear image examination is a part of the routine work of every laboratory. The manual examination of these images is tedious, time-consuming and suffers from interobserver variation. This has motivated researchers to develop different algorithms and methods to automate peripheral blood smear image analysis. Image analysis itself consists of a sequence of steps consisting of image segmentation, features extraction and selection and pattern classification. The image segmentation step addresses the problem of extraction of the object or region of interest from the complicated peripheral blood smear image. Support vector machine (SVM and artificial neural networks (ANNs are two common approaches to image segmentation. Features extraction and selection aims to derive descriptive characteristics of the extracted object, which are similar within the same object class and different between different objects. This will facilitate the last step of the image analysis process: pattern classification. The goal of pattern classification is to assign a class to the selected features from a group of known classes. There are two types of classifier learning algorithms: supervised and unsupervised. Supervised learning algorithms predict the class of the object under test using training data of known classes. The training data have a predefined label for every class and the learning algorithm can utilize this data to predict the class of a test object. Unsupervised learning algorithms use unlabeled training data and divide them into groups using similarity measurements. Unsupervised learning algorithms predict the group to which a new test object belong to, based on the training data without giving an explicit class to that object. ANN, SVM, decision tree and K-nearest neighbor are possible approaches to classification algorithms. Increased discrimination may be obtained by combining several classifiers together.

  7. Delay in treatment seeking of smear positive tuberculous patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhatti, A.T.; Zahid, M.

    2010-01-01

    To assess and identify the causes and circumstances leading to delays in health seeking and diagnosis of tuberculosis patients as they often present with advance disease resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Settings Department of Tuberculosis, DOTS clinic DHQ Hospital, Vehari. Methodology One (author) inspiration diagnosed smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients were included. Information was gathered through interviews and from TB-01 card. Results Maximum patients were in age group of 16-40 years. Median patient delay was 4-6 months; jobless, homeless personnel had longer delay. The main reason for delay was that the symptoms were not considered serious enough. Delay in presentation of smear positive cases may be due to the lack of awareness of patients and the incompetence of some health workers. Training and supervision of staff and awareness campaigns targeted at the population and involvement of private sector will improve TB control in Vehari. (author)

  8. Effectiveness of EDTA as the irrigation solution to remove smear layer in root canal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kurniasri Amas Achiar

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available One of the objectives of successful endodontic treatment is the hermetic obturation of the root canal system. To achieve this, the root canal filling must seal the canal space both apically and coronally to prevent the ingress of microorganisms or tissue fluids into the canal space. Apical leakage is reported a common reason for the clinical failure of endodontic therapy. Leakage through an obturated root canal is expected to take place at interfaces between sealer and dentin or sealer and gutta-percha, or through voids within the sealer. Hence, the sealing quality of root canal filling depends much on the sealing ability of the sealer. Therefore, anything that may influence the adaptation of the root filling to the canal wall is can determine the degree and the extent of leakage, and ultimately the prognosis of the endodontic therapy. In endodontic therapy, the smear layer formation results from root canal preparation and may influence the effective seal of the root canal system. The smear layer formation is mainly composed of inorganic components (dentin debris and organic materials, such as pulp tissue remnant, bacteria, and blood cells. Removal of the smear layer from the root canal walls before the obturation can reduce the leakage of root canal sealer. To remove the smear layer use 10 ml 17% EDTA followed by 10 ml of 5.25% NaOCl as irrigating solution. This paper discribe about how the effectivity of EDTA as irigating solution to remove the smear layer especially in the apical root canal with many lateral canal to reduce the apical leakage.

  9. Clinico-pathological profile and treatment outcome in smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis patients at a teaching hospital

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shabir, I.; Iqbal, R.; Khan, S.U.; Munir, K.; Nazir, A.

    2010-01-01

    Tuberculosis remains the single highest contributor to the world's morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment is essential to prevent its transmission. To see the treatment response of anti tuberculosis drugs in smear negative patients and study the predictors of culture positive among smear negative tuberculosis patients. Ninety four sputum smear negative patients clinically and radiologically suggestive of tuberculosis were selected. These patients were put on anti tuberculosis drugs without waiting for their culture results. They were then followed for 8 months to see their treatment outcome. A total of 94 smear negative patients were selected and given anti tuberculosis treatment. Of these 37(39%) were culture positive and 57(61%) were culture negative. Of the 37 culture positive patients 36(97%) showed clinical or radiological improvement as compared to 46(81%) out of 57 in culture negative cases. Symptoms of cough with sputum production was significantly associated with culture positivity. On x-ray chest moderate lesion with diffuse infiltration was more common finding in 64% while extensive and cavitatory lesion was seen in 24% of all cases. Association of extensive and cavitatory lesion were seen in culture positive group. Response to anti tuberculosis drugs in sputum smear negative tubercolosis suspects was found to be effective in majority of the patients. Cough, sputum and extensive cavitatory lung lesion were the predictors of culture positive cases. There is need to train physicians on the use of anti tuberculosis therapy in smear negative suspected pulmonary tuberculosis cases, especially if they have productive cough and cavitatory lung lesions. (author)

  10. .\tA Study on Cervical Pap Smear Examination in Patient Living with HIV.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Devanshi Gosai

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Extensive screening programme of cervical Pap smear examination can detect the precancerous and cancerous lesions at an early stage and mortality & morbidity due to these lesions can be reduced. HPV infection is a known etiological agent for cervical cancer. HIV infected women are at higher risk of contracting HPV infection due to immune compromised status. Objective: Present study has been undertaken mainly to detect precancerous & cancerous lesions as well as inflammatory lesions in female patients living with HIV & to emphasize the fact that Pap smear examination should be established as a part of routine protocol for examination in HIV infected women. Methods: The study was carried out on 369 HIV infected females attending Integrated Counselling &Testing Centre of government institute. As controls, 142 females (not falling under high risk category, attending the Obstetrics& Gynaecology OPD with various gynaecological complaints were taken & results were compared. Results: Squamous cell abnormalities were found about four times high as compared to control group. High incidences of squamous cell abnormalities were noted in patients with high parity (parity three or more. Conclusion: Regular gynaecological examination including Pap smear examinations is highly recommended for HIV infected females. Pap smear examination is a simple, cheap, safe & practical diagnostic tool for early detection of cervical cancer in high risk population.

  11. The quality of sputum smear microscopy diagnosis of pulmonary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The quality of sputum smear microscopy diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. G S Mfinanga, E Ngadaya, R Mtandu, B Mutayoba, B Doulla, G Kimaro, T M Chonde, P Ngowi, S Mfaume, A M Kilale, S Egwaga, A Y Kitua ...

  12. Thermodynamics of noncommutative high-dimensional AdS black holes with non-Gaussian smeared matter distributions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miao, Yan-Gang [Nankai University, School of Physics, Tianjin (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, P.O. Box 2735, Beijing (China); CERN, PH-TH Division, Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Xu, Zhen-Ming [Nankai University, School of Physics, Tianjin (China)

    2016-04-15

    Considering non-Gaussian smeared matter distributions, we investigate the thermodynamic behaviors of the noncommutative high-dimensional Schwarzschild-Tangherlini anti-de Sitter black hole, and we obtain the condition for the existence of extreme black holes. We indicate that the Gaussian smeared matter distribution, which is a special case of non-Gaussian smeared matter distributions, is not applicable for the six- and higher-dimensional black holes due to the hoop conjecture. In particular, the phase transition is analyzed in detail. Moreover, we point out that the Maxwell equal area law holds for the noncommutative black hole whose Hawking temperature is within a specific range, but fails for one whose the Hawking temperature is beyond this range. (orig.)

  13. The Prevalence of Abnormal Pap Smears in females Referred to Health Centers Affiliated to Medical Sciences During the Years 2012 to 2016

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Massomi

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Cervical cancer is one of the most important female reproductive system diseases. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abnormal Pap smears of pregnant females in public health centers and hospitals of Hamadan. Materials and Methods: In a retrospective study, 36046 Pap smears of females was extracted from the records referred to government health centers affiliated to Hamadan University of Medical Sciences and Fatemiyeh Hospital Hamadan, between 2012 and 2016. After checking the results of Pap smear, abnormal information (605 cases were collected and investigated. Data were then analyzed using the SPSS21-software and descriptive statistics and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA. Results: The majority of females with abnormal Pap smear results (%30.4 were aged 45 to 36 years, and %48.6 of females with abnormal Pap smear had parity (1-3. From a total of 36046 cases, 605 cases of abnormal Pap smear were observed. The highest and lowest frequencies of abnormal Pap smear were related to ASCUS and LSIL, at a prevalence of %78 and %1, respectively. There was a positive relationship between abnormal Pap smear results and age (P = 0.037. Conclusions: The prevalence of abnormal Pap smear in Hamadan was %1.67. Malignant cervical cancer and invasive cancer risk increased with age, hence, screening and Pap smear, especially from age 35 and above, is recommended.

  14. Bacterial vaginosis, aerobic vaginitis, vaginal inflammation and major Pap smear abnormalities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieira-Baptista, P; Lima-Silva, J; Pinto, C; Saldanha, C; Beires, J; Martinez-de-Oliveira, J; Donders, G

    2016-04-01

    The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the impact of the vaginal milieu on the presence of abnormal Pap smears and a positive human papilloma virus (HPV) test. A cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2014 and May 2015, evaluating the vaginal discharge by fresh wet mount microscopy and comparing these data with Pap smear findings. Wet mount slides were scored for bacterial vaginosis (BV), aerobic vaginitis (AV), presence of Candida and Trichomonas vaginalis. Cytologic evaluation was done on all Pap smears according to the Bethesda criteria. The cobas© HPV Test (Roche) was performed for HPV detection. A total of 622 cases were evaluated. The mean age of the patients was 41.6 ± 10.65 years (range 21-75). Eighty-three women (13.3 %) had a cytology result worse than low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL). When comparing this group with the one with normal or minor [atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) or LSIL] Pap smear abnormalities, there were no differences in the presence of Candida (32.5 % vs. 33.2 %, p = 1.0), absence of lactobacilli (38.6 % vs. 32.5 %, p = 0.32) or BV (20.5 % vs. 13.2 %, p = 0.09). On the other hand, moderate or severe inflammation (msI) (41.0 % vs. 28.8 %, p = 0,04), moderate or severe AV (msAV) (16.9 % vs. 7.2 %, p = 0.009) and msAV/BV (37.3 % vs. 20.0 %, p = 0.001) were more common in women with such major cervical abnormalities. No significant association was found between deviations of the vaginal milieu and high-risk HPV infection. The presence of msI or msAV, but not BV, is independently associated with an increased risk of major cervical cytological abnormalities, but not with HPV infection.

  15. Modeling of stresses and electric fields in piezoelectric multilayer: Application to multi quantum wells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhaneshwar Mishra

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Exact closed-form expressions have been derived for the stresses and the electric fields induced in piezoelectric multilayers deposited on a substrate with lattice misfit and thermal expansion coefficient mismatch. The derived formulations can model any number of layers using recursive relations that minimize the computation time. A proper rotation matrix has been utilized to generalize the expressions so that they can be used for various growth orientations with each layer having hexagonal crystal symmetry. As an example, the influence of lattice misfit and thermal expansion coefficient mismatch on the state of electroelastic fields in different layers of GaN multi quantum wells has been examined. A comparison with the finite element analysis results showed very close agreement. The analytical expressions developed herein will be useful in designing optoelectronic devices as well as in predicting defect density in multi quantum wells.

  16. Eggs containing larvae of Enterobius vermicularis in vaginal smear

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyothi B Shetty

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Enterobius vermicularis also known commonly as pinworm is the most common intestinal parasite. It is a nematode that inhabits the human terminal ileum, colon and appendix. The fertilized female migrates to the perianal area where eggs are deposited but occasionally introduces itself into adjacent orifices, most commonly the female genitourinary tract. Thus the eggs can be seen in the vaginal smear as a result of contamination. We report a case wherein the patient presented with signs and symptoms of vulvovaginitis. In her vaginal smear there were eggs of Enterobius vermicularis which showed a coiled larva within it. In the background there were plenty of acute inflammatory cells. This patient responded favorably to antihelminthics. We report this case to highlight the morphology of the parasite and also to emphasize that such findings should not be neglected. Timely reporting and appropriate treatment of such cases will prevent further complications of this parasite including endometritis, salphingitis and peritonitis.

  17. Has the ThinPrep method of cervical screening maintained its improvement over conventional smears in terms of specimen adequacy?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Treacy, A

    2009-04-01

    Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has replaced conventional smear assessment in many centers over recent years. In our laboratory this transfer took place in 1999. At that time we performed a split sample study comparing the conventional method of cervical smear evaluation with the ThinPrep system. This split sample study identified a dramatic improvement in specimen adequacy with LBC. While 11% of conventional preparations were reported as unsatisfactory and almost 9% were reported as suboptimal, evaluation of the same cases using LBC saw this combined figure reduced to 2.3%. AIM: To evaluate whether this dramatic fall in unsatisfactory smears has been maintained with the use of LBC. The database for all smears reported for 2005 (100% LBC) was interrogated. The number of unsatisfactory reports was calculated. The reason for an unsatisfactory report was recorded for each case. The overall unsatisfactory rate was compared with that reported in the 1999 split sample study. A total of 41,312 smear tests were reported in 2005. 1,342 (3.25%) were reported as unsatisfactory. Our findings support the ongoing value of LBC in a routine cervical screening laboratory in terms of continuing to maintain a low rate of unsatisfactory smears.

  18. Quantum conversion

    OpenAIRE

    Mazilu, Michael

    2015-01-01

    ICOAM 2015 The electromagnetic momentum transferred transferred to scattering particles is proportional to the intensity of the incident fields, however, the momentum of single photons ℏk does not naturally appear in these classical expressions. Here, we discuss an alternative to Maxwell's stress tensor that renders the classical electromagnetic field momentum compatible to the quantum mechanical one. This is achieved through the introduction of the quantum conversion which allows the tran...

  19. The effects of a stress field and chemical diffusion on electronic behaviour in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Xu; Wang Chongyu

    2006-01-01

    The effects of a stress field and chemical diffusion on electronic behaviour in self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QD) are investigated by using first-principle calculations. We find that a potential well appears in a QD without a lattice misfit and chemical diffusion, and both stress field and Ga chemical diffusion can induce the formation of a potential barrier, which strongly affects the electronic behaviour within the QD. The stress field can localize electrons to the base of the QD. And associated with Ga diffusion, the stress field will induce an inverted electronic alignment. The electronic behaviour in the QD without a stress field does not present the confined or localized characteristics caused by a lattice misfit, atomic size and Ga diffusion. This study provides useful information for modulating electronic behaviour by introducing a stress field and chemical diffusion

  20. The effect of root surface conditioning on smear layer removal in periodontal regeneration (a scanning electron microscopic study)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fidyawati, D.; Soeroso, Y.; Masulili, S. L. C.

    2017-08-01

    The role of root surface conditioning treatment on smear layer removal of human teeth is affected by periodontitis in periodontal regeneration. The objective of this study is to analyze the smear layer on root surface conditioned with 2.1% minocycline HCl ointment (Periocline), and 24% EDTA gel (Prefgel). A total of 10 human teeth indicated for extraction due to chronic periodontitis were collected and root planed. The teeth were sectioned in thirds of the cervical area, providing 30 samples that were divided into three groups - minocycline ointment treatment, 24% EDTA gel treatment, and saline as a control. The samples were examined by scanning electron microscope. No significant differences in levels of smear layer were observed between the minocycline group and the EDTA group (p=0.759). However, there were significant differences in the level of smear layer after root surface treatment in the minocycline and EDTA groups, compared with the control group (p=0.00). There was a relationship between root surface conditioning treatment and smear layer levels following root planing.

  1. More experiences with the Tzanck smear test: cytologic findings in cutaneous granulomatous disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durdu, Murat; Baba, Mete; Seçkin, Deniz

    2009-09-01

    Granulomatous dermatitis is a distinctive histopathologic cutaneous reaction pattern against various infectious and noninfectious agents. Cytologically, granulomatous dermatitis shows granulomas and multinucleated giant cells. Various etiologic agents of granulomatous diseases can also be identified. We aimed to investigate Tzanck smear findings in granulomatous skin diseases. Patients who had granulomas and/or multinucleated giant cells of Langhans, foreign body- and/or Touton type in Tzanck smear tests were included in the study. In these patients, Tzanck preparations were then further evaluated for additional cytologic findings. Samples stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain were evaluated by the same dermatologist throughout the study. In some patients, methylene blue, Gram and/or Erlich-Ziehl-Nielsen stains were also performed. In all of the study cases, the final diagnosis was established after the evaluation of clinical and laboratory findings (including, when appropriate, potassium hydroxide examination; bacterial, leishmanial, and fungal cultures; histopathology; tuberculosis and leishmania polymerase chain reaction). We also calculated the sensitivity and specificity of the Leishman-Donovan body for cutaneous leishmaniasis. Over a 2-year period, 94 of 950 patients (9.9%) in whom Tzanck smear tests were performed had cytologic findings consistent with a granulomatous reaction. In 74 (78.7%) and 20 (21.3%) patients, the granulomatous reaction was due to infectious and noninfectious causes, respectively. Infectious causes included cutaneous leishmaniasis in 65 patients (87.8%), candidal granuloma in two patients, botyromycosis in two patients, and aspergillosis, blastomycosis, mucormycosis, leprosy, and cutaneous tuberculosis in one patient each. In 58 of 74 patients (78.4%) with infectious granulomatous dermatitis, the causes of the granulomas were identified. Noninfectious granulomatous reactions were due to granuloma annulare in 7 patients, sarcoidosis

  2. Cervicovaginal Smear Findings of Endometrial Serous Carcinoma: A Case Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Figen Barut

    2008-08-01

    Although cervicovaginal smear generally is not a sensitive screening test for endometrial carcinomas, it played an important role in determining serous carcinoma. This may be related with advanced stage and/or aggressive features of the neoplastic process.

  3. KLASIFIKASI INTI SEL PAP SMEAR BERDASARKAN ANALISIS TEKSTUR MENGGUNAKAN CORRELATION-BASED FEATURE SELECTION BERBASIS ALGORITMA C4.5

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toni Arifin

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract - Pap Smear is an early examination to diagnose whether there’s indication cervical cancer or not, the process of observations were done by observing pap smear cell under the microscope. There’s so many research has been done to differentiate between normal and abnormal cell. In this research presents a classification of pap smear cell based on texture analysis. This research is using the Harlev image which amounts to 280 images, 140 images are used as training data and 140 images other are used as testing. On the texture analysis used Gray level Co-occurance Matrix (GLCM method with 5 parameters that is correlation, energy, homogeneity and entropy added by counting the value of brightness. For choose which the best attribute used correlation-based feature selection method and than used C45 algorithm for produce classification rule. The result accuracy of the classification normal and abnormal used decision tree C45 is 96,43% and errors in predicting is 3,57%. Keywords : Classification, Pap Smear cell image, texture analysis, Correlation-based feature selection, C45 algorithm. Abstrak - Pap Smear merupakan pemeriksaan dini untuk mendiagnosa apakah ada indikasi kanker serviks atau tidak, proses pengamatan dilakukan dengan mengamati sel pap smear dibawah mikroskop. Banyak penelitian yang telah dilakukan untuk membedakan antara sel normal dan abnormal. Dalam penelitian ini menyajikan klasifikasi inti sel pap smear berdasarkan analisis tektur. Citra yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah citra Harlev yang berjumlah 280 citra, 140 citra digunakan sebagai data training dan 140 citra lain digunakan sebagai testing. Pada analisis tekstur mengunakan metode Gray level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM menggunakan 5 parameter yaitu korelasi, energi, homogenitas dan entropi ditambah dengan menghitung nilai brightness. Untuk memilih mana atribut terbaik digunakan metode correlation-based feature selection lalu digunakan algoritma C45 untuk

  4. The cervical smear pattern in patients with chronic pelvic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Cancer of the cervix is the commonestmalignancy of the genital tract inNigeria. In an atmosphere of opportunistic screening due to lack of a national screening programme, studies are needed to determine patients at risk of premalignant lesions of the cervix. Goal: To determine cervical smear pattern in patients ...

  5. Utility of high-resolution computed tomography for predicting risk of sputum smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakanishi, Masanori; Demura, Yoshiki; Ameshima, Shingo; Kosaka, Nobuyuki; Chiba, Yukio; Nishikawa, Satoshi; Itoh, Harumi; Ishizaki, Takeshi

    2010-01-01

    Background: To diagnose sputum smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is difficult and the ability of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) for diagnosing PTB has remained unclear in the sputum smear-negative setting. We retrospectively investigated whether or not this imaging modality can predict risk for sputum smear-negative PTB. Methods: We used HRCT to examine the findings of 116 patients with suspected PTB despite negative sputum smears for acid-fast bacilli (AFB). We investigated their clinical features and HRCT-findings to predict the risk for PTB by multivariate analysis and a combination of HRCT findings by stepwise regression analysis. We then designed provisional HRCT diagnostic criteria based on these results to rank the risk of PTB and blinded observers assessed the validity and reliability of these criteria. Results: A positive tuberculin skin test alone among clinical laboratory findings was significantly associated with an increase of risk of PTB. Multivariate regression analysis showed that large nodules, tree-in-bud appearance, lobular consolidation and the main lesion being located in S1, S2, and S6 were significantly associated with an increased risk of PTB. Stepwise regression analysis showed that coexistence of the above 4 factors was most significantly associated with an increase in the risk for PTB. Ranking of the results using our HRCT diagnostic criteria by blinded observers revealed good utility and agreement for predicting PTB risk. Conclusions: Even in the sputum smear-negative setting, HRCT can predict the risk of PTB with good reproducibility and can select patients having a high probability of PTB.

  6. Utility of high-resolution computed tomography for predicting risk of sputum smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nakanishi, Masanori [Departments of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, 23 Shimoaizuki Eiheizi-cho, Fukui 910-1193 (Japan)], E-mail: mnakanishi@nifty.ne.jp; Demura, Yoshiki; Ameshima, Shingo [Departments of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, 23 Shimoaizuki Eiheizi-cho, Fukui 910-1193 (Japan); Kosaka, Nobuyuki [Departments of Radiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, 23 Shimoaizuki Eiheizi-cho, Fukui 910-1193 (Japan); Chiba, Yukio [Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization, Fukui Hospital, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0195 (Japan); Nishikawa, Satoshi [Department of Radiology, National Hospital Organization, Fukui Hospital, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0195 (Japan); Itoh, Harumi [Departments of Radiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, 23 Shimoaizuki Eiheizi-cho, Fukui 910-1193 (Japan); Ishizaki, Takeshi [Departments of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, 23 Shimoaizuki Eiheizi-cho, Fukui 910-1193 (Japan)

    2010-03-15

    Background: To diagnose sputum smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is difficult and the ability of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) for diagnosing PTB has remained unclear in the sputum smear-negative setting. We retrospectively investigated whether or not this imaging modality can predict risk for sputum smear-negative PTB. Methods: We used HRCT to examine the findings of 116 patients with suspected PTB despite negative sputum smears for acid-fast bacilli (AFB). We investigated their clinical features and HRCT-findings to predict the risk for PTB by multivariate analysis and a combination of HRCT findings by stepwise regression analysis. We then designed provisional HRCT diagnostic criteria based on these results to rank the risk of PTB and blinded observers assessed the validity and reliability of these criteria. Results: A positive tuberculin skin test alone among clinical laboratory findings was significantly associated with an increase of risk of PTB. Multivariate regression analysis showed that large nodules, tree-in-bud appearance, lobular consolidation and the main lesion being located in S1, S2, and S6 were significantly associated with an increased risk of PTB. Stepwise regression analysis showed that coexistence of the above 4 factors was most significantly associated with an increase in the risk for PTB. Ranking of the results using our HRCT diagnostic criteria by blinded observers revealed good utility and agreement for predicting PTB risk. Conclusions: Even in the sputum smear-negative setting, HRCT can predict the risk of PTB with good reproducibility and can select patients having a high probability of PTB.

  7. Exploring the boundaries of quantum mechanics: advances in satellite quantum communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agnesi, Costantino; Vedovato, Francesco; Schiavon, Matteo; Dequal, Daniele; Calderaro, Luca; Tomasin, Marco; Marangon, Davide G; Stanco, Andrea; Luceri, Vincenza; Bianco, Giuseppe; Vallone, Giuseppe; Villoresi, Paolo

    2018-07-13

    Recent interest in quantum communications has stimulated great technological progress in satellite quantum technologies. These advances have rendered the aforesaid technologies mature enough to support the realization of experiments that test the foundations of quantum theory at unprecedented scales and in the unexplored space environment. Such experiments, in fact, could explore the boundaries of quantum theory and may provide new insights to investigate phenomena where gravity affects quantum objects. Here, we review recent results in satellite quantum communications and discuss possible phenomena that could be observable with current technologies. Furthermore, stressing the fact that space represents an incredible resource to realize new experiments aimed at highlighting some physical effects, we challenge the community to propose new experiments that unveil the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity that could be realizable in the near future.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  8. Pap Smear Abnormalities in Women Admitted to a Tertiary Health Center in Southeast Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alev Ozer

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Aim: To analyze the cervical cytological abnormalities which are detected in women undergoing Pap screening in a tertiary health care center within Siirt, a southeastern province of Turkey. Material and Method: A total of 3000 women who underwent Pap screening at the study center between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009 were recruited for the study. The women who were diagnosed with benign epithelial changes, infectious alterations, as well as atypical squamous cells with undetermined significance (ASC-US, atypical squamous cells of high significance (ASC-H, and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL were included. Results: Benign epithelial alterations, infectious changes, ASCUS, ASC-H, and LSIL were detected in 83.7%, 15.3%, 0.8%, 0.1% and 0.1% of the Pap smears respectively. A significant correlation was found between the patient age and the histopathological alterations in the Pap smears (r=0.072, p=0.001. Although no correlation could be detected between gravidity and Pap smear results (r=0.033, p=0.067, a significant correlation existed between parity and the histopathological findings within the Pap smears (r=0.051, p=0.005. Interestingly, the Pap smear results were found to be unrelated to socioeconomic status (r=0.088, p=0.168, education level (r=0.048, p=0.257, and smoking habit (r=0.086, p=0.077. Discussion: The present study has reported a value of 1.0% for the overall prevalence of cervical cytological abnormalities, which is much lower than in western countries. Thus, rather than being dependent on the data reported by clinical studies that have been conducted in western countries, Turkish health care policy should be based on the data obtained from national studies.

  9. A Preliminary Study of the Suitability of Archival Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Smears for Diagnosis of CML Using FISH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alice Charwudzi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. FISH is a molecular cytogenetic technique enabling rapid detection of genetic abnormalities. Facilities that can run fresh/wet samples for molecular diagnosis and monitoring of neoplastic disorders are not readily available in Ghana and other neighbouring countries. This study aims to demonstrate that interphase FISH can successfully be applied to archival methanol-fixed bone marrow and peripheral blood smear slides transported to a more equipped facility for molecular diagnosis of CML. Methods. Interphase FISH was performed on 22 archival methanol-fixed marrow (BM and 3 peripheral blood (PB smear slides obtained at diagnosis. The BM smears included 20 CML and 2 CMML cases diagnosed by morphology; the 3 PB smears were from 3 of the CML patients at the time of diagnosis. Six cases had known BCR-ABL fusion results at diagnosis by RQ-PCR. Full blood count reports at diagnosis were also retrieved. Result. 19 (95% of the CML marrow smears demonstrated the BCR-ABL translocation. There was a significant correlation between the BCR-ABL transcript detected at diagnosis by RQ-PCR and that retrospectively detected by FISH from the aged BM smears at diagnosis (r=0.870; P=0.035. Conclusion. Archival methanol-fixed marrow and peripheral blood smears can be used to detect the BCR-ABL transcript for CML diagnosis.

  10. Molecular diagnosis of suspected tuberculosis from archived smear slides from the Balimo region, Papua New Guinea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guernier, Vanina; Diefenbach-Elstob, Tanya; Pelowa, Daniel; Pollard, Sandra; Burgess, Graham; McBryde, Emma S; Warner, Jeffrey

    2018-02-01

    Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious health problem in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with an estimated 30000 new cases and 3800 deaths each year. In the Balimo region of the Western Province, diagnosis relies on clinical manifestations and on the microscopic detection of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in sputum smears, a technique with limited sensitivity. A molecular diagnosis assay targeting DNA extracted from archived sputum smear slides collected from the Balimo region (2012-2014) was conducted, without the need for a viable culture. The presence of Mycobacterium sp on 1162 slides prepared from 345 sputum samples was assessed using a real-time PCR (qPCR) approach. The qPCR technique identified the presence of mycobacteria in 35.4% of the smear slides and 59.7% of the tested sputum samples. Poor agreement was observed between the two diagnosis methods (smear AFB microscopy versus qPCR), with 100 AFB-positive sputum samples compared to 206 qPCR-positive sputum samples overall. Treatment was initiated in 90.2% of the smear-positive cases. Unnecessary treatment of 'false-positive' TB cases (AFB-negative/qPCR-negative) was very low (8.6%) and was even lower when the nine patients diagnosed with extrapulmonary TB were excluded from the analysis. However, the prevalence of false-negatives (AFB-negative/qPCR-positive) was high (28.5%). Undetected smear-negative TB is occurring in the Balimo region of PNG, as well as some unnecessary empirical treatment. Molecular methods of diagnosis could greatly reduce the frequency of inappropriate clinical assessment, as well as providing point-of-care diagnosis. This may provide substantial patient and programmatic benefits, including lowering the economic burden on patients from rural areas seeking medical diagnosis in Balimo. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  11. Quantum non-objectivity from performativity of quantum phenomena

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khrennikov, Andrei; Schumann, Andrew

    2014-01-01

    We analyze the logical foundations of quantum mechanics (QM) by stressing non-objectivity of quantum observables, which is a consequence of the absence of logical atoms in QM. We argue that the matter of quantum non-objectivity is that, on the one hand, the formalism of QM constructed as a mathematical theory is self-consistent, but, on the other hand, quantum phenomena as results of experimenters’ performances are not self-consistent. This self-inconsistency is an effect of the language of QM differing greatly from the language of human performances. The former is the language of a mathematical theory that uses some Aristotelian and Russellian assumptions (e.g., the assumption that there are logical atoms). The latter language consists of performative propositions that are self-inconsistent only from the viewpoint of conventional mathematical theory, but they satisfy another logic that is non-Aristotelian. Hence, the representation of quantum reality in linguistic terms may be different: the difference between a mathematical theory and a logic of performative propositions. To solve quantum self-inconsistency, we apply the formalism of non-classical self-referent logics. (paper)

  12. A correlative study of Papanicolaou smear, fluorescent antibody, and culture for the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spence, M R; Barbacci, M; Kappus, E; Quinn, T

    1986-11-01

    A prospective study of 300 patients undergoing therapeutic termination of pregnancy was conducted. A Papanicolaou smear was obtained and a clinical evaluation of the cervix was made. Specimens from the cervix were examined by both direct fluorescent antibody and culture techniques for the presence of Chlamydia trachomatis. The presence of inflammation on Papanicolaou smear could be correlated with C trachomatis isolation. Papanicolaou smear findings consistent with C trachomatis lacked both sensitivity and specificity when compared with direct fluorescent antibody and/or culture techniques. A correlation was found between the clinical diagnosis of cervicitis and C trachomatis. This interrelationship was absent when the component findings of cervicitis (ectopy, friability, and purulent mucus) were examined independently.

  13. Intraoperative squash smear cytology in CNS lesions: A study of 150 pediatric cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arpita Jindal

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Tumors of the central nervous system in the pediatric age group occur relatively frequently during the early years of life. Brain tumors are the most common solid malignancies of childhood and only second to acute childhood leukemia. Squash cytology is an indispensable diagnostic aid to central nervous system (CNS lesions. The definitive diagnosis of brain lesions is confirmed by histological examination. Aim: To study the cytology of CNS lesions in pediatric population and correlate it with histopathology. Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty cases of CNS lesions in pediatric patients were studied over a period of 2 years. Intraoperative squash smears were prepared, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined. Remaining sample was subjected to histopathological examination. Results: Medulloblastoma (24.0% was the most frequently encountered tumor followed by pilocyctic astrocytoma (21.33% and ependymoma (13.33%. Diagnostic accuracy of squash smear technique was 94.67% when compared with histological diagnosis. Conclusion: Smear cytology is a fairly accurate tool for intraoperative CNS consultations.

  14. Experimental analysis on removal factor of smear method in measurement of surface contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugiura, Nobuyuki; Taira, Junichi; Takenaka, Keisuke; Yamanaka, Kazuo; Sugai, Kenji; Kosako, Toshiso

    2007-01-01

    The smear test is one of the important ways to measure surface contamination. The loose contamination under the high background radiation, which is more significant in handling non-sealed radioisotopes, can be evaluated by this method. The removal factor is defined as the ratio of the activity removed from the surface by one smear to the whole activity of the removable surface contamination. The removal factor is greatly changed by the quality and condition of surface materials. In this study, the values of removal factor at several typical surface conditions were evaluated experimentally and the practical application of those values was considered. It is required the smear should be pressed by moderate pressure when wiping the surface. The pressure from 1.0 kg to 1.5 kg per filter paper was recommended. The removal factor showed lower value in wiping by the pressure below 1.0 kg. The value of 0.5 for the removal factor could be applied to the smooth surface of linoleum, concrete coated with paint or epoxy resin, stainless steel and glass with the statistical allowance. (author)

  15. Economic analysis of CDC's culture- and smear-based tuberculosis instructions for Filipino immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maskery, B; Posey, D L; Coleman, M S; Asis, R; Zhou, W; Painter, J A; Wingate, L T; Roque, M; Cetron, M S

    2018-04-01

    In 2007, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its tuberculosis (TB) technical instructions for panel physicians who administer mandatory medical examinations among US-bound immigrants. Many US-bound immigrants come from the Philippines, a high TB prevalence country. To quantify economic and health impacts of smear- vs. culture-based TB screening. Decision tree modeling was used to compare three Filipino screening programs: 1) no screening, 2) smear-based screening, and 3) culture-based screening. The model incorporated pre-departure TB screening results from Filipino panel physicians and CDC databases with post-arrival follow-up outcomes. Costs (2013 $US) were examined from societal, immigrant, US Public Health Department and hospitalization perspectives. With no screening, an annual cohort of 35 722 Filipino immigrants would include an estimated 450 TB patients with 264 hospitalizations, at a societal cost of US$9.90 million. Culture-based vs. smear-based screening would result in fewer imported cases (80.9 vs. 310.5), hospitalizations (19.7 vs. 68.1), and treatment costs (US$1.57 million vs. US$4.28 million). Societal screening costs, including US follow-up, were greater for culture-based screening (US$5.98 million) than for smear-based screening (US$3.38 million). Culture-based screening requirements increased immigrant costs by 61% (US$1.7 million), but reduced costs for the US Public Health Department (22%, US$750 000) and of hospitalization (70%, US$1 020 000). Culture-based screening reduced imported TB and US costs among Filipino immigrants.

  16. Path integrals for electronic densities, reactivity indices, and localization functions in quantum systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putz, Mihai V

    2009-11-10

    The density matrix theory, the ancestor of density functional theory, provides the immediate framework for Path Integral (PI) development, allowing the canonical density be extended for the many-electronic systems through the density functional closure relationship. Yet, the use of path integral formalism for electronic density prescription presents several advantages: assures the inner quantum mechanical description of the system by parameterized paths; averages the quantum fluctuations; behaves as the propagator for time-space evolution of quantum information; resembles Schrödinger equation; allows quantum statistical description of the system through partition function computing. In this framework, four levels of path integral formalism were presented: the Feynman quantum mechanical, the semiclassical, the Feynman-Kleinert effective classical, and the Fokker-Planck non-equilibrium ones. In each case the density matrix or/and the canonical density were rigorously defined and presented. The practical specializations for quantum free and harmonic motions, for statistical high and low temperature limits, the smearing justification for the Bohr's quantum stability postulate with the paradigmatic Hydrogen atomic excursion, along the quantum chemical calculation of semiclassical electronegativity and hardness, of chemical action and Mulliken electronegativity, as well as by the Markovian generalizations of Becke-Edgecombe electronic focalization functions - all advocate for the reliability of assuming PI formalism of quantum mechanics as a versatile one, suited for analytically and/or computationally modeling of a variety of fundamental physical and chemical reactivity concepts characterizing the (density driving) many-electronic systems.

  17. Path Integrals for Electronic Densities, Reactivity Indices, and Localization Functions in Quantum Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai V. Putz

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available The density matrix theory, the ancestor of density functional theory, provides the immediate framework for Path Integral (PI development, allowing the canonical density be extended for the many-electronic systems through the density functional closure relationship. Yet, the use of path integral formalism for electronic density prescription presents several advantages: assures the inner quantum mechanical description of the system by parameterized paths; averages the quantum fluctuations; behaves as the propagator for time-space evolution of quantum information; resembles Schrödinger equation; allows quantum statistical description of the system through partition function computing. In this framework, four levels of path integral formalism were presented: the Feynman quantum mechanical, the semiclassical, the Feynman-Kleinert effective classical, and the Fokker-Planck non-equilibrium ones. In each case the density matrix or/and the canonical density were rigorously defined and presented. The practical specializations for quantum free and harmonic motions, for statistical high and low temperature limits, the smearing justification for the Bohr’s quantum stability postulate with the paradigmatic Hydrogen atomic excursion, along the quantum chemical calculation of semiclassical electronegativity and hardness, of chemical action and Mulliken electronegativity, as well as by the Markovian generalizations of Becke-Edgecombe electronic focalization functions – all advocate for the reliability of assuming PI formalism of quantum mechanics as a versatile one, suited for analytically and/or computationally modeling of a variety of fundamental physical and chemical reactivity concepts characterizing the (density driving many-electronic systems.

  18. Prevalence of human papilloma virus in cervical smear by DNA PCR testing and its comparison with pap smear

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sushil Kumar

    2013-01-01

    Discussion: The study reveals HPV prevalence rate of 28.3% in women attending gynaecology OPD of a tertiary care hospital and also prevalence of HPV was found to be highest in sexually active individuals with parity of 3 or more. These results are in agreement to many published national and international studies [12,13,14]. The study results also indicate lower sensitivity and higher specificity of Pap smear in detecting HPV infection, however it still remains the most important practicably available test in early detection of cervical carcinoma.

  19. Pap-smear Classification Using Efficient Second Order Neural Network Training Algorithms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ampazis, Nikolaos; Dounias, George; Jantzen, Jan

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we make use of two highly efficient second order neural network training algorithms, namely the LMAM (Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum) and OLMAM (Optimized Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum), for the construction of an efficient pap-smear test classifier. The alg......In this paper we make use of two highly efficient second order neural network training algorithms, namely the LMAM (Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum) and OLMAM (Optimized Levenberg-Marquardt with Adaptive Momentum), for the construction of an efficient pap-smear test classifier....... The algorithms are methodologically similar, and are based on iterations of the form employed in the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) method for non-linear least squares problems with the inclusion of an additional adaptive momentum term arising from the formulation of the training task as a constrained optimization...

  20. Frequency and patterns of abnormal Pap smears in Sudanese women with infertility: What are the perspectives?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed O Almobarak

    2013-01-01

    Conclusions: Epithelial cell abnormalities are significantly higher in women with infertility as compared with fertile women. Importantly, inflammatory smears were reported two times more than in the controls. We recommend pap smear as a routine practice for all women assessed for infertility problems. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the incidence of human papilloma virus infections in infertile women with abnormal cervical cytology.

  1. A Correlation Of Symptomatology With Nasal Smear Eosinophilia In ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    There is also low correlation of total symptom score with family history of atopy (r = 0.06). There is positive correlation of total symptom score with number of provocative agents identified (r = 0.34). There is low positive correlation of nasal smear eosinophilia with total symptom score (r = 0.030) and itchy nose score (r = 0.038) ...

  2. Smears for determinations surface unfixed tritium contamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Postolache, Cristian; Matei, Lidia

    2003-01-01

    The present paper describes a method of obtaining expanded polystyrene with hydrophilized surface smears by radioinduced grafting of acrylic acid. The grafting was carried out by using a 60 Co γ radiation source. The variation of grafting rates as a function of dose range and absorbed dose was established. Grafting radiochemical rates were determined by radiometric methods using acrylic acid labeled with tritium as a grafting agent. The sampling coefficients and the reproducibility were analyzed as a function of the nature of the contaminated surface. (authors)

  3. I = 2 ππ scattering phase shift from the HAL QCD method with the LapH smearing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawai, Daisuke; Aoki, Sinya; Doi, Takumi; Ikeda, Yoichi; Inoue, Takashi; Iritani, Takumi; Ishii, Noriyoshi; Miyamoto, Takaya; Nemura, Hidekatsu; Sasaki, Kenji

    2018-04-01

    Physical observables, such as the scattering phase shifts and binding energy, calculated from the non-local HAL QCD potential do not depend on the sink operators used to define the potential. In practical applications, the derivative expansion of the non-local potential is employed, so that physical observables may receive some scheme dependence at a given order of the expansion. In this paper, we compare the I=2ππ scattering phase shifts obtained in the point-sink scheme (the standard scheme in the HAL QCD method) and the smeared-sink scheme (the LapH smearing newly introduced in the HAL QCD method). Although potentials in different schemes have different forms as expected, we find that, for reasonably small smearing size, the resultant scattering phase shifts agree with each other if the next-to-leading-order (NLO) term is taken into account. We also find that the HAL QCD potential in the point-sink scheme has a negligible NLO term for a wide range of energies, which implies good convergence of the derivative expansion, while the potential in the smeared-sink scheme has a non-negligible NLO contribution. The implications of this observation for future studies of resonance channels (such as the I=0 and 1ππ scatterings) with smeared all-to-all propagators are briefly discussed.

  4. Awareness of cervical cancer, Papanicolaou\\'s Smear and it\\'s ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A survey was conducted among 421 undergraduates of the University of Ibadan using self- dministered questionnaires probing into their risk factors for neoplastic cervical lesions, awareness of cervical cancer, Papanicolaou\\'s smear and its utilisation. The percentage of sexually active respondents was 81.5%. Sexual ...

  5. Tuberculosis treatment among smear positive tuberculosis patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Munir, M.K.; Iqbal, R.; Shabbir, I.; Chaudhry, K

    2012-01-01

    Tuberculosis is a major health problem in many parts of the world. Delay in initiation of the treatment may result in prolonged infectious state, drug resistance, relapse and death. Objectives: To determine the factors responsible for not starting tuberculosis treatment among smear positive tuberculosis patients. Study type, settings and duration: This cross sectional study was done at Pakistan Medical Research Council TB Research Center, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, from fifth March 2010 to fifth December 2010. Patients and Methods: Fifty sputum smear positive patients of tuberculosis who did not register themselves in treatment register and presumably did not initiate anti tuberculosis treatment were contacted using telephone or traced by their home addresses. Once contact was established, they were inquired about the reasons for not starting tuberculosis treatment. Results: Of 50 patients 38(76%)belonged to the lower socio economic class and 12(24%) to the lower middle class. Fourteen patients (28%) were illiterate and 23(46%) had only 8 years of education. Of the 50 cases 41(82%) were taking treatment from traditional healers and 4% did not go back to the DOTS program. Physical condition of the patient, social, domestic and religious issues also played some role in default. Conclusions: Lack of health education and poverty were the main factors responsible for non compliance from treatment. Policy message: Sputum testing sites should have a paramedic who should educate the patients about the benefits of treatment and the dangers of default or partial treatment. (author)

  6. Chlamydia trachomatis in cervico vaginal smears of irradiated uteri: cytologic and immune cytochemical aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, D.R.; Marziona, F.; Oyafuso, M.; Carvalho, M.I. de

    1989-01-01

    Cervico vaginal smears of women with uterine carcinoma treated with radiotherapy are analyzed in the present work. A series of such smears showed morphological changes suggestive of Chlamydia infection with the Papanicolaou stain. Confirmation of the presence of such agent was done using an avidin-biotin peroxidase technique. A higher prevalence of Chlamydia in the group of patients with carcinoma of the uterus treated with irradiation than in the population without ionizing treatment was verified. The presence of cells with radiotherapic changes infected by Chlamydia is a new finding in cytology. (author)

  7. A Study on Cervical Cancer Screening Using Pap Smear Test and Clinical Correlation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pushp Lata Sachan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate the use of the Pap smear screening method for detection of precancerous lesions. Methods: All women who visited the outpatient gynecology clinic of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at King Georges Medical University, Lucknow, UP, India, over 1 year for different clinical problems were recruited for the study. A total of 1650 women who were sexually active and over 21 years of age were enrolled in the study. A clinical examination, an examination per speculum, and a vaginal examination were performed and a history taken for all women. A Pap smear was used for all women to screen for cervical cancer. The smear was obtained using an Ayre spatula and spread over a marked glass slide, which was placed in 95% ethyl alcohol and sent to the Department of Pathology for cytopathological examination. All data were recorded using a predetermined pro forma. Women who had visible malignant cervical lesions were excluded from the study. Results: Most women were in the age range of 30–50 years and multiparous. Vaginal discharge was the most common complaint, occurring in 36.96% of the women. An irregular menstrual cycle was the complaint of 12.78% and abdominal pain of 25.63% of women, while 15.15% were asymptomatic. The Pap smear test of 93.57% of the women was adequately taken, while 6.42% of the individuals had an inadequate sample. The test was negative for malignancy in 48.84%, and 42.66% had infection or inflammation. Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL, and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL were detected in 2.90%, 5.09%, and 0.48%, respectively. Women with Pap tests positive for ASCUS, LSIL, and HSIL underwent a colposcopy and guided biopsy. Conclusions: Women with an abnormal Pap test should undergo a colposcopy, and those with abnormal colposcopy findings should be advised to undergo a biopsy. A Pap

  8. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cervical Smear as a Screening ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Context: Carcinoma of the cervix is a preventable disease but it remains the most common genital cancer in African women. Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical smear as screening procedure for cervical cancer by female health workers in Ilorin, Nigeria. Study Design, Setting and ...

  9. IMPLEMENTASI HASIL PAP SMEARS PADA PENGEMBANGAN SURVEILANS TERPADU INFEKSI MENULAR SEKSUAL DI JAWA TIMUR (ANALISIS UNTUK MENGEMBANGKAN SURVEILANS-RESPONS IMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Widjiartini Widjiartini

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: The implementation analysis of Pap Smears result to the integrated Surveillance development of sexual infection in order to respond the IMS and HIV/AIDS cases which increased especially among the housewife and its aim to the implementation Pap Smears result. Results: The Analysis result: 1. Based on the Pap Smears analysis result when its managed properly might be benefited the information not merely detected service cancer which is tend to increase but its also detected fungal infection and 5 types of IMS data: Haemavilus Vaginalis (HV, Gonococoes (Cocen, Trichomonas Vaginalis (TV, Herpes and Virus Papiloma Humanus (HPV which is Cocen and TV tend to increase every years. This data might be used for Surveillance Respond of Pap Smears intended to the productive housewife who is representing susceptible age group against sexual infection and HIV/AIDS. 2. The integrated Surveillance activity of HIV and sexual infection along with eight steps of respond Pap Smears, the structure is matching up with Surveillance of WHO respond and the system and mechanism base on decision of Minister of Health number 1116/2003 to instruct the formation of Surveillance technical implementation and the formation Surveillance technical implementation and the formation Surveillance networking among those units. 3. Developing the integrated Surveillance of sexual infection and HIV/AIDS through the uphold unit Pap Smears is required the determination of basis function, the Surveillance uphold unit, the Respond Surveillance uphold and function, formulation of Protap and Instruction, Training, Monitoring and Evaluation Surveillance System, Communication, Procurement of Coordination and Resources. Exceptional the above mentioned it is necessary pay attention as well as Surveillance structure and quality. Suggestion: 1. Improving the Surveillance Respond System by improving the users of culture information and data for making a decision the unit of Pap Smears

  10. The Correlation of Initial Sputum Smear Positivity on Treatment Failure of Category 1 Therapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis

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    Puput Dyah Ayu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Tuberculosis is an infectious disease and is an important public health problem. Based on data from East Java Province Health Department reported that number of tuberculosis patient in Surabaya is the highest in East Java on year 2014. Early identification and good treatment based on the result of sputum identification are the strategy use to control tuberculosis widespread. So that why, microscopic observation to identify acid fast bacilli (AFB is the fundamental stage to determine recovery treatment. Initial sputum smear positivity is necessary to determine infectious graded. The objectives of the study were to identify of initial sputum smear positivity on treatment failure of category 1 therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis in RS Paru Surabaya year 2011-2014. This study used case control method with quantitative approach. Forty two samples were taken from secondary data. Case group is 21 samples who have treatment failure and control group is 21 successful treatment. Samples were selected by simple random sampling. The chi square correlation showed that highly positive initial smear (p = 0,045; OR = 5,4 have correlated and risk factor to treatment failure on category 1 therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis. The conclusion is patient’s high positive sputum smear initially correlated to treatment failure on category 1 therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis in RS Paru Surabaya year 2011–2014. Keywords: initial sputum smear positivity, treatment failure,, category 1 therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis

  11. Psychosocial burden differences between women of reproductive age and menopausal age due to abnormal Pap smear: A pilot study of the East Coast of Malaysia

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    Shabbir Ahmad Sheikh

    2016-01-01

    Conclusion: Psychosocial burden due to abnormal Pap smear results in terms of mental stress, overwhelming beliefs, and feelings of guilt and worry of HPV infection and possibility of cervical cancer were noted more in reproductive age groups as compared to the menopausal age group. Health-care providers should be aware of these psychosocial effects whereby they can refer such patients to a gynecologic oncologist for proper counseling at the proper time so that the negative impact due to this psychosocial burden can be prevented.

  12. A screening system for smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis using artificial neural networks

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    João B. de O. Souza Filho

    2016-08-01

    Conclusions: In settings with a high prevalence of smear-negative PTB, the system can be useful for screening and also to aid clinical practice in expediting complementary tests for higher risk patients.

  13. Audit of the practice of sputum smear examination for patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis in Fiji.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gounder, Shakti; Tayler-Smith, Katherine; Khogali, Mohammed; Raikabula, Maopa; Harries, Anthony D

    2013-07-01

    In Fiji, patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) currently submit three sputum specimens for smear microscopy for acid-fast bacilli, but there is little information about how well this practice is carried out. A cross-sectional retrospective review was carried out in all four TB diagnostic laboratories in Fiji to determine among new patients presenting with suspected PTB in 2011: the quality of submitted sputum; the number of sputum samples submitted; the relationship between quality and number of submitted samples to smear-positivity; and positive yield from first, second and third samples. Of 1940 patients with suspected PTB, 3522 sputum samples were submitted: 997 (51.4%) patients submitted one sample, 304 (15.7%) patients submitted two samples and 639 (32.9%) submitted three samples. Sputum quality was recorded in 2528 (71.8%) of samples, of which 1046 (41.4%) were of poor quality. Poor quality sputum was more frequent in females, inpatients and children (0-14 years). Good quality sputum and a higher number of submitted samples positively correlated with smear-positivity for acid-fast bacilli. There were 122 (6.3%) patients with suspected PTB who were sputum smear positive. Of those, 89 had submitted three sputum samples: 79 (89%) were diagnosed based on the first sputum sample, 6 (7%) on the second sample and 4 (4%) on the third sample. This study shows that there are deficiencies in the practice of sputum smear examination in Fiji with respect to sputum quality and recommended number of submitted samples, although the results support the continued use of three sputum samples for TB diagnosis. Ways to improve sputum quality and adherence to recommended guidelines are needed.

  14. An institution-based cervical PAP smear study, correlation with clinical findings & histopathology in the Konkan region of Maharashtra state, India

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    Bhushan M. Warpe

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: Cervical carcinoma is a common cause of death in India. It is presented by spectrum of precancerous lesions, called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN. Cervical cytological screening is designed to detect over 90% of cytological abnormalities. It has been established that cervical cancers can be diagnosed at the pre-invasive stage with adequate, repetitive cytological screening. Keeping in view of the importance of cervical PAP abnormalities & by classifying them by Bethesda terminology; correlation with clinical findings & histopathological findings was done. Methods: All cervical Pap smears reported in Department of Pathology from 1st August 2015 to 31st July 2016, were prospectively studied and classified according to revised Bethesda terminology, 2014. Also cytoradiological and clinico-cytological, cytohistological correlation was studied. Results: Due to increasing awareness among masses inculcated by social workers, most of the patients for PAP smear cytology came for routine screening to rule out cervical lesions followed by clinical finding of per-vaginal discharge. The 350 screened patients were in the third and fourth decades of life. 99/350 cases were subjected to USG study, with maximum number of cases (34 cases showing normal study, followed by cases with ovarian cysts and fatty liver disease. Negative for intra-epithelial lesion (NILM without any denotable organism was the pre-dominant cytological finding of PAP smear study followed by cases of NILM with bacterial vaginosis (30 cases with two malignancies. Intra-epithelial lesions (IELs were noted in 16.86%. ASCUS comprised 12.29%, ASC-H comprised 1.14%, L-SIL comprised 1.71%, HSIL comprised 1.43%, Atrophic cervical smears comprised 5.14%, Squamous cell carcinoma comprised 0.29% cases. ASC/LSIL ratio was 7.8 and inadequacy rate for PAP smear study was 7.43%. Cytologyhistopathology correlation was possible in 62 cases. Conclusion: Classification of cervical PAP

  15. Detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical samples by smear and culture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aftab, R.; Amjad, F.; Khurshid, R.

    2009-01-01

    A retrospective study was carried out in order to compare the smear stained by ZN and Lowenstein-Jensen (U) medium for the detection of Mycobacterium in clinical samples from different categories. Study Design: Laboratory based, Retrospective. Place and Duration: Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore over a 5 year period between Jan 2001 and June 2006. Material and Methods: A total of 798 clinical samples were collected from patients of both sexes and all ages with a provisional diagnosis of tuberculosis. A Ziehl-Neelsen stain (ZN) and culture on U medium was performed for the detection of Mycobacterium. The specimen categories were sputum, pus, lymph node aspirate, urine and endometrial curetting. Results: Out of 5 types of 798 specimens received over a period of five years, only 46.3%) (n=369) were respiratory whereas the remaining 53.7% (n=429) were non respiratory tract category samples including sputum, pus, lymph node aspirate, urine and endometrial curetting. All were examined for the presence of acid-fast-bacilli (AFB) in ZN smear. Among these 3.578% gave a positive ZN stain while 11.65% were positive on culture. Out of a total of 369 respiratory tract category samples, 38 (10.3%) sputum samples were positive for AFB on both ZN and culture. Among the non respiratory tract category, 47 (28.2%) pus, 26 (31%) LN aspirate, 5 (15.6%) urine, 5 (3.42%) endometrial curetting were reported positive. Only 15.16% of clinical samples belonging to 5 different categories of specimens received from patients of both sexes with a provisional diagnosis of tuberculosis, tested positive for Mycobacterium by both ZN stain smear and culture on U medium. Among these, 3.57% were positive for AFB on ZN smear and 11.65% were positive on culture on U medium. Conclusion: These conventional techniques have proved to be reliable testing tools for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in our settings but there is an urgent need to promote the use of Biotic and

  16. Papshop: Not a 'melon'choly Pap smear workshop! | Gordon | South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    As Head of Undergraduate Education in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, I have a particular interest in the competencies needed to perform primary care gynaecological procedures, one of which is the Pap smear. I was approached by a group of keen volunteer ...

  17. Effectiveness of EDTA and EDTA-T brushingm on the removal of root surface smear layer Efeito do EDTA e EDTA-T aplicado de forma ativa na remoção de "smear layer" de superfícies radiculares

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    José Eduardo Cezar Sampaio

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to compare the removal of root surface smear layer following active application of EDTA gel and EDTA-T (texapon gel in different concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 24%, using scanning electron microscopy. A total of 220 dentin blocks obtained from the root surfaces of extracted teeth were divided into 3 groups: Group I - (control application of saline solution (n = 20; Group II - EDTA gel (pH 7.0 was applied in the following concentrations: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 24% (n = 100; Group III - EDTA-T gel (pH 7.0 applied in the same concentrations described above (n = 100. The photomicrographs were evaluated by one calibrated examiner using a smear layer removal index and following statistical analysis (Kruskal-Wallis test. The results demonstrated that the specimens treated with EDTA and EDTA-T gel presented a better smear layer removal than the control group (p 0.05. Within the limits of this study, it can be concluded that all treatment modalities effectively removed the smear layer from the root surface. The addition of texapon into the EDTA gel formulation did not increase its effectiveness.O objetivo do presente estudo foi comparar, através de microscopia eletrônica de varredura, o efeito da aplicação de gel de EDTA e de EDTA-T (texapon em diferentes concentrações (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% e 24% na remoção de "smear layer" de superfícies radiculares previamente raspadas com instrumentos manuais. Duzentos e vinte espécimes de superfícies radiculares submetidas à raspagem foram divididos em 3 grupos. Grupo I - (controle solução salina (n = 20; Grupo II - gel de EDTA (pH 7,0 nas concentrações de 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% e 24% (n = 100; Grupo III - gel de EDTA-T (pH 7,0 nas concentrações acima descritas (n = 100. As fotomicrografias obtidas foram avaliadas por um examinador calibrado através da aplicação de um índice de remoção de "smear layer", e os dados foram analisados através de análise estat

  18. Cervical cancer screening attitudes and beliefs of Malaysian women who have never had a pap smear: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, L P; Wong, Y L; Low, W Y; Khoo, E M; Shuib, R

    2008-01-01

    Attitudes toward cervical cancer and participation in early detection and screening services are well known to be profoundly affected by cultural beliefs and norms. This study explored the attitudes and sociocultural beliefs on cervical cancer screening among Malaysian women. In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 Malaysian women, ages 21 to 56 years, who have never had a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear. Respondents generally showed a lack of knowledge about cervical cancer screening using Pap smear, and the need for early detection for cervical cancer. Many believed the Pap smear was a diagnostic test for cervical cancer, and since they had no symptoms, they did not go for Pap screening. Other main reasons for not doing the screening included lack of awareness of Pap smear indications and benefits, perceived low susceptibility to cervical cancer, and embarrassment. Other reasons for not being screened were related to fear of pain, misconceptions about cervical cancer, fatalistic attitude, and undervaluation of own health needs versus those of the family. Women need to be educated about the benefits of cervical cancer screening. Health education, counseling, outreach programs, and community-based interventions are needed to improve the uptake of Pap smear in Malaysia.

  19. Molecular Diagnosis of Trichomoniasis in Negative Samples Examined by Direct Smear and Culture

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    Z Valadkhani

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Trichomoniasis is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection (STI world­wide and is associated with important public health problems, including amplification of HIV transmission. This disease is in forms of symptomatic and asymptomatic in women and may de­pend on host as well as parasite variables. Most of the studies reported from females are based on examination of vaginal secretions and urine samples by direct smear and culture in modified Dia­mond's media. The aim of this study was checking the samples, which were negative by direct smear and culture, with PCR technique.Methods: The urine samples and vaginal discharge of patients attending Gynecology Clinics of Ma­zandaran Province, Iran with different symptoms rechecked for Trichomonas vaginalis by PCR technique using primers targeting a conserved region of the beta-tubulin genes of the para­site. Data were analyzed by Epi Info software programResults: Out of 161 negative samples by direct smear and culture, seven samples (4.3% were posi­tive by PCR technique.Conclusion: Diagnosis of trichomoniasis by PCR is a sensitive and specific method that could play important role to help the physicians for properly treatment and control of infection.

  20. Assessment of sputum smear-positive but culture-negative results among newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Tanzania

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    Mnyambwa NP

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Nicholaus Peter Mnyambwa,1,2 Esther S Ngadaya,2 Godfather Kimaro,2 Dong-Jin Kim,1 Rudovick Kazwala,3 Pammla Petrucka,1,4 Sayoki G Mfinanga2 1School of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania; 2National Institute for Medical Research, Muhimbili Medical Research Center, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; 3Department of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania; 4College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada Abstract: Diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB in technology-limited countries is widely achieved by smear microscopy, which has limited sensitivity and specificity. The frequency and clinical implication of smear-positive but culture-negative among presumptive TB patients remains unclear. A cross-sectional substudy was conducted which aimed to identify the proportion of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM infections among 94 “smear-positive culture-negative” patients diagnosed between January 2013 and June 2016 in selected health facilities in Tanzania. Out of 94 sputa, 25 (26.60% were GeneXpert® mycobacteria TB positive and 11/94 (11.70% repeat-culture positive; 5 were Capilia TB-Neo positive and confirmed by GenoType MTBC to be Mycobacterium tuberculosis/Mycobacterium canettii. The remaining 6 Capilia TB-Neo negative samples were genotyped by GenoType® CM/AS, identifying 3 (3.19% NTM, 2 Gram positive bacteria, and 1 isolate testing negative, together, making a total of 6/94 (6.38% confirmed false smear-positives. Twenty-eight (29.79% were confirmed TB cases, while 60 (63.83% remained unconfirmed cases. Out of 6 (6.38% patients who were HIV positive, 2 patients were possibly coinfected with mycobacteria. The isolation of NTM and other bacteria among smear-positive culture-negative samples and the presence of over two third of unconfirmed TB cases emphasize the need of both advanced differential TB diagnostic techniques and

  1. Establishing a protocol for immunocytochemical staining and chromogenic in situ hybridization of Giemsa and Diff-Quick prestained cytological smears

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    Elsa Beraki

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Protocols for immunocytochemical staining (ICC and in situ hybridization (ISH of air-dried Diff-Quick or May-Grünwald Giemsa (MGG-stained smears have been difficult to establish. An increasing need to be able to use prestained slides for ICC and ISH in specific cases led to this study, aiming at finding a robust protocol for both methods. Materials and Methods: The material consisted of MGG- and Diff-Quick-stained smears. After diagnosis, one to two diagnostic smears were stored in the department. Any additional smear(s containing diagnostic material were used for this study. The majority were fine needle aspirates (FNAC from the breast, comprising materials from fibroadenomas, fibrocystic disease, and carcinomas. A few were metastatic lesions (carcinomas and malignant melanomas. There were 64 prestained smears. Ten smears were Diff-Quick stained, and 54 were MGG stained. The antibodies used for testing ICC were Ki-67, ER, and PgR, CK MNF116 (pancytokeratin and E-cadherin. HER-2 Dual SISH was used to test ISH. Citrate, TRS, and TE buffers at pH6 and pH9 were tested, as well as, different heating times, microwave powers and antibody concentrations. The ICC was done on the Dako Autostainer (Dako®, Glostrup, Denmark, and HER-2 Dual SISH was done on the Ventana XT-machine (Ventana / Roche® , Strasbourg, France. Results: Optimal results were obtained with the TE buffer at pH 9, for both ICC and ISH. Antibody concentrations generally had to be higher than in the immunohistochemistry (IHC. The optimal microwave heat treatment included an initial high power boiling followed by low power boiling. No post fixation was necessary for ICC, whereas, 20 minutes post fixation in formalin (4% was necessary for ISH. Conclusions: Microwave heat treatment, with initial boiling at high power followed by boiling at low power and TE buffer at pH 9 were the key steps in the procedure. Antibody concentrations has to be adapted for each ICC marker. Post

  2. Missed Opportunities for Health Education on Pap Smears in Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayer, Angela M.; Nussbaum, Lauren; Cabrera, Lilia; Paz-Soldan, Valerie A.

    2011-01-01

    Despite cervical cancer being one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women in Peru, cervical Pap smear coverage is low. This article uses findings from 185 direct clinician observations in four cities of Peru (representing the capital and each of the three main geographic regions of the country) to assess missed opportunities for…

  3. A pilot study of same day sputum smear examination, its feasibility and usefulness in diagnosis of pulmonary TB.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myneedu, V P; Verma, A K; Sharma, P P; Behera, D

    2011-10-01

    A large number of tuberculosis cases are continuously being reported from India and other developing countries leading to high morbidity and mortality. In spite of many newer tests available for diagnosing a case of tuberculosis, smear microscopy of sputum is still the preferred test under programmatic conditions. The current national and international guidelines recommend two sputum smear examinations in two days for diagnosing cases of tuberculosis, which is time-consuming, tedious, needs multiple visits, leading to high dropout of infectious cases. In the background of existing limitations of smear microscopy, we attempted to complete the diagnosis of tuberculosis on same day by serial collection of the spot sputum specimen and analyze its advantages, feasibility and viability. The study was undertaken by the Department of Microbiology, Lala Ram Sarup Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases during May 2010 to April 2011. Sputum specimens were collected from 330 randomly selected tuberculosis suspects who attended OPD of hospital, patients submitted spot and home collected morning sputum sample in a standard method and spot and additional spot sputum (X- spot) collected one hour after the first spot sample as per the proposed front loading method. All the samples received were stained by acid fast Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain and examined on the same day. The sputum sample was pooled and cultured in Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) media in duplicate set of bottles. The results of two different microscopic methods were compared with the gold standard culture test. Out of the total 330 TB suspects, 70.60% were males and 29.39% females. The most common complaint was of cough with sputum (88.18%), chest pain (70.21%), fever (55.15%) and loss of appetite (43.03%). Upon examining the total sputum slides, 18.48 % were positive for acid fast bacilli. The smear positivity was 61/330 (18.48%) by standard methods and in proposed new method 43/330 (13.03%). Sensitivity of the

  4. Clinicopathological importance of Papanicolaou smears for the diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bukhari, Mulazim Hussain; Saba, Kanwal; Qamar, Samina; Majeed, Muhammad Muddasar; Niazi, Shahida; Naeem, Samina

    2012-01-01

    Premalignant and malignant lesions are not uncommon in Pakistani women, especially in the older age-groups This study was conducted to determine the clinicopathological importance of conventional Papanicolaou (Pap) smears for the diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix. Pap smears of 1000 women were examined from January 2007 to June 2009. Only cases with neoplastic cytology were included. The overall frequency of normal, inadequate, neoplastic, and infective smears was 50%, 1.8%, 10.2%, and 38.3%, respectively. Most of the patients (67%) were in the postmenopausal age-group, with the mean age being 44.7±15.63 years. The commonest clinical signs/symptoms seen among the 102 patients with neoplastic gynecological lesions were vaginal discharge and abnormal bleeding (93/102;(91.2% and 62/102;60.7%). Of the 102 cases with neoplastic lesions 46 patients (45%) had low-grade squamous cell intraepithelial lesions (LSILs), 22 (21.5%) had high-grade squamous cell intraepithelial lesions (HSILs), 14 (13.7%) had squamous cell carcinoma, and 6 (5.8%) showed features of adenocarcinoma. Ten (9.8%) cases showed cytology of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) and four (3.9%) cases had atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS). We conclude that cervical smear examination is well suited for diagnosing neoplastic disease. It is clear that cervical neoplastic lesions are becoming a problem in Pakistan.

  5. Defined PEG smears as an alternative approach to enhance the search for crystallization conditions and crystal-quality improvement in reduced screens

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chaikuad, Apirat, E-mail: apirat.chaikuad@sgc.ox.ac.uk [University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford OX3 7DQ (United Kingdom); Knapp, Stefan [University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford OX3 7DQ (United Kingdom); Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Building N240 Room 3.03, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 9, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Delft, Frank von, E-mail: apirat.chaikuad@sgc.ox.ac.uk [University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford OX3 7DQ (United Kingdom)

    2015-07-28

    An alternative strategy for PEG sampling is suggested through the use of four newly defined PEG smears to enhance chemical space in reduced screens with a benefit towards protein crystallization. The quest for an optimal limited set of effective crystallization conditions remains a challenge in macromolecular crystallography, an issue that is complicated by the large number of chemicals which have been deemed to be suitable for promoting crystal growth. The lack of rational approaches towards the selection of successful chemical space and representative combinations has led to significant overlapping conditions, which are currently present in a multitude of commercially available crystallization screens. Here, an alternative approach to the sampling of widely used PEG precipitants is suggested through the use of PEG smears, which are mixtures of different PEGs with a requirement of either neutral or cooperatively positive effects of each component on crystal growth. Four newly defined smears were classified by molecular-weight groups and enabled the preservation of specific properties related to different polymer sizes. These smears not only allowed a wide coverage of properties of these polymers, but also reduced PEG variables, enabling greater sampling of other parameters such as buffers and additives. The efficiency of the smear-based screens was evaluated on more than 220 diverse recombinant human proteins, which overall revealed a good initial crystallization success rate of nearly 50%. In addition, in several cases successful crystallizations were only obtained using PEG smears, while various commercial screens failed to yield crystals. The defined smears therefore offer an alternative approach towards PEG sampling, which will benefit the design of crystallization screens sampling a wide chemical space of this key precipitant.

  6. Smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis and AFB examination practices according to the standard checklist of WHO's tuberculosis laboratory assessment tool in three governmental hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mekonnen, Abiyu

    2014-05-13

    Using the Directly Observed Treatment-Short course (DOTS) program the World Health Organization's global target was to detect 70% of new sputum-smear positive PTB cases. Smear positive PTB cases are more infectious than the smear negative cases. The TB case detection rate remains very low in Ethiopia, but there are increases in smear-negative PTB diagnosis which could be attributed to several factors including poor quality of sputum smear-microscopy. A five years retrospective record review of data between September, 2007 and August, 2012 and an in-depth assessment of AFB staining practices of sputum smear using a standard checklist were made. The proportion of smear positive cases relative to overall Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) screened was determined over a five year period to indicate the overall prevalence and the trend. Odds ratio with 95 percent confidence interval was calculated for categorical variables using multivariate Logistic Regression model to assess the strength of association. A total of 1266 individuals' data were reviewed. The majority of the study participants were male, 704 (55.6%), and rural residents, 690 (54.5%). The overall prevalence rate of smear positive PTB was 21.6%. Age categories between 15-24 and 25-34 years were independent predictors of smear positive PTB with adjusted odds ratio of 2.246 [95% CI (1.098-4.597)] and 2.267 [95% CI (1.107-4.642)], respectively. More males were affected by PTB than females with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.426 [95% CI (1.083-1.879)]. An in-depth interview with the respective laboratory chiefs showed that quality control measures for sputum smear microscopy were used at different levels of the testing activities; however, equipment function verification as a quality control measure was not accomplished regularly in all of the study hospital laboratories. The smear positive PTB case detection rate indicated in this study is significantly lower than the countries which met the 70% target of the World Health

  7. Simple and rapid measurement of α-rays on smear samples using air luminescence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takiue, M.

    1980-01-01

    The α-activity collected on smear samples has been measured indirectly using an air luminescence counting method and a liquid scintillation spectrometer. In this method, air luminescence, attributed to the fluorescence emitted by nitrogen molecules excited by α-rays in air, serves to detect α-rays. Thus, sample preparation and α-ray measurement are simple and rapid, and moreover, no radioactive waste solution is produced. Taking into account a low background and a counting efficiency between 10 and 20%, it is estimated that the detectable limit for α-ray measurement is about 1 x 10 -7 μCi/cm 2 for loose contamination. This method is convenient to use in the routine analysis of α-ray-emitting nuclides on smear paper. (author)

  8. Identification and red blood cell automated counting from blood smear images using computer-aided system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acharya, Vasundhara; Kumar, Preetham

    2018-03-01

    Red blood cell count plays a vital role in identifying the overall health of the patient. Hospitals use the hemocytometer to count the blood cells. Conventional method of placing the smear under microscope and counting the cells manually lead to erroneous results, and medical laboratory technicians are put under stress. A computer-aided system will help to attain precise results in less amount of time. This research work proposes an image-processing technique for counting the number of red blood cells. It aims to examine and process the blood smear image, in order to support the counting of red blood cells and identify the number of normal and abnormal cells in the image automatically. K-medoids algorithm which is robust to external noise is used to extract the WBCs from the image. Granulometric analysis is used to separate the red blood cells from the white blood cells. The red blood cells obtained are counted using the labeling algorithm and circular Hough transform. The radius range for the circle-drawing algorithm is estimated by computing the distance of the pixels from the boundary which automates the entire algorithm. A comparison is done between the counts obtained using the labeling algorithm and circular Hough transform. Results of the work showed that circular Hough transform was more accurate in counting the red blood cells than the labeling algorithm as it was successful in identifying even the overlapping cells. The work also intends to compare the results of cell count done using the proposed methodology and manual approach. The work is designed to address all the drawbacks of the previous research work. The research work can be extended to extract various texture and shape features of abnormal cells identified so that diseases like anemia of inflammation and chronic disease can be detected at the earliest.

  9. Comparison of bloody pap smear fixation by Carnoy’s and fixator spray in samples from women with abnormal uterine bleeding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keshavarz Najmeh

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Abnormal uterine bleeding is a serious problem among women of late reproductive age. Cervical cancer is one of the reasons of AUB and Pap smear is the best way to diagnose it. Blood has negative effects on Pap smear especially in AUB with great blood. One of the effective solutions for lysing RBC is Carnoy’s. This study aims to compare two methods of fixation in bloody Pap smear by Carnoy’s and normal spray in samples from women with AUB. This study was done on 204 bloody Pap smear from 102 women with AUB that referred to Zeinabieh and Faghihi hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from2012-2013. After observing uterine bleeding in each subject, two samples were provided using usual Pap smear method; one of the slides was fixed by normal spray and the other slide fixed by Carnoy’s solution for20 minutes. After staining (Papanicolaou method, two pathologists performed a double-blind trial to analyze them. Data analysis was done using SPSS. 82 samples did not have cell adequacy. Squamous cells in Carnoy’s-fixed slides were more than spray-fixed ones (p=0.024. The decrease in the number of RBC on slides and the increase in the clarity of slides in Carnoy’s-fixed samples were more than sprayfixed slides (p=0.001, while identifying inflammatory cells(p=0.832 and microbial factors (p=1 in both methods showed no significant difference. Carnoy’s solution can be used as an effective fixative in bloody Pap smear from women with abnormal uterine bleeding.

  10. Does boundary quantum mechanics imply quantum mechanics in the bulk?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabat, Daniel; Lifschytz, Gilad

    2018-03-01

    Perturbative bulk reconstruction in AdS/CFT starts by representing a free bulk field ϕ (0) as a smeared operator in the CFT. A series of 1 /N corrections must be added to ϕ (0) to represent an interacting bulk field ϕ. These corrections have been determined in the literature from several points of view. Here we develop a new perspective. We show that correlation functions involving ϕ (0) suffer from ambiguities due to analytic continuation. As a result ϕ (0) fails to be a well-defined linear operator in the CFT. This means bulk reconstruction can be understood as a procedure for building up well-defined operators in the CFT which thereby singles out the interacting field ϕ. We further propose that the difficulty with defining ϕ (0) as a linear operator can be re-interpreted as a breakdown of associativity. Presumably ϕ (0) can only be corrected to become an associative operator in perturbation theory. This suggests that quantum mechanics in the bulk is only valid in perturbation theory around a semiclassical bulk geometry.

  11. Classical and quantum gravity of brane black holes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gregory, Ruth; Ross, Simon F.; Zegers, Robin

    2008-01-01

    We test the holographic conjecture of brane black holes: that a full classical 5D solution will correspond to a quantum corrected 4D black hole. Using the Schwarzschild-AdS black string, we compare the braneworld back reaction at strong coupling with the calculation of the quantum stress tensor on Schwarzschild-AdS 4 at weak coupling. The two calculations give different results and provide evidence that the stress tensor at strong coupling is indeed different to the weak coupling calculations, and hence does not conform to our notion of a quantum corrected black hole. We comment on the implications for an asymptotically flat black hole.

  12. Clinical value of whole-blood interferon-gamma assay in patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis and AFB smear- and polymerase chain reaction-negative bronchial aspirates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jaehee; Lee, Shin Yup; Yoo, Seung Soo; Cha, Seung Ick; Won, Dong Il; Park, Jae Yong; Lee, Won-Kil; Kim, Chang Ho

    2012-07-01

    Combining a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test with bronchoscopy is frequently performed to allow a rapid diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). However, limited data are available concerning clinical judgment in patients with suspected PTB and AFB smear- and PCR-negative bronchial aspirates (BA). The present study evaluated the usefulness of whole-blood QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT) testing in these patients. Of 166 patients with suspected PTB who had undergone bronchoscopy because of smear-negative sputum or inadequate sputum production, 93 (56%) were diagnosed with culture-positive PTB. Seventy-four patients were either AFB smear- or PCR-positive. In the 75 patients whose BA AFB smear and PCR results were both negative, 19 were finally diagnosed with PTB by culture. The QFT test had a negative predictive value of 91% for PTB. The QFT test may be useful for excluding PTB in patients with suspected PTB whose BA AFB smear and PCR results are both negative. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Falciparum malaria transmitted by a thick blood smear negative kidney donor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bemelman, Frederike; de Blok, Koen; de Vries, Peter; Surachno, S.; ten Berge, Ineke

    2004-01-01

    This report describes a case of P. falciparum transmission by a recent-immigrant renal donor. The donor tested negative upon microscopy of a thick blood smear. The diagnosis was made after analysis of a Quantified Buffy Coat(R). In our opinion, a renal donor from a malaria endemic country should be

  14. Formulation of an improved smeared stiffener theory for buckling analysis of grid-stiffened composite panels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaunky, Navin; Knight, Norman F., Jr.; Ambur, Damodar R.

    1995-01-01

    A smeared stiffener theory for stiffened panels is presented that includes skin-stiffener interaction effects. The neutral surface profile of the skin-stiffener combination is developed analytically using the minimum potential energy principle and statics conditions. The skin-stiffener interaction is accounted for by computing the stiffness due to the stiffener and the skin in the skin-stiffener region about the neutral axis at the stiffener. Buckling load results for axially stiffened, orthogrid, and general grid-stiffened panels are obtained using the smeared stiffness combined with a Rayleigh-Ritz method and are compared with results from detailed finite element analyses.

  15. Antimicrobial Effect of Citrus Aurantifolia Extract on Enterococcus Faecalis Within the Dentinal Tubules in The Presence of Smear Layer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharifian MR

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aims: Instrumentation of the root canals results in formation of smear layer which covers the dentinal tubules. In infected teeth, it is ideal to achieve a material that has the ability to remove the smear layer besides antimicrobial activity. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of Citrus aurantifolia extracts (lime juice and rind extract on Enterococcus faecalis within dentinal tubules in the presence of smear layer.Materials and Methods: One-hundred and forty dentin tubes were prepared from bovine incisors. After removal the smear layer, the specimens were infected with Enterococcus faecalis. Then, the smear layer was reformed. Test solutions were used as the irrigants in study roups as follows: group 1: 5.25% NaOCl; group 2: 17% EDTA; group 3: NaOCl+EDTA; group 4: Lime juice; group 5: ethanolic rind extract of C.aurantifolia; group 6: 96% ethanol. Dentin chips were collected from inner and outer layers of dentinal walls and optical density was measured. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tamhane tests.Results: In outer layer of dentin, the efficacy of rind extract was less than that of NaOCl+EDTA (P<0.05. Also Lime juice was less effective than EDTA, NaOCl and NaOCl+EDTA (P<0.05. In inner layer of dentin, Lime juice was significantly less effective than NaOCl and NaOCl+EDTA (P<0.05. The efficacy of rind extract was less than that of NaOCl+EDTA (P<0.05.Conclusion: In the presence of smear layer, the antimicrobial activity of Lime juice was less than that of NaOCl but the efficacy of rind extract was similar to that of NaOCl.

  16. Comparison of leaf smearing and wick feeding techniques for root distribution studies of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagaraj, G.; Hanumantha Rao, A.; Gopalachari, N.C.

    1976-01-01

    Wick feeding and leaf smearing methods have been compared for their relative efficiencies for root distribution studies with tobacco plant. The applied radioactivity gets equilibrated within 3 days in the tobacco plant. Root sections of the plants fed through the wick contained higher quantity for the radioactivity over those of the leaf smeared ones. Because of the case of application and better translocation of applied radioactivity the wick-feeding method appears to have good utility for root distribution studies with hard stemmed plants. (author)

  17. Eruptive furunculosis following the soak and smear regimen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martires, Kathryn; Sukhdeo, Kumar; Meinhardt, Eric

    2015-02-18

    The 'soak and smear' regimen is a highly effective method for localised topical therapy employed by dermatologists for widespread inflammatory skin conditions. The regimen involves application of topical medication under occlusion after soaking in water. Complications from this treatment method are rare. We present a case of multiple, generalised methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-positive furuncles arising in a patient as an unexpected consequence of therapy. The case highlights an unanticipated risk of a commonly employed treatment amid an epidemic of MRSA in the community. 2015 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

  18. Parton distributions from lattice QCD with momentum smearing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alexandrou, Constantia [Univ. of Cyprus, Nicosia (Cyprus). Dept. of Physics; Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center, Nicosia (Cyprus). Cyprus Inst.; Cichy, Krzysztof [Frankfurt Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Adam Mickiewicz Univ., Poznan (Poland). Inst. of Physics; Constantinou, Martha [Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States); Hadjiyiannakou, Kyriakos [Univ. of Cyprus, Nicosia (Cyprus). Dept. of Physics; Jansen, Karl; Steffens, Fernanda; Wiese, Christian [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC

    2017-01-15

    In this work we continue our effort to explore a recent proposal, which allows light-cone distributions to be extracted from purely spatial correlations, being thus accessible to lattice methods. In order to test the feasibility of this method, we present our latest results from a twisted mass lattice calculation of the flavor non-singlet momentum, helicity and transversity distributions of the nucleon. Furthermore, we apply a newly proposed momentum improved smearing, which has the potential to reach higher nucleon momenta as required for a safe matching procedure to the physical distribution functions.

  19. Computational model for squamous cells characterization during cervical smear cytology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Víctor Eduardo Martínez Abaunza

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of the work done by the Biomedical Engineering Research Group (GIIB, and the Structural, Functional and Clinical Pathology Research Group of the Industrial University of Santander (UIS, with Autonomous University of Bucaramanga (UNAB, was to construct a computational model allowing squamous cells characterization of cervical smear cytology to classify them as being either normal or abnormal cells. Slides containing the cell samples were colleted by the pathologist and the images were digitalized by a video-camera coupled to a microscope and connected to a frame acquisition device. Three thresholding algorithms were used, in image segmentation, allowing cell nuclei detection; manual thresholding was used when these algorithms failed to detect cytoplasm. Cell texture was described by the distribution of histogram in each color level, and the borders using Fourier descriptors. The results of the first phase are presented, implementing them in classifying and identifying normal cells. Later stages will involve characterizing each cells stage initially classified as presenting some reactive change or due to infection, to distinguish the reactive cells of intraepithelial lesion cells. Key words: image processing, mathematical morphology, cervical smear cytology, dysplasia, cancer of cervix.

  20. The Effect of Smear Layer Removal on Endodontic Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-01

    determined with a 0.02 taper #10 stainless steel FlexoFile (Dentsply Maillefer, Tulsa, OK) on all canals using a Root ZX (J Morita, Irvine,CA) apex...of adhesion based root canal filling materials in which smear plugs are removed to allow for the formation of a resin based hybrid layer have not...in eliminating intracanal enterococcus faecalis Biofilm . J Endod 2010; 36:894-98. 23. Chugal NM, Clive JM, Spangberg LSW. A prognostic model for

  1. Vacuum structure revealed by over-improved stout-link smearing compared with the overlap analysis for quenched QCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ilgenfritz, E.M.; Leinweber, D.; Moran, P.; Koller, K.; Weinberg, V.; Freie Univ. Berlin

    2008-01-01

    A detailed comparison is made between the topological structure of quenched QCD as revealed by the recently proposed over-improved stout-link smearing in conjunction with an improved gluonic definition of the topological density on one hand and a similar analysis made possible by the overlap-fermionic topological charge density both with and without variable ultraviolet cutoff λ cut . The matching is twofold, provided by fitting the density-density two-point functions on one hand and by a point-by-point fitting of the topological densities according to the two methods. We point out the similar cluster structure of the topological density for moderate smearing and 200 MeV cut <600 MeV, respectively. We demonstrate the relation of the gluonic topological density for extensive smearing to the location of the overlap zero modes and the lowest overlap non-zero mode as found for the unsmeared configurations. (orig.)

  2. Vacuum structure revealed by over-improved stout-link smearing compared with the overlap analysis for quenched QCD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ilgenfritz, E.M.; Leinweber, D.; Moran, P. [Adelaide Univ., SA (AU). Special Research Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter (CSSM); Koller, K. [Muenchen Univ. (Germany). Sektion Physik; Schierholz, G. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Weinberg, V. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik

    2008-01-11

    A detailed comparison is made between the topological structure of quenched QCD as revealed by the recently proposed over-improved stout-link smearing in conjunction with an improved gluonic definition of the topological density on one hand and a similar analysis made possible by the overlap-fermionic topological charge density both with and without variable ultraviolet cutoff {lambda}{sub cut}. The matching is twofold, provided by fitting the density-density two-point functions on one hand and by a point-by-point fitting of the topological densities according to the two methods. We point out the similar cluster structure of the topological density for moderate smearing and 200 MeV<{lambda}{sub cut}<600 MeV, respectively. We demonstrate the relation of the gluonic topological density for extensive smearing to the location of the overlap zero modes and the lowest overlap non-zero mode as found for the unsmeared configurations. (orig.)

  3. Evaluation of the effects of two novel irrigants on intraradicular dentine erosion, debris and smear layer removal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melahat Görduysus

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Objectives To evaluate the effects of copolymer of acrylic acid and maleic acid (Poly[AA-co-MA] and calcium hypochlorite (Ca(OCl2 on root canal dentin using scanning electron microscope (SEM. Materials and Methods Twenty-four single-rooted teeth were instrumented and the apical and coronal thirds of each root were removed, leaving the 5 mm middle thirds, which were then separated into two pieces longitudinally. The specimens were randomly divided into six groups and subjected to each irrigant for 5 min as follows: G1, Ca(OCl2; G2, Poly(AA-co-MA; G3, Ca(OCl2 + Poly(AA-co-MA; G4, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl; G5, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA; G6, NaOCl+EDTA. The specimens were prepared for SEM evaluation. Smear layer, debris and erosion scores were recorded by two blinded examiners. One image from G3 was analyzed with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS on suspicion of precipitate formation. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests. Results G1 and G4 showed the presence of debris and smear layer and they were statistically different from G2, G3, G5 and G6 where debris and smear layer were totally removed (p < 0.05. In G1 and G4, erosion evaluation could not be done because of debris and smear layer. G2, G3 and G5 showed no erosion, and there was no significant difference between them. G6 showed severe erosion and was statistically different from G2, G3 and G5 (p < 0.05. EDS microanalysis showed the presence of Na, P, and Ca elements on the surface. Conclusions Poly(AA-co-MA is effective in removing the smear layer and debris without causing erosion either alone or with Ca(OCl2.

  4. The sensitivity and specificity of potassium hydroxide smear and fungal culture relative to clinical assessment in the evaluation of tinea pedis: a pooled analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levitt, Jacob Oren; Levitt, Barrie H; Akhavan, Arash; Yanofsky, Howard

    2010-01-01

    Background. There are relatively few studies published examining the sensitivity and specificity of potassium hydroxide (KOH) smear and fungal culture examination of tinea pedis. Objective. To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of KOH smear and fungal culture for diagnosing tinea pedis. Methods. A pooled analysis of data from five similarly conducted bioequivalence trials for antifungal drugs was performed. Data from 460 patients enrolled in the vehicle arms of these studies with clinical diagnosis of tinea pedis supported by positive fungal culture were analyzed 6 weeks after initiation of the study to determine the sensitivity and specificity of KOH smear and fungal culture. Results. Using clinical assessment as the gold standard, the sensitivities for KOH smear and culture were 73.3% (95% CI: 66.3 to 79.5%) and 41.7% (34.6 to 49.1%), respectively. The respective specificities for culture and KOH smear were 77.7% (72.2 to 82.5%) and 42.5% (36.6 to 48.6%). Conclusion. KOH smear and fungal culture are complementary diagnostic tests for tinea pedis, with the former being the more sensitive test of the two, and the latter being more specific.

  5. The Sensitivity and Specificity of Potassium Hydroxide Smear and Fungal Culture Relative to Clinical Assessment in the Evaluation of Tinea Pedis: A Pooled Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacob Oren Levitt

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. There are relatively few studies published examining the sensitivity and specificity of potassium hydroxide (KOH smear and fungal culture examination of tinea pedis. Objective. To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of KOH smear and fungal culture for diagnosing tinea pedis. Methods. A pooled analysis of data from five similarly conducted bioequivalence trials for antifungal drugs was performed. Data from 460 patients enrolled in the vehicle arms of these studies with clinical diagnosis of tinea pedis supported by positive fungal culture were analyzed 6 weeks after initiation of the study to determine the sensitivity and specificity of KOH smear and fungal culture. Results. Using clinical assessment as the gold standard, the sensitivities for KOH smear and culture were 73.3% (95% CI: 66.3 to 79.5% and 41.7% (34.6 to 49.1%, respectively. The respective specificities for culture and KOH smear were 77.7% (72.2 to 82.5% and 42.5% (36.6 to 48.6%. Conclusion. KOH smear and fungal culture are complementary diagnostic tests for tinea pedis, with the former being the more sensitive test of the two, and the latter being more specific.

  6. AFSC/RACE/SAP/Shavey: DNA extraction from archived Giemsa-stained blood smears using polymerase chain reaction to detect host and parasitic DNA

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These are the data from a laboratory experiment in which DNA content was removed from blood smears and extracted. The blood smears were either stained with...

  7. Self-Reports of Pap Smear Screening in Women with Physical Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Chen, Shih-Fan; Lin, Lan-Ping; Sung, Chang-Lin

    2011-01-01

    We collected self reported rate of cervical smear testing to examine the affecting factors in women with physical disabilities in the study, to define the reproductive health care for this group of people. The study population recruited 521 women with physical disabilities aged more than 15 years who were officially registered as having physical…

  8. Increasing Pap smear rates at an urban Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service through translational research and continuous quality improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorrington, Melanie S; Herceg, Ana; Douglas, Kirsty; Tongs, Julie; Bookallil, Marianne

    2015-01-01

    This article describes translational research (TR) and continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes used to identify and address barriers and facilitators to Pap smear screening within an urban Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS). Rapid Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were conducted, informed by client surveys, a data collection tool, focus groups and internal research. There was a statistically significant increase in Pap smear numbers during PDSA cycles, continuing at 10 months follow up. The use of TR with CQI appears to be an effective and acceptable way to affect Pap smear screening. Community and service collaboration should be at the core of research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health settings. This model is transferrable to other settings and other health issues.

  9. Effectiveness of various irrigation activation protocols and the self-adjusting file system on smear layer and debris removal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çapar, İsmail Davut; Aydinbelge, Hale Ari

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the present study is to evaluate smear layer generation and residual debris after using self-adjusting file (SAF) or rotary instrumentation and to compare the debris and smear layer removal efficacy of the SAF cleaning/shaping irrigation system against final agitation techniques. One hundred and eight maxillary lateral incisor teeth were randomly divided into nine experimental groups (n = 12), and root canals were prepared using ProTaper Universal rotary files, with the exception of the SAF instrumentation group. During instrumentation, root canals were irrigated with a total of 16 mL of 5% NaOCl. For final irrigation, rotary-instrumented groups were irrigated with 10 mL of 17% EDTA and 10 mL of 5% NaOCl using different irrigation agitation regimens (syringe irrigation with needles, NaviTip FX, manual dynamic irrigation, CanalBrush, EndoActivator, EndoVac, passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI), and SAF irrigation). In the SAF instrumentation group, root canals were instrumented for 4 min at a rate of 4 mL/min with 5% NaOCl and received a final flush with same as syringe irrigation with needles. The surface of the root dentin was observed using a scanning electron microscope. The SAF instrumentation group generated less smear layer and yielded cleaner canals compared to rotary instrumentation. The EndoActivator, EndoVac, PUI, and SAF irrigation groups increased the efficacy of irrigating solutions on the smear layer and debris removal. The SAF instrumentation yielded cleaner canal walls when compared to rotary instrumentation. None of the techniques completely removed the smear layer from the root canal walls. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Efficacy of Two Irrigants Used with Self-Adjusting File System on Smear Layer: A Scanning Electron Microscopy Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genç Şen, Özgür; Kaya, Sadullah; Er, Özgür; Alaçam, Tayfun

    2014-01-01

    Mechanical instrumentation of root canals produces a smear layer that adversely affects the root canal seal. The aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy of MTAD and citric acid solutions used with self-adjusting file (SAF) system on smear layer. Twenty-three single-rooted human teeth were used for the study. Canals were instrumented manually up to a number 20 K file size. SAF was used to prepare the root canals. The following groups were studied: Group 1: MTAD + 5.25% NaOCl, Group 2: 20% citric acid + 5.25% NaOCl, and Group 3: Control (5.25% NaOCl). All roots were split longitudinally and subjected to scanning electron microscopy. The presence of smear layer in the coronal, middle, and apical thirds was evaluated using a five-score evaluation system. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis. In the coronal third, Group 2 exhibited the best results and was statistically different froms the other groups (P 0.05). The solutions used in Group 1 and 2 could effectively remove smear layer in most of the specimens. However, citric acid was more effective than MTAD in the three thirds of the canal.

  11. Quantum channels and their entropic characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holevo, A S; Giovannetti, V

    2012-01-01

    One of the major achievements of the recently emerged quantum information theory is the introduction and thorough investigation of the notion of a quantum channel which is a basic building block of any data-transmitting or data-processing system. This development resulted in an elaborated structural theory and was accompanied by the discovery of a whole spectrum of entropic quantities, notably the channel capacities, characterizing information-processing performance of the channels. This paper gives a survey of the main properties of quantum channels and of their entropic characterization, with a variety of examples for finite-dimensional quantum systems. We also touch upon the 'continuous-variables' case, which provides an arena for quantum Gaussian systems. Most of the practical realizations of quantum information processing were implemented in such systems, in particular based on principles of quantum optics. Several important entropic quantities are introduced and used to describe the basic channel capacity formulae. The remarkable role of specific quantum correlations—entanglement—as a novel communication resource is stressed.

  12. The origin of the distinction between microscopic formulas for stress and Cauchy stress

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Youping

    2016-01-01

    Stress is calculated routinely in atomistic simulations. The widely used microscopic stress formulas derived from classical or quantum mechanics, however, are distinct from the concept of Cauchy stress, i.e., the true mechanical tress. This work examines various atomistic stress formulations and their inconsistencies. Using standard mathematic theorems and the law of mechanics, we show that Cauchy stress results unambiguously from the definition of internal force density, thereby removing the...

  13. Microscopic evaluation of methods of fixation and preservation of vaginal smears taken from normal women submitted to radiotherapy for uterine cervical cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa, O.L.N.; Baruffi, I.; Valeri, V.; Parente, J.V.

    1983-01-01

    Two methods were evaluated for fixation and conservation of vaginal smears of normal and irradiated women for periods as long as four months. An initial fixation was used with 95% alcohol for 24 hours followed by either air storage or 0,5% alcohol - ether celoidina solution coating. It is concluded that through microscopic evaluation, the smears of non-irradiated women treated by both methods in long run observation are only worthwhile for oncotic studies. On the other hand, the smears of irradiated women are not valid either for hormonal or oncotic analysis. (Author) [pt

  14. Violence Victimization, Social Support, and Papanicolaou Smear Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study from Adolescence to Young Adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsieh, Hsing-Fang; Heinze, Justin E; Lang, Ian; Mistry, Ritesh; Buu, Anne; Zimmerman, Marc A

    2017-12-01

    African American youth are among those at greatest risk for experiencing violence victimization. Notably, the mortality rate of cervical cancer for African American women is also twice that of white women. To date, we know of no literature using longitudinal data to examine how violence victimization relates to Papanicolaou (Pap) smear results or cervical cancer in this population. Our study examines how violence victimization during adolescence (age 15 to 18) influences psychological distress, perceived social support, heavy substance abuse, and sexual risk behaviors during emerging adulthood (age 20 to 23), and subsequent Pap smear outcomes during young adulthood (age 29 to 32). This study is based on 12 waves of data collected in a longitudinal study of 360 African American women from mid-adolescence (ninth grade, mean age = 14.8 years) to young adulthood (mean age = 32.0 years). We used structural equation modeling analysis to examine the hypothesized model. Violence victimization during adolescence had a direct effect on decreased social support, increased psychological distress, and increased heavy cigarette use during emerging adulthood. Better social support was also associated with fewer sexual partners during emerging adulthood and lower odds of abnormal Pap smear results during young adulthood. The effect of violence victimization on abnormal Pap smear was mediated by social support. Our results show that violence victimization during adolescence has long-term negative effects through multiple pathways that persist into adulthood. Our findings also suggest that social support may help to compensate against other risk factors. Interventions designed to address the perceived support may help victims cope with their experience.

  15. Macroscopic effects of the quantum trace anomaly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mottola, Emil; Vaulin, Ruslan

    2006-01-01

    The low energy effective action of gravity in any even dimension generally acquires nonlocal terms associated with the trace anomaly, generated by the quantum fluctuations of massless fields. The local auxiliary field description of this effective action in four dimensions requires two additional scalar fields, not contained in classical general relativity, which remain relevant at macroscopic distance scales. The auxiliary scalar fields depend upon boundary conditions for their complete specification, and therefore carry global information about the geometry and macroscopic quantum state of the gravitational field. The scalar potentials also provide coordinate invariant order parameters describing the conformal behavior and divergences of the stress tensor on event horizons. We compute the stress tensor due to the anomaly in terms of its auxiliary scalar potentials in a number of concrete examples, including the Rindler wedge, the Schwarzschild geometry, and de Sitter spacetime. In all of these cases, a small number of classical order parameters completely determine the divergent behaviors allowed on the horizon, and yield qualitatively correct global approximations to the renormalized expectation value of the quantum stress tensor

  16. What have we learned from quantum field theory in curved space-time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fulling, S.A.

    1984-01-01

    The paper reviews the quantum field theory in curved space-time. Field quantization in gravitational backgrounds; particle creation by black holes; Hawking radiation; quantum field theory in curved space-time; covariant renormalization of the stress-energy-momentum tensor; quantum field theory and quantum gravity; are all discussed. (U.K.)

  17. Combined effect of smear layer characteristics and hydrostatic pulpal pressure on dentine bond strength of HEMA-free and HEMA-containing adhesives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahdan, Mohd Haidil Akmal; Nakajima, Masatoshi; Foxton, Richard M; Tagami, Junji

    2013-10-01

    This study evaluated the combined effect of smear layer characteristics with hydrostatic pulpal pressure (PP) on bond strength and nanoleakage expression of HEMA-free and -containing self-etch adhesives. Flat dentine surfaces were obtained from extracted human molars. Smear layers were created by grinding with #180- or #600-SiC paper. Three HEMA-free adhesives (Xeno V, G Bond Plus, Beautibond Multi) and two HEMA-containing adhesives (Bond Force, Tri-S Bond) were applied to the dentine surfaces under hydrostatic PP or none. Dentine bond strengths were determined using the microtensile bond test (μTBS). Data were statistically analyzed using three- and two-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc comparison test. Nanoleakage evaluation was carried out under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Coarse smear layer preparation and hydrostatic PP negatively affected the μTBS of HEMA-free and -containing adhesives, but there were no significant differences. The combined experimental condition significantly reduced μTBS of the HEMA-free adhesives, while the HEMA-containing adhesives exhibited no significant differences. Two-way ANOVA indicated that for HEMA-free adhesives, there were significant interactions in μTBS between smear layer characteristics and pulpal pressure, while for HEMA-containing adhesives, there were no significant interactions between them. Nanoleakage formation within the adhesive layers of both adhesive systems distinctly increased in the combined experimental group. The combined effect of coarse smear layer preparation with hydrostatic PP significantly reduced the μTBS of HEMA-free adhesives, while in HEMA-containing adhesives, these effects were not obvious. Smear layer characteristics and hydrostatic PP would additively compromise dentine bonding of self-etch adhesives, especially HEMA-free adhesives. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Sudanese Women Regarding the Pap Smear Test and Cervical Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almobarak, Ahmed O; Elbadawi, Ayman A; Elmadhoun, Wadie M; Elhoweris, Mohammed H; Ahmed, Mohammed H

    2016-01-01

    Despite the established role of the Pap smear test (PST) in prevention and early detection of cervical cancer, it is still rarely practiced in Sudan. Many challenges hinder the establishment of an effective cervical cancer screening program, including socio-cultural factors. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of Sudanese women with regard to the Pap smear test and cervical cancer. A total of 500 married women aged 14 to 58 years were recruited from obstetric clinics, hospitals and universities in Khartoum in 2014. Data were collected using a standardized, pretested questionnaire that inquired socio-demographic characteristics and their KAP about cervical cancer and the PST. More than 52% of participating women were above 30 years of age, and the majority (78.8%) were university degree holders. A total of 486 (97.2 %) of participants were resident in urban areas of Khartoum State. However about 48% of the respondents had never heard about PST, and only 15.8% of the participants had undergone a Pap smear test previously; 46.6% (233/500) knew that the human papilloma virus (HPV) was the causative agent, but only 39.2% (196/500) had heard about HPV vaccination, and only 11.4% (57/500) had received the vaccine. However 68% of the respondents agreed to do Pap smear if properly informed about the test and 75.4% of the respondents agreed to participate in a cervical cancer screening program. Despite a high educational level, less than half of our participants had accurate knowledge about cervical cancer, HPV, and cervical cancer screening. Health education about cervical cancer, HPV and sexually transmitted infections and the role of PST in cervical cancer prevention are crucial when designing interventions aimed at improving cervical cancer screening for Sudanese women.

  19. Averaged null energy condition and difference inequalities in quantum field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yurtsever, U.

    1995-01-01

    For a large class of quantum states, all local (pointwise) energy conditions widely used in relativity are violated by the renormalized stress-energy tensor of a quantum field. In contrast, certain nonlocal positivity constraints on the quantum stress-energy tensor might hold quite generally, and this possibility has received considerable attention in recent years. In particular, it is now known that the averaged null energy condition, the condition that the null-null component of the stress-energy tensor integrated along a complete null geodesic is non-negative for all states, holds quite generally in a wide class of spacetimes for a minimally coupled scalar field. Apart from the specific class of spacetimes considered (mainly two-dimensional spacetimes and four-dimensional Minkowski space), the most significant restriction on this result is that the null geodesic over which the average is taken must be achronal. Recently, Ford and Roman have explored this restriction in two-dimensional flat spacetime, and discovered that in a flat cylindrical space, although the stress energy tensor itself fails to satisfy the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) along the (nonachronal) null geodesics, when the ''Casimir-vacuum'' contribution is subtracted from the stress-energy the resulting tensor does satisfy the ANEC inequality. Ford and Roman name this class of constraints on the quantum stress-energy tensor ''difference inequalities.'' Here I give a proof of the difference inequality for a minimally coupled massless scalar field in an arbitrary (globally hyperbolic) two-dimensional spacetime, using the same techniques as those we relied on to prove the ANEC in an earlier paper with Wald. I begin with an overview of averaged energy conditions in quantum field theory

  20. Spatio-temporal analysis of smear-positive tuberculosis in the Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mesay Hailu Dangisso

    Full Text Available Tuberculosis (TB is a disease of public health concern, with a varying distribution across settings depending on socio-economic status, HIV burden, availability and performance of the health system. Ethiopia is a country with a high burden of TB, with regional variations in TB case notification rates (CNRs. However, TB program reports are often compiled and reported at higher administrative units that do not show the burden at lower units, so there is limited information about the spatial distribution of the disease. We therefore aim to assess the spatial distribution and presence of the spatio-temporal clustering of the disease in different geographic settings over 10 years in the Sidama Zone in southern Ethiopia.A retrospective space-time and spatial analysis were carried out at the kebele level (the lowest administrative unit within a district to identify spatial and space-time clusters of smear-positive pulmonary TB (PTB. Scan statistics, Global Moran's I, and Getis and Ordi (Gi* statistics were all used to help analyze the spatial distribution and clusters of the disease across settings.A total of 22,545 smear-positive PTB cases notified over 10 years were used for spatial analysis. In a purely spatial analysis, we identified the most likely cluster of smear-positive PTB in 192 kebeles in eight districts (RR= 2, p<0.001, with 12,155 observed and 8,668 expected cases. The Gi* statistic also identified the clusters in the same areas, and the spatial clusters showed stability in most areas in each year during the study period. The space-time analysis also detected the most likely cluster in 193 kebeles in the same eight districts (RR= 1.92, p<0.001, with 7,584 observed and 4,738 expected cases in 2003-2012.The study found variations in CNRs and significant spatio-temporal clusters of smear-positive PTB in the Sidama Zone. The findings can be used to guide TB control programs to devise effective TB control strategies for the geographic areas

  1. Development of automatic smear testing sampler for radioactive contamination of floor in nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nozawa, Katsuro; Hashimoto, Hiroshi; Shinohara, Yohtaro; Iwaki, Kiyotaka

    1980-01-01

    The floor contamination with radioactive substances in the controlled area of nuclear power stations is strictly controlled, and it is tested by the smear method, wiping the contaminants on floors with filter papers or cloths and measuring the radioactive intensity to obtain contamination density. The works are very laborious, therefore the automatic smear sampler was developed. Simple operation, shortening of time required for wiping, constant and high efficiency of wiping, and easy numbering of samples were the aims in the development. The method of wiping, the mechanisms of wiping, cloth feeding and running, the surface pressure at the time of wiping, the number of times of wiping and required motor torque were studied. The outline of the developed sampler is explained. The performance of the sampler was compared with manual wiping. The efficiency of wiping with the sampler was 92%, assuming manual wiping as 100. Difference was not observed between careful manual wiping and the wiping with the sampler, therefore it was confirmed that this automatic floor smear sampler can be put in practical use. By conventional manual sampling, the maximum limit was about 400 samples/man-day, but when this sampler is used, about 1000 samples/sampler-day is possible. At present, this sampler is operated in Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station. (Kako, I.)

  2. Prevalence of high risk human papillomavirus types 16/18 in cytologically abnormal cervical smears in Alexandria, Egypt. A cytological and molecular study

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    Mona Sobhy Elkharashy

    2013-12-01

    Conclusion: The study generates epidemiological data of prevalence of HPV 16/18 in cytologically abnormal cervical smears in women seeking routine gynecologic care at the outpatient clinics of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at El Shatby University. High-risk HPV DNA testing by PCR of cervical samples diagnosed according to the Bethesda 2001 guidelines may benefit the management of patients with abnormal cervical smears, especially among women aged 46 years and older, in menopausal women and in women complaining of PMB. Therefore, HPV DNA testing should be made use of as an adjunct to cervical smears.

  3. The frequency of having pap-smear tests among women between 15-64 years old and the evaluation of the level of their knowledge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sevil, S.; Kevser, O.; Aleattin, U.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To determine the frequency of Pap smear testing among women and to evaluate their level of knowledge about the test and other relevant factors. Methods: The study comprised women who presented to the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Polyclinic of Sakarya Training and Research Hospital, Turkey, between April 1 and 30, 2012. The questionnaire was developed in line with the objectives of the study. They were filled by the participants who were supervised during the process. Women who had had at least one Pap smear test in life were considered to have taken a Pap smear test , and those who had heard of the test were accepted as women who k new of the Pap smear test . Data was analysed using SPSS 15.0. Chi-square test was used for analyses, and statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: The age of 601 subjects ranged between 15 and 64 years, with a mean of 31.09+-10.49 years. Of the total, 115 (19.1%) had taken a Pap smear test before and 293 (48.8%) knew of the test. The proportion of the women who had had a Pap smear test was higher among those who were over 30 years of age (n=73; 63.47%), had post-high school educational degrees (n=68; 59.13%), had moderate familial income status (n=74; 64.34%), were married (n=109; 94.78%), had first sexual experience after 25 years of age(n=42; 36.52%), and were not using a contraceptive method (n=97; 84.34%) (p<0.05 for each). Besides, more women with previous knowledge of the test had taken the test (p<0.05). Conclusion: The subjects did not have sufficient information on Pap smear and the frequency of having a test was low. Raising awareness would prove beneficial. (author)

  4. A Review of Automatic Methods Based on Image Processing Techniques for Tuberculosis Detection from Microscopic Sputum Smear Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panicker, Rani Oomman; Soman, Biju; Saini, Gagan; Rajan, Jeny

    2016-01-01

    Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It primarily affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. TB remains one of the leading causes of death in developing countries, and its recent resurgences in both developed and developing countries warrant global attention. The number of deaths due to TB is very high (as per the WHO report, 1.5 million died in 2013), although most are preventable if diagnosed early and treated. There are many tools for TB detection, but the most widely used one is sputum smear microscopy. It is done manually and is often time consuming; a laboratory technician is expected to spend at least 15 min per slide, limiting the number of slides that can be screened. Many countries, including India, have a dearth of properly trained technicians, and they often fail to detect TB cases due to the stress of a heavy workload. Automatic methods are generally considered as a solution to this problem. Attempts have been made to develop automatic approaches to identify TB bacteria from microscopic sputum smear images. In this paper, we provide a review of automatic methods based on image processing techniques published between 1998 and 2014. The review shows that the accuracy of algorithms for the automatic detection of TB increased significantly over the years and gladly acknowledges that commercial products based on published works also started appearing in the market. This review could be useful to researchers and practitioners working in the field of TB automation, providing a comprehensive and accessible overview of methods of this field of research.

  5. Awareness of cervical cancer and Pap smear among nursing staff at a rural tertiary care hospital in Central India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jain, S M; Bagde, M N; Bagde, N D

    2016-01-01

    Cancer cervix is the leading cause of cancer deaths in females in developing countries and one in five women suffering from cervical cancer lives in India. The aim of this study is to determine the awareness about cervical cancer and Pap smear among nurses working in a tertiary care institute. Study Setting and Design: Cross-sectional survey in a tertiary care institute. Nurses working at our institute excluding those who have worked or working in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department were provided with a pre-designed questionnaire testing their knowledge about cervical cancer. Approximately, 86% were aware about cancer cervix and 69% were aware of a pre-cancerous stage. 42.3% were not aware of any risk factor and 27.6% were not aware of any symptom of cancer cervix. 86.2% were aware about Pap smear, but only 58.6% were aware that facilities of Pap smear were available at our hospital. Knowledge about cervical cancer and awareness of Pap smear as screening test was inadequate in nursing staff. Awareness programs about cervical cancer and screening are needed to increase awareness for this preventable condition. There is a need to arrange reorientation programs to sensitize nurses and establish cytology clinics to offer facilities for easily accessible and affordable screening.

  6. How group education impacts female factory workers' behavior and readiness to receive mammography and Pap smear.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seven, Memnun; Bahar, Mine; Akyüz, Aygül; Erdoğan, Hatice

    2015-01-01

    The workplace has been deemed a suitable location for educating many women at once about cancer screening. To determine how group education about early diagnostic methods for breast and cervical cancer effects women's behavior and readiness to receive mammography and Pap smear. This semi-interventional study was conducted at a textile factory in Istanbul, Turkey. Female workers (n= 125) were included in the study. A participant identification form and knowledge evaluation form developed for this study, along with the transtheoretical model, were used to collect data. A 45-min interactive group education was given to the participants. Upon contacting participants 3 months after group education, 15.4% (n = 11) stated that they had since received a mammogram and 9.8% (n = 7) a Pap smear. As suggested by the transtheoretical model, group education increased participants' readiness to receive cancer screening, along with their knowledge of breast and cervical cancer. Group education positively impacted women's knowledge of cancer and their readiness to receive mammography and Pap smear. Group education can potentially create awareness of cancer screening tests among women and improve their readiness to receive such tests.

  7. Intermixing of InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and quantum dots using sputter-deposited silicon oxynitride capping layers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKerracher, Ian; Fu Lan; Hoe Tan, Hark; Jagadish, Chennupati

    2012-01-01

    Various approaches can be used to selectively control the amount of intermixing in III-V quantum well and quantum dot structures. Impurity-free vacancy disordering is one technique that is favored for its simplicity, however this mechanism is sensitive to many experimental parameters. In this study, a series of silicon oxynitride capping layers have been used in the intermixing of InGaAs/GaAs quantum well and quantum dot structures. These thin films were deposited by sputter deposition in order to minimize the incorporation of hydrogen, which has been reported to influence impurity-free vacancy disordering. The degree of intermixing was probed by photoluminescence spectroscopy and this is discussed with respect to the properties of the SiO x N y films. This work was also designed to monitor any additional intermixing that might be attributed to the sputtering process. In addition, the high-temperature stress is known to affect the group-III vacancy concentration, which is central to the intermixing process. This stress was directly measured and the experimental values are compared with an elastic-deformation model.

  8. Detection of PAX8/PPARG and RET/PTC Rearrangements Is Feasible in Routine Air-Dried Fine Needle Aspiration Smears

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ferraz, Carolina; Rehfeld, Christian; Krogdahl, Annelise

    2012-01-01

    Background: The diagnostic limitations of fine needle aspiration (FNA), like the indeterminate category, can be partially overcome by molecular analysis. As PAX8/PPARG and RET/PTC rearrangements have been detected in follicular thyroid carcinomas (FTCs) and papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs......), their detection in FNA smears could improve the FNA diagnosis. To date, these rearrangements have never been analyzed in routine air-dried FNA smears, but only in frozen tissue, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, and in fresh FNA material. Fixed routine air-dried FNA samples have hitherto been judged...... as generally not suitable for testing these rearrangements in a clinical setting. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of extracting RNA from routine air-dried FNA smears for the detection of these rearrangements with real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT...

  9. A comparative study of cervical smears in an urban Hospital in India and a population-based screening program in Mauritius

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    Mulay Kaustubh

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To study cervical smear abnormalities in urban women in India and women in Mauritius and to compare the results in the two groups. Study Design: An analysis of 6010 cervical smears taken as part of routine check-ups in an urban hospital was done and an analysis of 10,000 cervical smears taken from women participating in a National Cancer Screening Program in Mauritius was done. Emphasis was put on cervical epithelial cell abnormalities and the results in the two populations are compared with that of similar studies in other parts of the world. Results: Non specific inflammation formed 19.6% and 25.34% of the smears in the Indian and Mauritian groups, respectively (with specific infection forming 6.05% and 15.08%. The epithelial abnormalities constituted 1.392% of the Indian group and 0.47% of the Mauritian group. The difference was statistically significant in the atypical squamous cells of uncertain significance (ASCUS and atypical glandular cells of uncertain significance (AGUS group. Conclusions: The prevalence of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL is similar to that in the developed world.

  10. Factors related to failure to attend the consultation to receive the results of the Pap smear test

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    Camila Teixeira Moreira Vasconcelos

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: to identify the factors related to the failure of women to attend the follow-up consultation to receive the results of the Pap smear test.METHOD: a cross-sectional study, carried out with 775 patients who underwent the Pap smear test in the Centro de Saúde da Família of Fortaleza, between September 2010 and February 2011.RESULTS: the majority of the women studied were young (≤35 years, had low levels of education (≤7 years of study, and commenced sexual activity early (≤20 years, with 17.0% of them failing to return to receive the test results. Statistically significant results for the failure to return were related to: young women (p=0.001; early onset of sexual activity (p=0.047; and inadequate knowledge about the Pap smear test (p=0.029. Conclusion the fact that the women failed to return for the result is a problem for the control of cervical cancer and must be addressed through educational strategies that reinforce the importance of the return for the early detection of this cancer.

  11. Cytological pattern of cervical papanicolaou smear in eastern region of Saudi Arabia

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    Magdy Hassan Balaha

    2011-01-01

    Conclusion: The study has shown a relatively high prevalence of epithelial abnormalities in cervical smears in the studied population. The squamous cell carcinoma represented a higher than the overall prevalence compared to World Health Organization (WHO factsheets about Saudi Arabia. The mean age of epithelial abnormalities and squamous cell carcinoma was in the reproductive years.

  12. Effectiveness of four different final irrigation activation techniques on smear layer removal in curved root canals : a scanning electron microscopy study.

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    Puneet Ahuja

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of apical negative pressure (ANP, manual dynamic agitation (MDA, passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI and needle irrigation (NI as final irrigation activation techniques for smear layer removal in curved root canals.Mesiobuccal root canals of 80 freshly extracted maxillary first molars with curvatures ranging between 25° and 35° were used. A glide path with #08-15 K files was established before cleaning and shaping with Mtwo rotary instruments (VDW, Munich, Germany up to size 35/0.04 taper. During instrumentation, 1 ml of 2.5% NaOCl was used at each change of file. Samples were divided into 4 equal groups (n=20 according to the final irrigation activation technique: group 1, apical negative pressure (ANP (EndoVac; group 2, manual dynamic agitation (MDA; group 3, passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI; and group 4, needle irrigation (NI. Root canals were split longitudinally and subjected to scanning electron microscopy. The presence of smear layer at coronal, middle and apical levels was evaluated by superimposing 300-μm square grid over the obtained photomicrographs using a four-score scale with X1,000 magnification.Amongst all the groups tested, ANP showed the overall best smear layer removal efficacy (p < 0.05. Removal of smear layer was least effective with the NI technique.ANP (EndoVac system can be used as the final irrigation activation technique for effective smear layer removal in curved root canals.

  13. A quantum-like model of homeopathy clinical trials: importance of in situ randomization and unblinding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beauvais, Francis

    2013-04-01

    The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the 'gold standard' of modern clinical pharmacology. However, for many practitioners of homeopathy, blind RCTs are an inadequate research tool for testing complex therapies such as homeopathy. Classical probabilities used in biological sciences and in medicine are only a special case of the generalized theory of probability used in quantum physics. I describe homeopathy trials using a quantum-like statistical model, a model inspired by quantum physics and taking into consideration superposition of states, non-commuting observables, probability interferences, contextuality, etc. The negative effect of blinding on success of homeopathy trials and the 'smearing effect' ('specific' effects of homeopathy medicine occurring in the placebo group) are described by quantum-like probabilities without supplementary ad hoc hypotheses. The difference of positive outcome rates between placebo and homeopathy groups frequently vanish in centralized blind trials. The model proposed here suggests a way to circumvent such problems in masked homeopathy trials by incorporating in situ randomization/unblinding. In this quantum-like model of homeopathy clinical trials, success in open-label setting and failure with centralized blind RCTs emerge logically from the formalism. This model suggests that significant differences between placebo and homeopathy in blind RCTs would be found more frequently if in situ randomization/unblinding was used. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  14. DNA typing from vaginal smear slides in suspected rape cases

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    Dayse Aparecida da Silva

    Full Text Available In an investigation of suspected rape, proof of sexual assault with penetration is required. In view of this, detailed descriptions of the genitalia, the thighs and pubic region are made within the forensic medical service. In addition, vaginal swabs are taken from the rape victim and some of the biological material collected is then transferred to glass slides. In this report, we describe two rape cases solved using DNA typing from cells recovered from vaginal smear slides. In 1999, two young women informed the Rio de Janeiro Police Department that they had been victims of sexual assaults. A suspect was arrested and the victims identified him as the offender. The suspect maintained that he was innocent. In order to elucidate these crimes, vaginal smear slides were sent to the DNA Diagnostic Laboratory for DNA analysis three months after the crimes, as unique forensic evidence. To get enough epithelial and sperm cells to perform DNA analysis, we used protocols modified from the previously standard protocols used for DNA extraction from biological material fixed on glass slides. The quantity of cells was sufficient to perform human DNA typing using nine short tandem repeat (STR loci. It was 3.3 billion times more probable that it was the examined suspect who had left sperm cells in the victims, rather than any other individual in the population of Rio de Janeiro.

  15. Using poisson regression to compare rates of unsatisfactory pap smears among gynecologists and to evaluate a performance improvement plan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wachtel, Mitchell S; Hatley, Warren G; de Riese, Cornelia

    2009-01-01

    To evaluate impact of a performance improvement (PI) plan implemented after initial analysis, comparing 7 gynecologists working in 2 clinics. From January to October 2005, unsatisfactory rates for gynecologists and clinics were calculated. A PI plan was instituted at the end of the first quarter of 2006. Unsatisfactory rates for each quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 were calculated. Poisson regression analyzed results. A total of 100 ThinPrep Pap smears initially deemed unsatisfactory underwent reprocessing and revaluation. The study's first part evaluated 2890 smears. Clinic unsatisfactory rates, 2.7% and 2.6%, were similar (p > 0.05). Gynecologists' unsatisfactory rates were 4.8-0.6%; differences between each of the highest 2 and lowest rates were significant (p improvement. Reprocessing ThinPrep smears is an important means of reducing unsatisfactory rates but should not be a substitute for attention to quality in sampling.

  16. Comparison of positive-pressure, passive ultrasonic, and laser-activated irrigations on smear-layer removal from the root canal surface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahar-Helft, Sharonit; Sarp, Ayşe Sena Kabaş; Stabholtz, Adam; Gutkin, Vitaly; Redenski, Idan; Steinberg, Doron

    2015-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of three irrigation techniques for smear-layer removal with 17% EDTA. Cleaning and shaping the root canal system during endodontic treatment produces a smear layer and hard tissue debris. Three irrigation techniques were tested for solution infiltration of this layer: positive-pressure irrigation, passive ultrasonic irrigation, and laser-activated irrigation. Sixty extracted teeth were divided into six equal groups; 17% EDTA was used for 60 sec irrigation of five of the groups. The groups were as follows: Group 1, treated only with ProTaper™ F3 Ni-Ti files; Group 2, positive-pressure irrigation, with a syringe; Group 3, passive ultrasonic irrigation, inserted 1 mm short of the working length; Group 4, passive ultrasonic irrigation, inserted in the upper coronal third of the root; Group 5, Er:YAG laser-activated irrigation, inserted 1 mm short of the working length; and Group 6, Er:YAG laser-activated irrigation, inserted in the upper coronal third of the root. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the smear layer is removed most efficiently using laser-activated irrigation at low energy with 17% EDTA, inserted either at the working length or only in the coronal upper third of the root. Amounts of Ca, P, and O were not significantly different on all treated dentin surfaces. Smear-layer removal was most effective when the root canals were irrigated using Er:YAG laser at low energy with 17% EDTA solution. Interestingly, removal of the smear layer along the entire canal was similar when the laser was inserted in the upper coronal third and at 1 mm short of the working length of the root canal. This effect was not observed with the ultrasonic and positive-pressure techniques.

  17. Inequity of healthcare utilization on mammography examination and Pap smear screening in Thailand: Analysis of a population-based household survey.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sukanya Chongthawonsatid

    Full Text Available Healthcare in Thailand is not equally distributed, and not all people can equally access healthcare resources even if they are covered by health insurance. To examine factors associated with the utilization of mammography examination for breast cancer and Pap smear screening for cervical cancer, data from the national reproductive health survey conducted by the National Statistical Office of Thailand in 2009 was examined. The survey was carried out on 15,074,126 women aged 30-59 years. The results showed that the wealthier respondents had more mammograms than did the lower-income groups. The concentration index was 0.144. The data on Pap smears for cervical cancer also showed that the wealthier respondents were more likely to have had a Pap smear than their lower-income counterparts. The concentration index was 0.054. Determinants of mammography examination were education, followed by health welfare and wealth index, whereas the determinants of Pap smear screening were wealth index, followed by health welfare and education. The government should support greater education for women because education was associated with socioeconomic status and wealth. There should be an increase in the number of screening campaigns, mobile clinics, and low-cost mammograms and continued support for accessibility to mammograms, especially in rural areas and low-income communities.

  18. A scanning electron microscopy study of root surface smear layer removal after topical application of EDTA plus a detergent

    OpenAIRE

    Sampaio, José Eduardo Cezar; Campos, Flávia Pavan; Pilatti, Gibson Luiz; Theodoro, Letícia Helena; Leite, Fábio Renato Manzolli

    2005-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to compare root surface smear layer removal following topical application of EDTA and EDTA-T (Texapon). Extracted human teeth had their cementum removed and were mechanically scaled. A total of 220 root specimens were obtained and were randomly assigned to the following groups: I-saline solution(control), II-EDTA; III-EDTAT. Groups II and III specimens were assigned to different EDTA gel concentrations: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 24%. Smear layer removal score was ...

  19. A scanning electron microscopy study of root surface smear layer removal after topical application of EDTA plus a detergent

    OpenAIRE

    Sampaio,José Eduardo Cezar; Campos,Flávia Pavan; Pilatti,Gibson Luiz; Theodoro,Letícia Helena; Leite,Fábio Renato Manzolli

    2005-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to compare root surface smear layer removal following topical application of EDTA and EDTA-T (Texapon). Extracted human teeth had their cementum removed and were mechanically scaled. A total of 220 root specimens were obtained and were randomly assigned to the following groups: I-saline solution (control), II-EDTA; III-EDTA-T. Groups II and III specimens were assigned to different EDTA gel concentrations: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 24%. Smear layer removal score wa...

  20. Detection of Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) abortus and Toxoplasma gondii in smears from cases of ovine and caprine abortion by the streptavidin-biotin method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szeredi, L; Bacsadi, A

    2002-11-01

    Fetal membranes from 59 cases of ovine and six of caprine abortion from a total of 52 flocks or herds were collected. Immunohistochemical examination of cotyledons fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin wax detected Chlamydophila abortus in 44 (68%) cases. Immunocytochemical examination of smears made from the surface of fetal membranes detected the organism in 37 (57%) cases. Light microscopical examination of such smears stained by Stamp's method detected C. abortus in 26 (40%) cases. The streptavidin-biotin method described proved to have 100% specificity and 84% sensitivity in the detection of C. abortus in cotyledon smears. Sensitivity could probably be increased still further by the simultaneous examination of smears made from the cut surface of several cotyledons. In five cases Toxoplasma gondii was detected in the cotyledons by immunohistochemical examination. In three of these cases the presence of T. gondii was revealed also by immunocytological examination. In four cases, simultaneous C. abortus and T. gondii infection of the cotyledons was observed. The two pathogens and the lesions caused by them occurred in separate locations. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.

  1. Rapid intra-operative diagnosis of kidney cancer by attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy of tissue smears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pucetaite, Milda; Velicka, Martynas; Urboniene, Vidita; Ceponkus, Justinas; Bandzeviciute, Rimante; Jankevicius, Feliksas; Zelvys, Arunas; Sablinskas, Valdas; Steiner, Gerald

    2018-01-09

    Herein, a technique to analyze air-dried kidney tissue impression smears by means of attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy is presented. Spectral tumor markers-absorption bands of glycogen-are identified in the ATR-IR spectra of the kidney tissue smear samples. Thin kidney tissue cryo-sections currently used for IR spectroscopic analysis lack such spectral markers as the sample preparation causes irreversible molecular changes in the tissue. In particular, freeze-thaw cycle results in degradation of the glycogen and reduction or complete dissolution of its content. Supervised spectral classification was applied to the recorded spectra of the smears and the test spectra were classified with a high accuracy of 92% for normal tissue and 94% for tumor tissue, respectively. For further development, we propose that combination of the method with optical fiber ATR probes could potentially be used for rapid real-time intra-operative tissue analysis without interfering with either the established protocols of pathological examination or the ordinary workflow of operating surgeon. Such approach could ensure easier transition of the method to clinical applications where it may complement the results of gold standard histopathology examination and aid in more precise resection of kidney tumors. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  2. Optimization of liquid scintillation measurements applied to smears and aqueous samples collected in industrial environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arnaud Chapon

    Full Text Available Search for low-energy β contaminations in industrial environments requires using Liquid Scintillation Counting. This indirect measurement method supposes a fine control from sampling to measurement itself. Thus, in this paper, we focus on the definition of a measurement method, as generic as possible, for both smears and aqueous samples’ characterization. That includes choice of consumables, sampling methods, optimization of counting parameters and definition of energy windows, using the maximization of a Figure of Merit. Detection limits are then calculated considering these optimized parameters. For this purpose, we used PerkinElmer Tri-Carb counters. Nevertheless, except those relative to some parameters specific to PerkinElmer, most of the results presented here can be extended to other counters. Keywords: Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC, PerkinElmer, Tri-Carb, Smear, Swipe

  3. Ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy for thyroid nodules: effective technique and a peculiar smear method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Kyeong Rok; Rho, Myung Ho; Kim, Dong Wook; Koo, Yong Woon; Lee, Kyeong Hee; Kang, Tae Woo

    2006-01-01

    We wanted to evaluate the effective methods that are appropriate for an endemic area of thyroid disease and to compare the differences of cytologic diagnostic rates with and without using a peculiar smear technique. We analyzed the incidence rate of insufficient results, complications and the total procedure times of 1,126 thyroid nodules in 776 patients who underwent US-FNAB (ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy) from January to December 2005. We compared the diagnostic rate between the two groups; the groups' tests were performed with a peculiar smear technique (Group A, n 313) or with a ventional smear technique (Group B, n = 250). According to the size of the thyroid nodule, the incidence rate of an insufficient result on US-FNAB and the mean total procedure time for 1126 thyroid nodules in 776 patients were measured as 16.9% (52/308) and 208 seconds for nodules under 0.5 cm, 9.8% (30/306) and 160 seconds for nodules between 0.5 cm-10 cm, and 6.0% (30/504) and 134 seconds for nodules over 1.0 cm. These 776 patients showed no significant complication, except for mild pain. In Group A, the incidence rate of an insufficient result was calculated as 15.1% (14/93) for the group with nodules under 0.5 cm, 5.3% (5/95) for the group with nodules between 0.5 cm-1.0 cm, 4.8% (6/125) for the group with nodules over 1.0 cm, and 8.0% (25/313) for the total A Group. In Group B, the incidence rate of an insufficient result was measured as 33.3% (15/45) for the group with nodules under 0.5 cm, 28.1% (25/89) for the group with nodules between 0.5 cm-1.0 cm, 21.4% (24/112) for the group with nodules over 1.0 cm, and 25.7% (63/245) for the total B group. There was a statistically significant correlation between the rate of an insufficient result and the peculiar smear technique or the size of the thyroid nodule. We consider that US-FNAB is very simple, safe and accurate diagnostic method for thyroid nodules, and US-FNAB with a peculiar smear technique is able to

  4. Effect of aquatine endodontic cleanser on smear layer removal in the root canals of ex vivo human teeth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faustino Garcia

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the root canal cleanliness and smear layer removal effectiveness of Aquatine Endodontic Cleanser (Aquatine EC when used as an endodontic irrigating solution in comparison with 6% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-five human teeth were randomly allocated to five treatment groups; the pulp chamber was accessed, cleaned, and shaped by using ProTaper and ProFile rotary instrumentation to an ISO size #40. The teeth were then processed for scanning electron microscopy, and the root canal cleanliness and removal of smear layer were examined. RESULTS: The most effective removal of smear layer occurred with Aquatine EC and NaOCl, both with a rinse of EDTA. CONCLUSIONS: Aquatine EC appears to be the first hypochlorous acid approved by the FDA to be a possible alternative to the use of NaOCl as an intracanal irrigant. Further research is needed to identify safer and more effective alternatives to the use of NaOCl irrigation in endodontics.

  5. Factors related to failure to attend the consultation to receive the results of the Pap smear test1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasconcelos, Camila Teixeira Moreira; Cunha, Denise de Fátima Fernandes; Coelho, Cássia Fernandes; Pinheiro, Ana Karina Bezerra; Sawada, Namie Okino

    2014-01-01

    Objective to identify the factors related to the failure of women to attend the follow-up consultation to receive the results of the Pap smear test. Method a cross-sectional study, carried out with 775 patients who underwent the Pap smear test in the Centro de Saúde da Família of Fortaleza, between September 2010 and February 2011. Results the majority of the women studied were young (≤35 years), had low levels of education (≤7 years of study), and commenced sexual activity early (≤20 years), with 17.0% of them failing to return to receive the test results. Statistically significant results for the failure to return were related to: young women (p=0.001); early onset of sexual activity (p=0.047); and inadequate knowledge about the Pap smear test (p=0.029). Conclusion the fact that the women failed to return for the result is a problem for the control of cervical cancer and must be addressed through educational strategies that reinforce the importance of the return for the early detection of this cancer. PMID:25029050

  6. Acid-fast Smear and Histopathology Results Provide Guidance for the Appropriate Use of Broad-Range Polymerase Chain Reaction and Sequencing for Mycobacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Kennon; Harrington, Susan M; Procop, Gary W

    2015-08-01

    New molecular diagnostic tests are attractive because of the potential they hold for improving diagnostics in microbiology. The value of these tests, which is often assumed, should be investigated to determine the best use of these potentially powerful tools. To investigate the usefulness of broad-range polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by sequencing, in mycobacterial infections. We reviewed the test performance of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) PCR and traditional diagnostic methods (histopathology, AFB smear, and culture). We assessed the diagnostic effect and cost of the unrestricted ordering of broad-range PCR for the detection and identification of mycobacteria in clinical specimens. The AFB PCR was less sensitive than culture and histopathology and was less specific than culture, AFB smear, and histopathology. During 18 months, $93 063 was spent on 183 patient specimens for broad-range PCR and DNA sequencing for mycobacteria to confirm one culture-proven Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection that was also known to be positive by AFB smear and histopathology. In this cohort, there was a false-negative AFB PCR for M tuberculosis and a false-positive AFB PCR for Mycobacterium lentiflavum . Testing of AFB smear-negative specimens from patients without an inflammatory response supportive of a mycobacterial infection is costly and has not been proven to improve patient care. Traditional diagnostics (histopathology, AFB smear, and culture) should remain the primary methods for the detection of mycobacteria in clinical specimens.

  7. Quantum effect on thermally activated glide of dislocations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Proville, Laurent; Maricina, Mihai-Cosmin; Rodney, David

    2012-01-01

    Crystal plasticity involves the motion of dislocations under stress. So far, atomistic simulations of this process have predicted Peierls stresses, the stress needed to overcome the crystal resistance in the absence of thermal fluctuations, of more than twice the experimental values, a discrepancy best-known in body-centred cubic crystals. Here we show that a large contribution arises from the crystal zero-point vibrations, which ease dislocation motion below typically half the Debye temperature. Using Wigner's quantum transition state theory in atomistic models of crystals, we found a large decrease of the kink-pair formation enthalpy due to the quantization of the crystal vibrational modes. Consequently, the flow stress predicted by Orowan's law is strongly reduced when compared with its classical approximation and in much closer agreement with experiments. This work advocates that quantum mechanics should be accounted for in simulations of materials and not only at very low temperatures or in light-atom systems. (authors)

  8. Declining prevalence of cytological squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix among women living with well-controlled HIV - Most women living with HIV do not need annual PAP smear screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aho, Inka; Kivelä, Pia; Haukka, Jari; Sutinen, Jussi; Heikinheimo, Oskari

    2017-11-01

    Cervical screening by means of annual Papanicolaou (PAP) smears has been recommended for all women living with HIV. We analysed the results of our annual PAP smear screening program to identify low-risk subgroups for less rigorous screening. The study comprised 369 women followed at the Helsinki University Hospital 2002-2013, with a total of 2033 PAP smear results. We analyzed the temporal changes in PAP smear findings. Logistic regression analysis for binominal dependent variables was used for assessing risk factors for ever having cytological squamous intraepithelial lesions (hereafter referred as SIL) using generalized estimating equations taking into account multiple observations of each patient. Most women had well-controlled HIV, especially towards the end of the study. PAP smear results improved substantially. At the time of each individual's last PAP smear, 90.0% of the findings displayed normal results. Conversely, the rate of SIL decreased from 16.8% to 4.6% from 2002 to 2013. In multivariate analysis the risk of SIL was significantly lower in women with consecutive normal PAP smear findings during the first two years of follow up [odds ratio (OR) 0.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.10-0.45, p 500 cells/μL (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.05-0.26, p < 0.001). Widespread use of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and systematic cervical screening has reduced the rate of abnormal PAP smears. It seems feasible to identify low-risk women by combining HIV-related information and PAP smear results. Screening low-risk women living with HIV at three-year intervals similar to HIV-negative women appears justified. © 2017 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

  9. Feeding sustains photosynthetic quantum yield of a scleractinian coral during thermal stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borell, Esther M; Bischof, Kai

    2008-10-01

    Thermal resistance of the coral-zooxanthellae symbiosis has been associated with chronic photoinhibition, increased antioxidant activity and protein repair involving high demands of nitrogen and energy. While the relative importance of heterotrophy as a source of nutrients and energy for cnidarian hosts, and as a means of nitrogen acquisition for their zooxanthellae, is well documented, the effect of feeding on the thermal sensitivity of the symbiotic association has been so far overlooked. Here we examine the effect of zooplankton feeding versus starvation on the bleaching susceptibility and photosynthetic activity of photosystem II (PSII) of zooxanthellae in the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata in response to thermal stress (daily temperature rises of 2-3 degrees C) over 10 days, employing pulse-amplitude-modulated chlorophyll fluorometry. Fed and starved corals displayed a decrease in daily maximum potential quantum yield (F (v)/F (m)) of PSII, effective quantum yield (F/F (m)') and relative electron transport rates over the course of 10 days. However after 10 days of exposure to elevated temperature, F (v)/F (m) of fed corals was still 50-70% higher than F (v)/F (m) of starved corals. Starved corals showed strong signs of chronic photoinhibition, which was reflected in a significant decline in nocturnal recovery rates of PSII relative to fed corals. This was paralleled by the progressive inability to dissipate excess excitation energy via non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). After 10 days, NPQ of starved corals had decreased by about 80% relative to fed corals. Feeding treatment had no significant effect on chlorophyll a and c (2) concentrations and zooxanthellae densities, but the mitotic indices were significantly lower in starved than in fed corals. Collectively the results indicate that exogenous food may reduce the photophysiological damage of zooxanthellae that typically leads to bleaching and could therefore play an important role in mediating the

  10. Quantum Operator Design for Lattice Baryon Spectroscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lichtl, Adam [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    2006-09-07

    A previously-proposed method of constructing spatially-extended gauge-invariant three-quark operators for use in Monte Carlo lattice QCD calculations is tested, and a methodology for using these operators to extract the energies of a large number of baryon states is developed. This work is part of a long-term project undertaken by the Lattice Hadron Physics Collaboration to carry out a first-principles calculation of the low-lying spectrum of QCD. The operators are assemblages of smeared and gauge-covariantly-displaced quark fields having a definite flavor structure. The importance of using smeared fields is dramatically demonstrated. It is found that quark field smearing greatly reduces the couplings to the unwanted high-lying short-wavelength modes, while gauge field smearing drastically reduces the statistical noise in the extended operators.

  11. Vaginal flora changes on Pap smears after insertion of levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donders, Gilbert G G; Berger, Judith; Heuninckx, Hélène; Bellen, Gert; Cornelis, Ann

    2011-04-01

    The levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) combines a uterine foreign body and the continuous release of low-dose levonorgestrel for contraception. Its influence on the rate of vulvovaginal infections and flora disturbance is insufficiently known, but important for contraceptive advice in women, especially those who develop recurrent vaginosis or Candida vulvovaginitis. Slides of 286 women who had a Pap smear taken before and 1 to 2 years after placement of a LNG-IUS were blindly reviewed for the presence of abnormal vaginal flora (AVF), bacterial vaginosis (BV), aerobic vaginitis (AV) and Candida vaginitis (CV). Prior to insertion, there were no differences in vaginal flora abnormalities between women using different kinds of contraception. LNG-IUS users did not have different rates of AVF, BV, AV or CV, but the general risk to develop any infection was increased. Uterine bleeding after insertion did not seem to predict a different flora type. We found that Pap smears suggested more vaginal infections after 1 year of LNG-IUS use than prior to insertion of the device. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Incidence of cervical cancer after several negative smear results by age 50: prospective observational study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rebolj, Matejka; van Ballegooijen, Marjolein; Lynge, Elsebeth

    2009-01-01

    /100,000 (95% confidence interval 33 to 51) in the younger group and 36/100,000 (24 to 52) in the older group (P=0.48). The cumulative incidence rate of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade I+ was twice as high in the younger than in the older group (Pcervical cancer......OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of cervical cancer after several negative cervical smear tests at different ages. DESIGN: Prospective observational study of incidence of cervical cancer after the third consecutive negative result based on individual level data in a national registry...... of histopathology and cytopathology (PALGA). SETTING: Netherlands, national data. Population 218,847 women aged 45-54 and 445,382 aged 30-44 at the time of the third negative smear test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 10 year cumulative incidence of interval cervical cancer. RESULTS: 105 women developed cervical cancer...

  13. A rapid method for counting nucleated erythrocytes on stained blood smears by digital image analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gering, E.; Atkinson, C.T.

    2004-01-01

    Measures of parasitemia by intraerythrocytic hematozoan parasites are normally expressed as the number of infected erythrocytes per n erythrocytes and are notoriously tedious and time consuming to measure. We describe a protocol for generating rapid counts of nucleated erythrocytes from digital micrographs of thin blood smears that can be used to estimate intensity of hematozoan infections in nonmammalian vertebrate hosts. This method takes advantage of the bold contrast and relatively uniform size and morphology of erythrocyte nuclei on Giemsa-stained blood smears and uses ImageJ, a java-based image analysis program developed at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and available on the internet, to recognize and count these nuclei. This technique makes feasible rapid and accurate counts of total erythrocytes in large numbers of microscope fields, which can be used in the calculation of peripheral parasitemias in low-intensity infections.

  14. A first insight into high prevalence of undiagnosed smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in Northern Ethiopian prisons: implications for greater investment and quality control.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fantahun Biadglegne

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB transmission in prisons poses significant risks to inmates as well as the general population. Currently, there are no data on smear-negative pulmonary TB cases in prisons and by extension no data on the impact such cases have on TB incidence. This study was designed to obtain initial data on the prevalence of smear-negative cases of TB in prisons as well as preliminary risk factor analysis for such TB cases. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in November 2013 at eight main prisons located in the state of Amhara, Ethiopia. Interviews using a structured and pretested questionnaire were done first to identify symptomatic prisoners. Three consecutive sputum samples were collected and examined using acid fast bacilli (AFB microscopy at the point of care. All smear-negative sputum samples were taken for culture and Xpert testing. Descriptive and multivariate analysis was done using SPSS version 16. RESULTS: Overall the prevalence of smear-negative pulmonary TB cases in the study prisons was 8% (16/200. Using multivariate analysis, a contact history to TB patients in prison, educational level, cough and night sweating were found to be predictors of TB positivity among smear-negative pulmonary TB cases (p ≤ 0.05. CONCLUSIONS: In the studied prisons, high prevalence of undiagnosed TB cases using AFB microscopy was documented, which is an important public health concern that urgently needs to be addressed. Furthermore, patients with night sweating, non-productive cough, a contact history with TB patients and who are illiterate merit special attention, larger studies are warranted in the future to assess the associations more precisely. Further studies are also needed to examine TB transmission dynamics by patients with smear-negative pulmonary TB in a prison setting.

  15. Nonlinear Michelson interferometer for improved quantum metrology

    OpenAIRE

    Luis, Alfredo; Rivas, Ángel

    2015-01-01

    We examine quantum detection via a Michelson interferometer embedded in a gas with Kerr nonlinearity. This nonlinear interferometer is illuminated by pulses of classical light. This strategy combines the robustness against practical imperfections of classical light with the improvement provided by nonlinear processes. Regarding ultimate quantum limits, we stress that, as a difference with linear schemes, the nonlinearity introduces pulse duration as a new variable into play along with the ene...

  16. Introduction to quantum field theory

    CERN Document Server

    Chang, Shau-Jin

    1990-01-01

    This book presents in a short volume the basics of quantum field theory and many body physics. The first part introduces the perturbative techniques without sophisticated apparatus and applies them to numerous problems including quantum electrodynamics (renormalization), Fermi and Bose gases, the Brueckner theory of nuclear system, liquid Helium and classical systems with noise. The material is clear, illustrative and the important points are stressed to help the reader get the understanding of what is crucial without overwhelming him with unnecessary detours or comments. The material in the s

  17. Smeared crack modelling approach for corrosion-induced concrete damage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thybo, Anna Emilie Anusha; Michel, Alexander; Stang, Henrik

    2017-01-01

    In this paper a smeared crack modelling approach is used to simulate corrosion-induced damage in reinforced concrete. The presented modelling approach utilizes a thermal analogy to mimic the expansive nature of solid corrosion products, while taking into account the penetration of corrosion...... products into the surrounding concrete, non-uniform precipitation of corrosion products, and creep. To demonstrate the applicability of the presented modelling approach, numerical predictions in terms of corrosion-induced deformations as well as formation and propagation of micro- and macrocracks were......-induced damage phenomena in reinforced concrete. Moreover, good agreements were also found between experimental and numerical data for corrosion-induced deformations along the circumference of the reinforcement....

  18. Evaluation of chemical and/or mechanical treatments of the smear layer as revealed by scanning electron microscopy - a blind comparative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LUZ Maria Aparecida Alves de Cerqueira

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available A blind comparative study of chemical and/or mechanical treatments of the smear layer, according to scanning electron microscopy images, was carried out. The effect of the treatments was analyzed on the smear layer of mesio-occlusodistal cavity walls prepared in vitro in human third molars. The agents used were air/water spray, 37% phosphoric acid, 5% tannic acid, biologic detergent, 0.5% sodium hypochlorite, and enamel hatchet alone or in association with the previous agents. Electron micrographs were evaluated by three professionals according to the degree of visualization of underlying dentin or enamel. Phosphoric acid received the highest scores due to the complete removal of the smear layer. However, statistical analyses revealed diverse performances of non or slightly demineralizing agents, according to the cavity walls in dentin, while there was equivalent effect on the enamel of gingival walls.

  19. Detection of electromagnetic radiation using micromechanical multiple quantum wells structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datskos, Panagiotis G [Knoxville, TN; Rajic, Slobodan [Knoxville, TN; Datskou, Irene [Knoxville, TN

    2007-07-17

    An apparatus and method for detecting electromagnetic radiation employs a deflectable micromechanical apparatus incorporating multiple quantum wells structures. When photons strike the quantum-well structure, physical stresses are created within the sensor, similar to a "bimetallic effect." The stresses cause the sensor to bend. The extent of deflection of the sensor can be measured through any of a variety of conventional means to provide a measurement of the photons striking the sensor. A large number of such sensors can be arranged in a two-dimensional array to provide imaging capability.

  20. Mechanical Resonators for Quantum Optomechanics Experiments at Room Temperature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norte, R A; Moura, J P; Gröblacher, S

    2016-04-08

    All quantum optomechanics experiments to date operate at cryogenic temperatures, imposing severe technical challenges and fundamental constraints. Here, we present a novel design of on-chip mechanical resonators which exhibit fundamental modes with frequencies f and mechanical quality factors Q_{m} sufficient to enter the optomechanical quantum regime at room temperature. We overcome previous limitations by designing ultrathin, high-stress silicon nitride (Si_{3}N_{4}) membranes, with tensile stress in the resonators' clamps close to the ultimate yield strength of the material. By patterning a photonic crystal on the SiN membranes, we observe reflectivities greater than 99%. These on-chip resonators have remarkably low mechanical dissipation, with Q_{m}∼10^{8}, while at the same time exhibiting large reflectivities. This makes them a unique platform for experiments towards the observation of massive quantum behavior at room temperature.

  1. Smear layer and debris removal using manual Ni-Ti files compared with rotary Protaper Ni- Ti files - An In-Vitro SEM study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reddy, J M V Raghavendra; Latha, Prasanna; Gowda, Basavana; Manvikar, Varadendra; Vijayalaxmi, D Benal; Ponangi, Kalyana Chakravarthi

    2014-02-01

    Predictable successful endodontic therapy depends on correct diagnosis, effective cleaning, shaping and disinfection of the root canals and adequate obturation. Irrigation serves as a flush to remove debris, tissue solvent and lubricant from the canal irregularities; however these irregularities can restrict the complete debridement of root canal by mechanical instrumentation.Various types of hand and rotary instruments are used for the preparation of the root canal system to obtain debris free canals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the amount of smear layer and debris removal on canal walls following the using of manual Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) files compared with rotary ProTaperNiTi files using a Scanning Electron Microscope in two individual groups. A comparative study consisting of 50 subjects randomized into two groups - 25 subjects in Group A (manual) and 25 subjects in Group B (rotary) was undertaken to investigate and compare the effects of smear layer and debris between manual and rotary NiTi instruments. Chi square test was used to find the significance of smear layer and debris removal in the coronal, middle and apical between Group A and Group B. Both systems of Rotary ProTaperNiTi and manual NiTi files used in the present study, did not create completely clean root canals. Manual NiTi files produced significantly less smear layer and debris compared to Rotary ProTaperNiTi instruments. Rotary instruments were less time consuming when compared to manual instruments. Instrument separation was not found to be significant with both the groups. Both systems of Rotary ProTaperNiTi and manual NiTi files used did not produce completely clean root canals. Manual NiTi files produced significantly less smear layer and debris compared to Rotary protaper instruments. How to cite the article: Reddy JM, Latha P, Gowda B, Manvikar V, Vijayalaxmi DB, Ponangi KC. Smear layer and debris removal using manual Ni-Ti files compared with rotary Protaper Ni-Ti files

  2. The effect of the KTP laser on smear layer and temperature change: an in vitro study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arslan, Dilara; Kuştarcı, Alper

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser irradiation on smear layer removal and temperature changes of the root surfaces. Two hundred four extracted single-root human premolars were included. The canals were instrumented and divided into two main groups: group A (smear layer examination n:119) and group B (temperature change examination n:85). Each group was divided into subgroups (n:17) according to the different five laser power settings: A1, B1: 1 W-5.33 J/cm 2 ; A2, B2: 1.5 W-7.52 J/cm 2 ; A3, B3: 2 W-10.3 J/cm 2 ; A4, B4: 3 W-15.5 J/cm 2 , A5, B5: 4 W-20.1 J/cm2, A6: positive control no laser irradiation-irrigated 2 mL for 2 min 2.5% NaOCl + 2 mL distilled water and A7: negative control groups no laser irradiation irrigated 2 mL for 2 min 17% EDTA + 2 mL for 2 min 2.5% NaOCl + 2 mL distilled water. The temperature elevations were measured with an infrared thermographic camera and smear layer examined by scanning electron microscope. According to Kruskal-Wallis and Tukey's tests, in all groups the highest smear scores were in the apical third. In all areas, there were statistically significant differences between negative control group (17% EDTA) and all other groups (p laser and positive control (2.5% NaOCl) groups. Statistically, in all thirds, the differences the 3 W and 4 W KTP laser groups between each other and all other groups were significant (p laser, increase in temperature values in all groups were found to be below 10 °C in 20 s.

  3. Studies on immunoglobulin containing cell in the vaginal smear during radiotherapy for cervical cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takano, Toshioki

    1979-01-01

    In order to observe the immunological responce of the irradiated cervical cancer, vaginal smears were taken from 27 patients during radiotherapy and stained with fluorescent anti-IgG, anti-IgA, and anti-IgM sera by the direct method. The IgG-, IgA-, and IgM-containing cells increase significantly in the cervicitis and cervical cancer as compared with controls. There is no difference between cervicitis and cervical cancer in IgG and IgA, but IgM-containing cells increase significantly in cervical cancer. There is a highly significant correlation between IgM-containing cells in vaginal smear of cervical cancer and lymphoid cell infiltration of primary cancerous tissue. During radiotherapy, there are no changes of the mean percentage of IgM-containing cells in vaginal smears at 1,000 rad and 2,000 rad irradiation, but at 3,000 rad irradiation IgM-containing cells decrease significantly. On the changes of IgM-containing cells during radiotherapy, the patients are classified into three groups. Group A: IgM-containing cells increase in their population temporarity during radiotherapy (11 cases). Group B: IgM-containing cells decrease gradually in their population during radiotherapy (12 cases). Group C: The changes of IgM-Containing cells are irregular and/or show little deviation (4 cases). The three year survivals of group A is 9/12 (82.8%), group B is 6/12 (50.0%), and group C is 4/4. There is significant difference between group A and group B in survival rates, and group A is considered to be an immunoreactive group. (author)

  4. Awareness of cervical cancer, Papanicolau′s smear and its utilization among female, final year undergraduates in Durban, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Ehsanul Hoque

    2013-01-01

    Statistical Analysis Used: Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to find association and the significant predictor for doing Pap smear test. Results: Over half (53.3% of the participants had heard about cervical cancer and its detection method. More than half (60% and over a third (37.8% of the participants knew about human papilloma virus (HPV and multiple sexual partner respectively as risk factors for cervical cancer. More than half (55.3% indicated that they were not aware if cervical cancer can be prevented. Majority (76.7% knew that Papanicolau′s (Pap smear test is used for detection or prevention of cervical cancer. Among those who were sexually active and knew about Pap smear test 79.3% did not do the test mainly because of personal factors such as fear of the procedure, or were not ill. Conclusions: Level of awareness regarding cervical cancer and its detection method was low among these female students. The university management should focus on developing policies on health education and promotion to prevent transmission of the HPV.

  5. Concepts and Criteria for Blind Quantum Source Separation and Blind Quantum Process Tomography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alain Deville

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Blind Source Separation (BSS is an active domain of Classical Information Processing, with well-identified methods and applications. The development of Quantum Information Processing has made possible the appearance of Blind Quantum Source Separation (BQSS, with a recent extension towards Blind Quantum Process Tomography (BQPT. This article investigates the use of several fundamental quantum concepts in the BQSS context and establishes properties already used without justification in that context. It mainly considers a pair of electron spins initially separately prepared in a pure state and then submitted to an undesired exchange coupling between these spins. Some consequences of the existence of the entanglement phenomenon, and of the probabilistic aspect of quantum measurements, upon BQSS solutions, are discussed. An unentanglement criterion is established for the state of an arbitrary qubit pair, expressed first with probability amplitudes and secondly with probabilities. The interest of using the concept of a random quantum state in the BQSS context is presented. It is stressed that the concept of statistical independence of the sources, widely used in classical BSS, should be used with care in BQSS, and possibly replaced by some disentanglement principle. It is shown that the coefficients of the development of any qubit pair pure state over the states of an orthonormal basis can be expressed with the probabilities of results in the measurements of well-chosen spin components.

  6. Stress: Concepts and applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nielsen, O.H.; Martin, R.M.

    1984-01-01

    The stress theorem determines the stress from the electronic ground state of any quantum system with arbitrary strains and atomic displacements. We derive this theorem in reciprocal space, within the local-density-functional approximation. The evaluation of stress, force and total energy permits, among other things, the determination of complete stress-strain relations including all microscopic internal strains. We describe results of ab-initio calculations for Si, Ge, and GaAs, giving the equilibrium lattice constant, all linear elastic constants c ij and the internal strain parameter ζ. (orig.)

  7. Euler and applications of quantum mechanics. Paradox IH. Part 1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IVASYSHIN Henrich Stepanovich

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available By some estimation, thirty percent of the gross national product of the USA depends on the applications of quantum mechanics in one or another form. Different aspects of the development of quantum theory are considered. Based on the residual stresses and relaxation of the stresses in the details of arbitrary forms the analysis of technological option of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox interpretation is performed by the method of shaped coordination grid. The option refers to the mystery of measurement of two particles which are located far from each other but at the same time which quantum states are interconnected. The paper also regards the application of involute with variable evolute to increase working capacity of interfaces in free wheels, gearing and ribbon and rack mechanisms.

  8. Factors Associated with Treatment Failure among Smear Positive TB Patients in Khorasan-e-Razavi and Sistan-Baluchistan Provinces, Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hekmatollah Khoubfekr, Narges Khanjani, Yunes Jahani, Mahmoud Moosazadeh

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB treatment failure is one of the major problems of the health sector in developing countries. Poor treatment of patients leads to drug resistance, relapse, death, and ultimately prevents TB control programs. This study was conducted to determine the factors affecting tuberculosis treatment failure in Khorasan and Sistan- Balochistan regions which have a high prevalence of TB. Methods: In this case - control study 270 patients with tuberculosis (90 cases, 180 controls were analyzed. New TB patients registered with failure to treatment according to the national protocol between March 2008 - March 2012 were chosen as cases and new TB patients with negative sputum smear in the same time frame were enrolled as control group. Demographic data and clinical treatment outcomes were collected through interviews and file records. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of treatment failure in SPSS 19. Results: Independent factors and predictors of failure treatment included illiteracy, a three plus positive sputum smear, positive sputum smear at end of the second month, non-implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment Short strategy by healthcare staff, history of addiction and history of diabetes. Conclusion: Intervention programs for early detection and control of diabetes, drug control programs, giving priority to providing DOTS by health care workers, more individual care and attention to patients with initial smear p + 3 or those that remain sputum positive at the end of the second month or those who are less educated is necessary. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2016;6(4: 172-178

  9. Diagnostic Yield of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Gene Xpert in Smear-Negative and Sputum-Scarce Pulmonary Tuberculosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khalil, K. F.; Butt, T.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To measure the diagnostic yield of Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) gene Xpert (Xpert MTB/RIF assay), to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and rifampicin resistance and compare it with that of mycobacterial cultures in a suspected case of pulmonary tuberculosis. Study Design: An analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pulmonology, Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), Rawalpindi, from December 2012 to August 2013. Methodology: BAL specimens of 93 patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis with smear-negative or sputumscarce disease, who presented to the Department of Pulmonology, FFH, Rawalpindi were inducted. A smear-negative case was one in whom three consecutive early morning sputum samples did not reveal acid fast bacilli when examined by microscopy with Zeihl Nelson (ZN) stain. Patients who had sputum amount less than 1 ml were defined to have sputumscarce disease. The same was evaluated with ZN stain, gene Xpert and mycobacterial cultures. Sensitivity analysis was carried out using culture as the gold standard. Results: The frequency of positive mycobacterial cultures was 85 (91.4%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of BAL gene Xpert to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis were 91.86%, 71.42%, 97.53% and 41.66% respectively. Xpert MTB/RIF assay had a sensitivity and specificity of 83.33% and 100% to detect rifampicin resistance. Conclusion: Bronchoalveolar lavage gene Xpert had a superior diagnostic yield in patients with either smear-negative or sputum-scarce pulmonary tuberculosis. Hence a positive Xpert MTB/RIF assay may be a useful adjunct to diagnosis and detection of MDR-TB in bronchoalveolar lavage specimens. (author)

  10. Investigation of OMNIgene·SPUTUM performance in delayed tuberculosis testing by smear, culture, and Xpert MTB/RIF assays in Uganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C.D. Kelly-Cirino

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available OMNIgene·SPUTUM (OM-S is a sample transport reagent designed to work with all tuberculosis diagnostics while eliminating the need for cold chain. OM-S-treated sputum samples were assayed in several tests after multiday holds. Raw sputa from 100 patients underwent direct smear microscopy, were manually split and assigned to the OM-S group [OM-S added at collection (no other processing required and tested after 0- to 5-day holds at room temperature] or standard-of-care (SOC group (NaOH/N-acetyl l-cysteine decontamination, all tested on day of collection. Concentrated smear microscopy, Lowenstein Jensen (LJ culture, and mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT culture were performed. For patients with negative direct smear, a second sample was split, with SOC (raw sputum and OM-S portions (sediment tested in the Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert assay. OM-S group and SOC group results were strongly concordant on all four tests [range, 89% (MGIT–97% (Xpert]. OM-S MGIT, LJ, and Xpert tests were in statistical agreement with SOC MGIT as reference. OM-S specimens had lower culture contamination rates (3% vs. 10% LJ; 2% vs. 5% MGIT but required, on average, 5.6 additional days to become MGIT-positive. The findings suggest that samples held/transported in OM-S are compatible with smear microscopy, LJ or MGIT culture, and Xpert, and perform comparably to fresh sputum samples. Larger feasibility studies are warranted.

  11. Factors related to the practice of breast self examination (BSE and Pap smear screening among Malaysian women workers in selected electronics factories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shamsuddin K

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Malaysian Ministry of Health promotes breast self-examination (BSE for all women, and Pap smear screening every three years for all sexually active women ages 20 years and above. The objectives of this paper were to examine the practice of these two screening tests among women production workers in electronics factories, and to identify factors related to practice. Methods This was a cross-sectional survey of women production workers from ten electronics factories. Data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire from a total of 1,720 women. The chi-square test, odds ratio and binomial logistic regression were used in bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results Prevalence rates were 24.4% for BSE once a month, and 18.4% for Pap smear examination within the last three years. Women who were significantly more likely to perform BSE every month were 30 years and older, Malays, with upper secondary education and above, answered the BSE question correctly, and had a Pap smear within the last three years. The proportion of women who had a Pap smear within the last three years were significantly higher among those who were older, married, with young children, on the contraceptive pill or intra-uterine device, had a medical examination within the last five years, answered the Pap smear question correctly, and performed BSE monthly. Conclusion Screening practice rates in this study were low when compared to national rates. Socio-demographic and health care factors significantly associated with screening practice are indicative of barriers which should be further understood so that more effective educational and promotional strategies could be developed.

  12. Flat-histogram methods in quantum Monte Carlo simulations: Application to the t-J model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diamantis, Nikolaos G.; Manousakis, Efstratios

    2016-01-01

    We discuss that flat-histogram techniques can be appropriately applied in the sampling of quantum Monte Carlo simulation in order to improve the statistical quality of the results at long imaginary time or low excitation energy. Typical imaginary-time correlation functions calculated in quantum Monte Carlo are subject to exponentially growing errors as the range of imaginary time grows and this smears the information on the low energy excitations. We show that we can extract the low energy physics by modifying the Monte Carlo sampling technique to one in which configurations which contribute to making the histogram of certain quantities flat are promoted. We apply the diagrammatic Monte Carlo (diag-MC) method to the motion of a single hole in the t-J model and we show that the implementation of flat-histogram techniques allows us to calculate the Green's function in a wide range of imaginary-time. In addition, we show that applying the flat-histogram technique alleviates the “sign”-problem associated with the simulation of the single-hole Green's function at long imaginary time. (paper)

  13. A scanning electron microscopic study of smear layer remaining following use of Greater Taper rotary instruments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S Soumya

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the smear layer in the root canal following the use of Ni-Ti hand ProTaper, HERO shaper and Twisted rotary instruments. Fifteen freshly extracted single rooted human mandibular premolar teeth were selected. Crowns of all teeth were cut off at the cemento-enamel junction with a carborundum disc. The roots were then randomly divided into three groups of 5 samples each. The working length of all teeth was established by the insertion of an endodontic instrument into the canal until its tip is visible at the apical foramen and then subtracted by 0.5 mm. A sequential crown down technique was carried out in all the three groups as follows: Group-I- Specimens in this group were instrumented with ProTaper Ni-Ti hand instruments. Group-II- Specimens were instrumented with HERO shapers. Group-III - The specimens in this group were instrumented with Twisted rotary instruments. Irrigation was done with 3% NaOCl and 15% EDTA in all the three groups. Teeth were carefully split with hammer and chisel and stored in small labeled bottles containing normal saline until SEM evaluation. Results showed that when comparing ProTaper files, Twisted rotary instruments and HERO shaper instruments, HERO shaper series of rotary instruments showed maximum amount of smear layer followed by the Twisted rotary instruments. Hand instruments produced least amount of smear layer.

  14. Chiral vortical effect from the compactified D4-branes with smeared D0-brane charge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Chao; Chen, Yidian [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049 (China); Huang, Mei [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049 (China); Theoretical Physics Center for Science Facilities, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049 (China)

    2017-03-15

    By using the boundary derivative expansion formalism of fluid/gravity correspondence, we study the chiral vortical effect from the compactified D4-branes with smeared D0-brane charge. This background corresponds to a strongly coupled, nonconformal relativistic fluid with a conserved vector current. The presence of the chiral vortical effect is induced by the addition of a Chern-Simons term in the bulk action. Except that the non-dissipative anomalous viscous coefficient and the sound speed rely only on the chemical potential, most of the other thermal and hydrodynamical quantities of the first order depend both on the temperature and the chemical potential. According to our result, the way that the chiral vortical effect coefficient depends on the chemical potential seems irrelevant with whether the relativistic fluid is conformal or not. Stability analysis shows that this anomalous relativistic fluid is stable and the doping of the smeared D0-brane charge will slow down the sound speed.

  15. Quantum Computers and Quantum Computer Languages: Quantum Assembly Language and Quantum C

    OpenAIRE

    Blaha, Stephen

    2002-01-01

    We show a representation of Quantum Computers defines Quantum Turing Machines with associated Quantum Grammars. We then create examples of Quantum Grammars. Lastly we develop an algebraic approach to high level Quantum Languages using Quantum Assembly language and Quantum C language as examples.

  16. The value of colposcopy, high risk HPV-DNA and histopathologic examination in the management of abnormal Pap smear results

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vugar Bayramov

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Pap smear test is a major screening test for early diagnosis and treatment of cervix cancer. The aim of our study was to assess the value of HPV-DNA, colposcopy and histopathologic examination in the management of patients with abnormal cervical cytology. Materials and methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted in Ankara University Cebeci Hospital gynecology outpatient clinic. The study compremised 86 patients with smear results of ASCUS, AGC, L-SIL and H-SIL. Age, gravity, parity, age at first coitus, smoking status, number of partners, high risk HPV-DNA status and pathologic colposcopy findings were investigated. Results: Mean age of the patients was 35 years and the most common abnormal smear result was ASCUS, with 55 patients (63%. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding demographic characteristics except age at first coitus and pathologic colposcopy findings. Among patients diagnosed as ASCUS 34.5% had been up-graded with histopathologic examination. Among patients diagnosed as L-SIL 73.6% had been down-graded with histopathologic examination. However, after the histopathologic exam of 9 H-SIL patients two (22.2% were diagnosed as CIN II, two (22.2% were diagnosed as CIN III and one (11.1% was diagnosed as cervical cancer. In the groups of ASCUS, L-SIL and H-SIL the presence of high risk HPV-DNA were 11%, 5% and 33%, respectively. Conclusion: If we are sure that the patient will attend the follow-up visits, then fort he ones with ASCUS and L-SIL a repeat smear test would be the appropriate. However, in the management of patients with H-SIL colposcopic biopsy would be the best approach.

  17. Predictors of delayed sputum smear and culture conversion among a Portuguese population with pulmonary tuberculosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Caetano Mota

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Failure of sputum smear and/or culture conversion after 2 months of tuberculosis (TB treatment has been considered a predictor of patient infectivity and treatment failure. We aimed to identify the factors associated with delayed sputum smear and culture conversion in patients with pulmonary TB who were given anti-TB treatment. Material and methods: Retrospective cohort of 136 adult patients with sputum culture-proven pulmonary TB referred to an urban Chest Disease Centre. Socio-demographic, clinical, radiological, microbiological, and therapeutic data were evaluated. Results: The median age was 41.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 18.0 years and 75.0% of patients were male. Delayed sputum smear and culture conversion occurred in 25.4% (30/118 and 27.2% (37/136 of patients, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that age ≥ 50 years (odds ratio [OR] 4.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5–13.3, male gender (OR 10.8, 95% CI 1.3–91.1, and smear grade > 1–9 acid fast bacilli (AFB/field (3+ (OR 11.7, 95% CI 1.4–100.6 were significantly associated with persistent smear positivity after 2 months of treatment. Bilateral radiological involvement (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.5–9.0 and colony count > 100 (3+ (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.2–27.4 were significantly associated with persistent culture positivity. Conclusions: Delayed sputum smear and culture conversion occurred in about one third of patients. Older age, male gender, and higher bacillary load were independently associated with delayed smear conversion. Bilateral radiological involvement and higher colony count were independently associated with delayed culture conversion. Resumo: Introdução: A ausência de conversão dos exames micobacteriológicos direto e/ou cultural de expetoração após 2 meses de tratamento para a tuberculose (TB tem sido considerado um preditor do grau de infeciosidade do doente e de falência terap

  18. Comparison of a radiometric method (BACTEC) and conventional culture media for recovery of mycobacteria from smear-negative specimens

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morgan, M.A.; Horstmeier, C.D.; DeYoung, D.R.; Roberts, G.D.

    1983-01-01

    The BACTEC system and three conventional media (Middlebrook 7H10, selective Middlebrook 7H11 [S7H11], and Lowenstein-Jensen [LJ] were compared for their mean recovery times and recovery rates of mycobacteria from acid-fast, smear-negative clinical specimens. Of the 71 smear-negative, culture-positive specimens recovered from 2,165 submitted smear-negative cultures, the BACTEC system detected 71.8%, compared with 88.7% for the conventional three-medium system. When media were individually compared, BACTEC medium (Middlebrook 7H12) was more successful in recovering mycobacteria (71.8%) than was LJ (62%), Middlebrook medium 7H10 (55.9%), or Middlebrook S7H11 medium (52.1%). Middlebrook 7H11 medium containing sodium selenate was also evaluated and did not increase the recovery rate or decrease the recovery time of mycobacterial species when compared with LJ, Middlebrook 7H10, S7H11, and 7H12 media. The mean detection time for the BACTEC system was less than that by conventional methods for the seven species of mycobacteria recovered. Detection times for Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the BACTEC system and conventional cultural systems were 13.7 and 26.3 days, respectively

  19. Pre-trained convolutional neural networks as feature extractors toward improved malaria parasite detection in thin blood smear images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sivaramakrishnan Rajaraman

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Malaria is a blood disease caused by the Plasmodium parasites transmitted through the bite of female Anopheles mosquito. Microscopists commonly examine thick and thin blood smears to diagnose disease and compute parasitemia. However, their accuracy depends on smear quality and expertise in classifying and counting parasitized and uninfected cells. Such an examination could be arduous for large-scale diagnoses resulting in poor quality. State-of-the-art image-analysis based computer-aided diagnosis (CADx methods using machine learning (ML techniques, applied to microscopic images of the smears using hand-engineered features demand expertise in analyzing morphological, textural, and positional variations of the region of interest (ROI. In contrast, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN, a class of deep learning (DL models promise highly scalable and superior results with end-to-end feature extraction and classification. Automated malaria screening using DL techniques could, therefore, serve as an effective diagnostic aid. In this study, we evaluate the performance of pre-trained CNN based DL models as feature extractors toward classifying parasitized and uninfected cells to aid in improved disease screening. We experimentally determine the optimal model layers for feature extraction from the underlying data. Statistical validation of the results demonstrates the use of pre-trained CNNs as a promising tool for feature extraction for this purpose.

  20. [Verification of doubtful PAP smear results of women included in the screening program in the Podlaskie province].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Błońska, Ewa; Knapp, Piotr Andrzej

    2013-08-01

    Verification of uncertain PAP-smear results in a group of women covered by the cervical screening program in the Podlaski province. The main aim of the study was to identify CIN (Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia) lesions present, with varying degrees of severity in women with cytological diagnosis of ASCUS (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance), LSIL (low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion), and ASC-H (atypical squamous cells - cannot exclude high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion). The study evaluated 101 cervical smears taken from the vaginal part of the cervix in a group of screened women in the Podlaski province. Cytological evaluation was performed according the Bethesda System. We analyzed abnormal smears selected from a total of 7296 cytological examinations performed during 2012 at the University Center for Pathomorphological and Genetic - Molecular Diagnosis, Medical University in Białystok. The cytological results which were of interest to us included 19 cases with ASCUS, 59 with LSIL, and 23 with ASC-H, as well as with morphological features of the presence of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Staining was performed using CINtecPLUS test according to the manufacturer's instructions. CINtecPLUS is a immunocytochemical test based on specially designed monoclonal antibodies (E6H4TM) that let us identify protein p16ink4a within the cervical smear Additionally the diagnostic kit was provided with antibodies for diagnosing the presence of Ki-67 protein, a known marker of cell proliferation. The result was considered positive when staining of the nucleus and the cytoplasm appeared in red and brown, respectively. All abnormal results were eventually verified by histological examination of the tissue taken from cervical lesions by diagnostic-therapeutic procedure following colposcopic evaluation of cervical lesion topography In the group of cytological smears with ASCUS, the diagnosis was positive in 5 cases (26.3%), negative in 14 (73

  1. Human papilloma virus testing knowledge and attitudes among women attending colposcopy clinic with ASCUS/LGSIL pap smears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, T; Hicks, W; Menard, C; Boyd, D; Hewson, T; Hopkins, L; Kee Fung, M Fung

    2004-09-01

    To study women's knowledge regarding the role of human papilloma virus (HPV) in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and their attitudes toward the integration of HPV testing as part of routine follow-up of atypical squamous cell of uncertain significance/low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASCUS/LGSIL) abnormalities. Over a 12-month period, all women attending the University of Ottawa colposcopy clinic for evaluation and follow-up of ASCUS/LGSIL Pap smears were recruited. Demographic data included age, nature of the Pap smear abnormality, gravidity, parity, occupation and education level, smoking history, previous history of abnormal smears, colposcopic examination and treatment, and current method of contraception. The women were asked to rate their level of concern over their Pap smear abnormality, from 0 (not concerned) to 10 (very concerned). Women's knowledge regarding the role of HPV in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and the rationale behind the use of HPV testing was assessed by the clinic nurse as being minimal, moderate, or good, as defined by pre-specified criteria. Upon explanation by the nurses of the results of the recent ALTS (ASCUS/LGSIL Triage Study) trial, the women were asked to state whether they preferred to continue with regular colposcopic surveillance every 6 months, or to use the results of the HPV test, if negative, to reduce the number of colposcopy examinations to one annually. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to identify significant demographic factors associated with the women's preference for incorporation of HPV testing in their follow-up. All P values less than.10 were considered to be statistically significant, due to the exploratory nature of the study. Of the 100 women who participated in the study, 42% presented with ASCUS. The mean age (+/- SD) of the women was 33.63 +/- 11.25 years (range, 18-75 years); 66% were office workers with at least a community college degree, 86% reported

  2. On the geometry of inhomogeneous quantum groups

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aschieri, Paolo [Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy)

    1998-01-01

    The author gives a pedagogical introduction to the differential calculus on quantum groups by stressing at all stages the connection with the classical case. He further analyzes the relation between differential calculus and quantum Lie algebra of left (right) invariant vectorfields. Equivalent definitions of bicovariant differential calculus are studied and their geometrical interpretation is explained. From these data he constructs and analyzes the space of vectorfields, and naturally introduces a contraction operator and a Lie derivative. Their properties are discussed.

  3. From undefined red smear cheese consortia to minimal model communities both exhibiting similar anti-listerial activity on a cheese-like matrix.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imran, M; Desmasures, N; Vernoux, J-P

    2010-12-01

    Starting from one undefined cheese smear consortium exhibiting anti-listerial activity (signal) at 15 °C, 50 yeasts and 39 bacteria were identified by partial rDNA sequencing. Construction of microbial communities was done either by addition or by erosion approach with the aim to obtain minimal communities having similar signal to that of the initial smear. The signal of these microbial communities was monitored in cheese microcosm for 14 days under ripening conditions. In the addition scheme, strains having significant signals were mixed step by step. Five-member communities, obtained by addition of a Gram negative bacterium to two yeasts and two Gram positive bacteria, enhanced the signal dramatically contrary to six-member communities including two Gram negative bacteria. In the erosion approach, a progressive reduction of 89 initial strains was performed. While intermediate communities (89, 44 and 22 members) exhibited a lower signal than initial smear consortium, eleven- and six-member communities gave a signal almost as efficient. It was noteworthy that the final minimal model communities obtained by erosion and addition approaches both had anti-listerial activity while consisting of different strains. In conclusion, some minimal model communities can have higher anti-listerial effectiveness than individual strains or the initial 89 micro-organisms from smear. Thus, microbial interactions are involved in the production and modulation of anti-listerial signals in cheese surface communities. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. An Introduction to Quantum Computing, Without the Physics

    OpenAIRE

    Nannicini, Giacomo

    2017-01-01

    This paper is a gentle but rigorous introduction to quantum computing intended for discrete mathematicians. Starting from a small set of assumptions on the behavior of quantum computing devices, we analyze their main characteristics, stressing the differences with classical computers, and finally describe two well-known algorithms (Simon's algorithm and Grover's algorithm) using the formalism developed in previous sections. This paper does not touch on the physics of the devices, and therefor...

  5. Specific identification of human papillomavirus type in cervical smears and paraffin sections by in situ hybridization with radioactive probes: a preliminary communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, J.; Gendelman, H.E.; Naghashfar, Z.; Gupta, P.; Rosenshein, N.; Sawada, E.; Woodruff, J.D.; Shah, K.

    1985-01-01

    Cervical Papanicolaou smears and paraffin sections of biopsy specimens obtained from women attending dysplasia clinics were examined for viral DNA sequences by in situ hybridization technique using 35 S-labeled cloned recombinant DNA probes of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, and 16. These and one unrelated DNA probe complementary to measles virus RNA were labeled by nick translation using either one or two 35 S-labeled nucleotides. Paraffin sections and cervical smears were collected on pretreated slides, hybridized with the probes under stringent or nonstringent conditions for 50 h, and autoradiographed. Additional cervical specimens from the same women were examined for the presence of genus-specific papillomavirus capsid antigen by the immunoperoxidase technique. Preliminary results may be summarized as follows. The infecting virus could be identified in smears as well as in sections. Viral DNA sequences were detected only when there were condylomatous cells in the specimen and in only a proportion of the condylomatous cells. Even under stringent conditions, some specimens reacted with both HPV-6 and HPV-11. In some instances, the cells did not hybridize with any of the three probes even when duplicate specimens contained frankly condylomatous, capsid antigen-positive cells. In situ hybridization of Papanicolaou smears or of tissue sections is a practical method for diagnosis and follow-up of specific papillomavirus infection using routinely collected material

  6. The effect of 17% EDTA and MTAD on smear layer removal and on erosion of root canal dentin when used as final rinse: An in vitro SEM study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vishal A Mahajan

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the ability of a mixture of tetracycline isomer, citric acid and detergent (MTAD and ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA in removing the smear layer along with their effects on peritubular and intertubular dentinal structures by scanning electron microscopic (SEM examination. Materials and Methods: Thirty recently extracted maxillary and mandibular single-rooted human teeth were divided into 3 groups and prepared to an apical size of 30. In Group 1, 2, and 3, MTAD, EDTA, and distilled water were used, respectively, as a final rinse solution to remove the smear layer. The specimens were subjected to SEM evaluation for the presence or absence of the smear layer and degree of erosion using a scoring system. Results: The result showed that MTAD shows better smear layer removing ability and does not significantly change the structure of dentinal tubules. Conclusion: MTAD is an efficient solution for the removal of the smear layer, especially in the apical third of root canals, and does not significantly change the structure of the dentinal tubules.

  7. On a formulation of qubits in quantum field theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Calmet, Jacques, E-mail: calmet@ira.uka.de [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Cryptography and Security, Am Fasanengarten 5, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany); Calmet, Xavier, E-mail: x.calmet@sussex.ac.uk [Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)

    2012-01-30

    Qubits have been designed in the framework of quantum mechanics. Attempts to formulate the problem in the language of quantum field theory have been proposed already. In this short Letter we refine the meaning of qubits within the framework of quantum field theory. We show that the notion of gauge invariance naturally leads to a generalization of qubits to QFTbits which are then the fundamental carriers of information from the quantum field theoretical point of view. The goal of this Letter is to stress the availability of such a generalized concept of QFTbits. -- Highlights: ► Gauge invariant qubits are proposed. ► Non-linear QFT effects are discussed. ► Entanglement of qubits in QFT.

  8. Decline in overall, smear-negative and HIV-positive TB incidence while smear-positive incidence stays stable in Guinea-Bissau 2004-2011

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lemvik, G; Rudolf, F; Vieira, F

    2014-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To calculate Tuberculosis (TB) incidence rates in Guinea-Bissau over an 8-year period. METHODS: Since 2003, a surveillance system has registered all TB cases in six suburban districts of Bissau. In this population-based prospective follow-up study, 1205 cases of pulmonary TB were...... identified between January 2004 and December 2011. Incidence rates were calculated using census data from the Bandim Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS). RESULTS: The overall incidence of pulmonary TB was 279 per 100 000 person-years of observation; the male incidence being 385, and the female...... 191. TB incidence rates increased significantly with age in both sexes, regardless of smear or HIV status. Despite a peak with unknown cause of 352 per 100 000 in 2007, the overall incidence of pulmonary TB declined over the period. The incidence of HIV infected TB cases declined significantly from...

  9. OPTIMASI KLASIFIKASI SEL TUNGGAL PAP SMEAR MENGGUNAKAN CORRELATION BASED FEATURES SELECTION (CFS BERBASIS C4.5 DAN NAIVE BAYES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asti Herliana

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract – Cervical cancer was the most dangerous disease and generally attacks women. Early detection through Pap Smear method was one way to prevent the desease to grow in womans cervival canal. Based on the result of Pap Smear methode, the single cell of data that known as herlev data is available. This data, then used as a reference by the experts to find the best level classification from each class of cervical cancer. The decision tree C4.5 and Naïve Bayes have proven to give the best result on 280 data trial of herlev with support by Correlation based Features Selection (CFS optimization method. The issues raised in the present study was does CFS optimization methode that combined with the classification method of C4.5 and Naïve Bayes can provide increased the accuracy results when it faced the 917 data of herlev. The results of this study show that CFS method that combined either with C4.5 methods and naïve bayes classification accuracy was decrease when compared without using CFS method. In terms of showing that CFS can not provide the best result when if confronted with big data. Keywords : optimization, classification, single cell of Pap Smear, Correlation based Features Selection, C4.5, Naïve Bayes   Abstrak – Kanker serviks merupakan penyakit yang sangat berbahaya dan pada umumnya menyerang kaum wanita. Deteksi sejak dini melalui metode Pap Smear merupakan salah satu cara untuk mencegah penyakit ini berkembang didalam saluran serviks wanita. Berdasarkan hasil dari metode Pap Smear, didapatkanlah data sel tunggal yang kini dikenal dengan data herlev. Data ini, kemudian dijadikan acuan dalam penelitian oleh para ahli dewasa ini untuk menemukan tingkat klasifikasi terbaik dari masing-masing kelas kanker serviks. Metode Decision tree C4.5 dan Naïve Bayes terbukti memberikan hasil yang terbaik pada ujicoba data herlev sebanyak 280 data dengan dukungan dari metode optimasi Correlation based Features Selection(CFS. Permasalahan

  10. Non-perturbative improvement of stout-smeared three flavour clover fermions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cundy, N.; Goeckeler, M. [Regensburg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Horsley, R. [Edinburgh Univ. (GB). School of Physics and Astronomy] (and others)

    2009-01-15

    We discuss a 3-flavour lattice QCD action with clover improvement in which the fermion matrix has single level stout smearing for the hopping terms together with unsmeared links for the clover term. With the (tree-level) Symanzik improved gluon action this constitutes the Stout Link Non-perturbative Clover or SLiNC action. To cancel O(a) terms the clover term coefficient has to be tuned. We present here results of a non-perturbative determination of this coefficient using the Schroedinger functional and as a by-product a determination of the critical hopping parameter. Comparisons of the results are made with lowest order perturbation theory. (orig.)

  11. Factors which contributed for low quality sputum smears for the detection of acid fast bacilli (AFB) at selected health centers in Ethiopia: A quality control perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mekonen, Ayehu; Ayele, Yeshi; Berhan, Yifru; Woldeyohannes, Desalegn; Erku, Woldaregay; Sisay, Solomon

    2018-01-01

    Quality of tuberculosis (TB) microscopy diagnosis is not a guarantee despite implementation of External Quality Assurance (EQA) service in all laboratories of health facilities. Hence, we aimed at evaluating the technical quality and the findings of sputum smear microscopy for acid fast bacilli (AFB) at health centers in Hararge Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was carried out between July 8, 2014 and July 7, 2015.A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) method was put into practice for collecting all necessary sample slides. Data were analyzed by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 20 software. P-value quality, smear size, smear thickness, staining and evenness were indicated in 40 (72.7%), 39 (70.9%), 37 (67.3%), 27(49.1%) and 37 (67.3%) of the collected samples, respectively. False negative AFB findings were significantly associated with lack of Internal Quality Control (IQC) measures (AOR (Adjusted Odds Ratio): 2.90 (95% CI (Confidence Interval): 1.25,6.75) and poor staining procedures (AOR: 2.16(95% CI: 1.01, 5.11). The qualities of AFB smear microscopy reading and smearing were low in most of the laboratories of the health centers. Therefore, it is essential to strength EQA program through building the capacity of laboratory professionals.

  12. Quantum Computers and Quantum Computer Languages: Quantum Assembly Language and Quantum C Language

    OpenAIRE

    Blaha, Stephen

    2002-01-01

    We show a representation of Quantum Computers defines Quantum Turing Machines with associated Quantum Grammars. We then create examples of Quantum Grammars. Lastly we develop an algebraic approach to high level Quantum Languages using Quantum Assembly language and Quantum C language as examples.

  13. A survey of awareness of Pap smear and cervical cancer vaccine among women at tertiary care centre in Eastern Uttar Pradesh India

    OpenAIRE

    Anjali Rani; Kalpana Singh; Shreya Thapa

    2015-01-01

    Background: Cervical cancer is very common in developing countries. In Uttar Pradesh the literacy rate of women is low as compared to other states of India. Poverty is very high. Most women report with advance stage of cervical cancer. It can be prevented by early screening with Pap smear. Aim of our study is to know about the awareness of Pap smear and cervical cancer vaccine among women attending a tertiary hospital in Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh India. Methods: A questionnaire based ...

  14. Quantum walks, quantum gates, and quantum computers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hines, Andrew P.; Stamp, P. C. E.

    2007-01-01

    The physics of quantum walks on graphs is formulated in Hamiltonian language, both for simple quantum walks and for composite walks, where extra discrete degrees of freedom live at each node of the graph. It is shown how to map between quantum walk Hamiltonians and Hamiltonians for qubit systems and quantum circuits; this is done for both single-excitation and multiexcitation encodings. Specific examples of spin chains, as well as static and dynamic systems of qubits, are mapped to quantum walks, and walks on hyperlattices and hypercubes are mapped to various gate systems. We also show how to map a quantum circuit performing the quantum Fourier transform, the key element of Shor's algorithm, to a quantum walk system doing the same. The results herein are an essential preliminary to a Hamiltonian formulation of quantum walks in which coupling to a dynamic quantum environment is included

  15. CO2 laser vaporization in the treatment of cervical human papillomavirus infection in women with abnormal Papanicolaou smears

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ruge, S; Felding, C; Skouby, S O

    1992-01-01

    In a randomized study, we have evaluated the treatment of cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) lesions by CO2 laser vaporization. Fifty patients with abnormal Papanicolaou smears and histological evidence of cervical HPV infection associated or not with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade...... I were randomized to either a treatment or a control group. The cervical swabs were obtained every 3 months in both groups and examined for HPV type 16 DNA by the polymerase chain reaction. After a follow-up period of 12 months no significant differences were found between the laser treatment...... in their cervical smears at 12 months' follow-up was identical in the two groups, supporting the hypothesis that HPV is a persistent infection during which the virus is widespread in the vaginal epithelium....

  16. Investigation of coronal leakage of root fillings after smear-layer removal with EDTA or Nd:YAG lasing through capillary-flow porometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michiels, Rafaël; Vergauwen, Tom Edgard Maria; Mavridou, Athina; Meire, Maarten; De Bruyne, Mieke; De Moor, Roeland Jozef Gentil

    2010-10-01

    This study investigates the effects of Nd:YAG laser irradiation combined with different irrigation protocols on the marginal seal of root fillings. Limited information exists regarding the effects of morphologic changes to root canal (RC) walls after Nd:YAG laser irradiation after smear-layer removal with EDTA on the sealing ability of root fillings. The 75 root-filled teeth (5 × 15 teeth) were analyzed for through-and-through leakage by using capillary flow porometry (CFP). The RC cleaning procedure determined the assignment to a group: (1) irrigation with NaOCl 2.5% and EDTA 17% or standard protocol (SP), (2) SP + Nd:YAG lasing (dried RC), (3) NaOCl 2.5% + Nd:YAG lasing (dried RC), (4) SP + Nd:YAG lasing (wet RC), or (5) NaOCl 2.5% + Nd:YAG lasing (wet RC). Groups 1r to 5r consisted of the same filled teeth with resected apices up to the most apical point of the preparation length. Resection was performed after the first CFP measurement. Roots were filled with cold lateral condensation. CFP was used to assess minimum, mean flow and maximum pore diameters after 48 h, and immediately after these measurements, including root resection. Statistics were performed by using nonparametric tests (p > 0.05). An additional three roots per group were submitted to SEM of the RC wall. Through-and-through leakage was observed in all groups. Statistically significant differences were observed in maximum pore diameter: 1r > 3r, and 1r > 5r; in mean flow pore diameter: 1r > 2r, 2r < 4r (p < 0.05). Typical Nd:YAG glazing effects were observed when the smear layer was present and exposed to the laser fiber (i.e., in the groups without use of EDTA) or when the fiber tip made direct contact with a smear-layer free RC wall. The reduction in through-and-through leakage is significantly higher with the Nd:YAG laser as smear-layer modifier than when smear layer is removed with an EDTA rinsing solution.

  17. Scanning electron microscopic evaluation of efficacy of 17% Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and chitosan for smear layer removal with ultrasonics: An In vitro study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aradhana Babu Kamble

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The main aim of root canal treatment is cleaning, shaping and then obturating three dimensionally to prevent reinfection. This includes chemicomechanical cleansing by instrumentation and the use of irrigating solutions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the smear layer removal from root canal dentine subjected to two root canal irrigants, 17% EDTA and 0.2% Chitosan, a new irrigant using Scanning Electron Microscope. Methodology: 40 single rooted premolars were decoronated followed by instrumentation with I Race files and intermediate irrigation with 3% sodium hypochlorite and activation with ultrasonics. Then the samples were longitudinally sectioned and place in the respective test solutions and their controls for 5 minutes. Scanning Electron Microscopic evaluation was further carried out. Results: The results of the present study indicates that the Chitosan which was proved effective in removing smear layer. Conclusion: A moderate concentration of 0.2% chitosan removes the smear layer with greater efficiency.

  18. Effect of mechanical stress on the Raman and infrared bands of hydroxylapatite: A quantum mechanical first principle investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulian, Gianfranco; Valdrè, Giovanni

    2018-01-01

    The calcium apatite minerals are among the most studied in the biomaterial field because of their similarity with the mineral phase of bone tissues, which is mainly the hexagonal polymorph of hydroxylapatite. Given the growing interest both in the microscopic processes governing the behaviour of these natural biomaterials and in recent experimental methods to investigate the Raman response of hydroxylapatite upon mechanical loading, we report in the present work a detailed quantum mechanical analysis by DFT/B3LYP-D* approach on the Raman and infrared responses of hydroxylapatite upon deformation of its unit cell. From the vibrational results, the piezo-spectroscopic components Δν = Π ij σ ij were calculated. For the first time to the authors' knowledge quantum mechanics (QM) was applied to resolve the piezo-spectroscopic response of hydroxylapatite. The QM results on the uniaxial stress responses of this phase on the piezo-spectroscopic components Π 11 and Π 33 of the symmetric P-O stretching mode were 2.54 ± 0.09cm -1 /GPa and 2.56 ± 0.06cm -1 /GPa, respectively (Raman simulation) and 2.48 ± 0.15cm -1 /GPa and Π 33 = 2.74 ± 0.08cm -1 /GPa, respectively, of the asymmetric P-O stretching (infrared spectroscopy simulation). These results are in excellent agreement with previous experimental data reported in literature. The quantum mechanical analysis of the other vibrational bands (not present in literature) shed more light on this new and very important application of both Raman and IR spectroscopies and extend the knowledge of the behaviour of hydroxylapatite, suggesting and addressing further experimental research and analytic strategy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Spectral methods in quantum field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graham, Noah; Quandt, Markus; Weigel, Herbert

    2009-01-01

    This concise text introduces techniques from quantum mechanics, especially scattering theory, to compute the effects of an external background on a quantum field in general, and on the properties of the quantum vacuum in particular. This approach can be succesfully used in an increasingly large number of situations, ranging from the study of solitons in field theory and cosmology to the determination of Casimir forces in nano-technology. The method introduced and applied in this book is shown to give an unambiguous connection to perturbation theory, implementing standard renormalization conditions even for non-perturbative backgrounds. It both gives new theoretical insights, for example illuminating longstanding questions regarding Casimir stresses, and also provides an efficient analytic and numerical tool well suited to practical calculations. Last but not least, it elucidates in a concrete context many of the subtleties of quantum field theory, such as divergences, regularization and renormalization, by connecting them to more familiar results in quantum mechanics. While addressed primarily at young researchers entering the field and nonspecialist researchers with backgrounds in theoretical and mathematical physics, introductory chapters on the theoretical aspects of the method make the book self-contained and thus suitable for advanced graduate students. (orig.)

  20. Evaluation of smear layer removal and marginal adaptation of root canal sealer after final irrigation using ethylenediaminetetraacetic, peracetic, and etidronic acids with different concentrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulusoy, Özgür İlke; Zeyrek, Salev; Çelik, Bülent

    2017-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different irrigation solutions on the smear layer removal and marginal adaptation of a resin-based sealer to root canal dentine. A total of 152 instrumented roots were irrigated with the following irrigants: 9,18% etidronic acid (HEBP), 0.5, 1,2% peracetic acid (PAA), 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), saline. The amount of smear layer was evaluated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) in seventy root samples. Eighty-two roots were filled with AH Plus and gutta-percha. Slices obtained from apical third of each specimen were viewed with SEM to assess marginal adaptation. Use of 9% and 18% HEBP resulted in more efficient smear layer removal in the apical third than the other chelators (p acid is a promising candidate for final irrigation of root canals. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Quantum theory needs no 'Interpretation'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuchs, Christopher A.; Peres, Asher

    2000-01-01

    Purpose of this article is to stress the fact that Quantum Theory does not need an interpretation other than being an algorithm for computing probabilities associated with macroscopic phenomena and measurements. It does not ''describ'' reality, and the wave function is not objective entity, it only gives the evolution of our probabilities for the outcomes potential experiments. (AIP) (c)

  2. Performance evaluation of tuberculosis smear microscopists working at rechecking laboratories in Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Habtamu Asrat

    2017-04-01

    Objective: This study assessed the performance of tuberculosis smear microscopists at external quality assessment rechecking laboratories in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 81 laboratories from April to July 2015. Panel slides were prepared and validated at the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory. The validated panel slides were used to evaluate the performance of microscopists at these laboratories compared with readers from the reference laboratory. Results: A total of 389 external quality assessment rechecking laboratory microscopists participated in the study, of which 268 (68.9% worked at hospitals, 241 (62% had more than five years of work experience, 201 (51.7% held Bachelors degrees, and 319 (82% reported tuberculosis smear microscopy training. Overall, 324 (83.3% participants scored ≥ 80%. Sensitivity for detecting tuberculosis bacilli was 84.5% and specificity was 93.1%. The overall percent agreement between participants and reference readers was 87.1 (kappa=0.72. All 10 slides were correctly read (i.e., scored 100% by 80 (20.6% participants, 156 (40.1% scored 90% – 95%, 88 (22.6% scored 80% – 85% and 65 (16.7% scored below 80%. There were 806 (20.7% total errors, with 143 (3.7% major and 663 (17% minor errors. Conclusion: The overall performance of participants in reading the slides showed good agreement with the reference readers. Most errors were minor, and the ability to detect tuberculosis bacilli can be improved through building the capacity of professionals.

  3. I, Quantum Robot: Quantum Mind control on a Quantum Computer

    OpenAIRE

    Zizzi, Paola

    2008-01-01

    The logic which describes quantum robots is not orthodox quantum logic, but a deductive calculus which reproduces the quantum tasks (computational processes, and actions) taking into account quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. A way toward the realization of intelligent quantum robots is to adopt a quantum metalanguage to control quantum robots. A physical implementation of a quantum metalanguage might be the use of coherent states in brain signals.

  4. Diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis in a rural setup: comparison of clinical algorithm, smear scoring and culture by semiquantitative technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, P S; Devi, S; Shriyan, A; Rajaram, M; Jagdishchandra, K

    2004-01-01

    This study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in a rural set up and compare the smear scoring system to that of culture by semiquantitative technique. A total of 505 married women, who were in sexually active age group of 15-44 years, were selected from three different villages. High vaginal swabs, endocervical swabs, vaginal discharge and blood were collected and processed in the laboratory. Overall prevalence of 29% reproductive tract infection was detected. Endogenous infection was commonly observed (27.92%), and very low prevalence of STIs (Trichomonas 1.18%, Syphilis 0%, Gonorrhea 0%) was detected. Diagnosis of BV was possible in 104 (20.5%) women by smear alone and 88 (17.42%) women by semiquantitative culture.

  5. On the quantum mechanical theory of stress and force

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nielsen, O.H.; Martin, R.M.

    1985-01-01

    The stress theorem presented previously by the present authors is derived in detail and is related to the virial and force theorems. Stress fields are considered in two alternative forms, which both give the same macroscopic stress and forces on nuclei when integrated over appropriate surfaces. A crucial concept is interactions that ''cross'' surfaces. Explicit forms of the stress field within the local-density approximation are given, together with a generalization of the approximate Liberman form for pressure. Reciprocal-space expressions and ab-initio calculations are considered in detail in an accompanying paper. (orig.)

  6. Immunohistochemical staining of human sperm cells in smears from sexual assault cases

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, S.

    2011-01-01

    In the routine clinical examination of sexual assault victims, apart from documenting physical evidence of abuse, securing evidence, typically DNA from blood, semen, or saliva, is an important part of the process. Often the presence of semen is considered a most interesting piece of evidence...... sperm cells. In this work the goal was to develop a procedure to rapidly visualize human sperm cells in smear slides with the use of bright-field microscopy. Using SPERM HY-LITER (TM) by Independent Forensics, human sperm cells are visualized using a fluorescently labeled mouse antibody which...

  7. Smear layer removal capacity of disinfectant solutions used with and without EDTA for the irrigation of canals: a SEM study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Menezes Ana Carolina Silveira Cardoso de

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to carry out a scanning electron microscopic (SEM analysis of the cleaning qualities and smear layer removal from root canal walls, instrumented and irrigated with 2.5% NaOCl, 2.0% chlorhexidine and saline solutions. Fifty extracted teeth were used in this study. All teeth were radiographed to determine the existence of a single canal. The crowns were cut at the cervical limit and the root canals were instrumented with K-type files up to size 45. During root canal preparation, irrigations were made with the different solutions being evaluated: Group 1: 2.5% NaOCl (10 roots; Group 2: 2.5% NaOCl and 17% EDTA for 2 minute (10 roots; Group 3: 2.0% chlorhexidine (10 roots; Group 4: 2.0% chlorhexidine and 17% EDTA for 2 minutes (10 roots; Group 5: saline solution (5 roots; Group 6: saline solution and 17% EDTA for 2 minutes (5 roots. After instrumentation, the canals were irrigated with each one of the solutions and the roots were cut in the buccolingual direction for SEM analysis, at the cervical, middle and apical thirds, to ascertain the presence or absence of smear layer and debris. SEM analysis was performed by three calibrated examiners and scores were submitted to Kruskal-Wallis test at the significance level of p = 5%. Results showed that the use of 17% EDTA decreased the smear layer significantly (p < 0.05 for all evaluated solutions in all thirds. When EDTA was not used, a significantly higher quantity of smear layer on the apical third was observed only in the NaOCl groups. The use of 17% EDTA was significant for debris removal except for the chlorhexidine groups. The following conclusion could be drawn: the use of 17% EDTA was necessary to enhance cleanness of the root canals.

  8. Introductory quantum mechanics for semiconductor nanotechnology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Dae Mann

    2010-01-01

    The result of the nano education project run by the Korean Nano Technology Initiative, this has been recommended for use as official textbook by the Korean Nanotechnology Research Society. The author is highly experienced in teaching both physics and engineering in academia and industry, and naturally adopts an interdisciplinary approach here. He is short on formulations but long on applications, allowing students to understand the essential workings of quantum mechanics without spending too much time covering the wide realms of physics. He takes care to provide sufficient technical background and motivation for students to pursue further studies of advanced quantum mechanics and stresses the importance of translating quantum insights into useful and tangible innovations and inventions. As such, this is the only work to cover semiconductor nanotechnology from the perspective of introductory quantum mechanics, with applications including mainstream semiconductor technologies as well as (nano)devices, ranging from photodetectors, laser diodes, and solar cells to transistors and Schottky contacts. Problems are also provided to test the reader's understanding and supplementary material available includes working presentation files, solutions and instructors manuals. (orig.)

  9. Comparisons of Photosynthetic Responses of Xanthium strumarium and Helianthus annuus to Chronic and Acute Water Stress in Sun and Shade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben, G Y; Osmond, C B; Sharkey, T D

    1987-06-01

    We have examined the effects of mild, chronic water stress and acute water stress on two water stress sensitive plants, Xanthium strumarium and Helianthus annuus. Using a combination of the leaf disc O(2) electrode to measure the light responses of photosynthesis and 77 K fluorescence to monitor damage to the primary photochemistry, we have found the following: (a) The CO(2) saturated rate of photosynthesis at high light is the most water stress sensitive parameter measured. (b) The apparent quantum yield (moles O(2) per mole photons) was slightly, if at all, affected by mild water stress (>-1.5 megapascals). (c) Severe water stress (<-1.5 megapascals) reduced the quantum yield of photosynthesis regardless of whether the stress was applied in sun or shade. The light independent reduction of quantum yield was not associated with a reduction in 77 K fluorescence (F(v)/F(m)) indicating that the quantum yield reduction was not the result of damage to primary photochemistry. (d) The diel fluctuation in 77 K fluorescence seen in sun-exposed control leaves was greatly exaggerated in water stressed leaves because of enhanced decline in 77 K fluorescence in the morning. The rate of recovery was similar in both control and water stressed leaves. Shaded leaves showed no change in 77 K fluorescence regardless of whether water stress was imposed or not. (e) The water stress sensitive plants used in these experiments did not recover from acute water stress severe enough to reduce the quantum yield or chronic water stress which lasted long enough that light dependent damage to primary photochemistry occurred.

  10. [Value of optimization of bedside Gram staining of sputum smear in the early diagnosis and treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Xinyan; Ran, Yu; Bian, Shichang; Wang, Chao; Xu, Lei

    2014-12-01

    To investigate the significance of optimization of bedside Gram staining of sputum smear in the early diagnosis and antimicrobial treatment for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) patients. The data of patients with VAP undergoing mechanical ventilation over 48 hours in the Department of Critical Care Medicine of Tianjin Fourth Central Hospital from June 2009 to June 2014 were analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether or not bedside Gram staining of sputum smear was used or not. The sputum samples from lower respiratory tract of all VAP patients were collected daily with tracheal catheter. In empirical examination group (from June 2009 to December 2011, n=43), the patients received antibiotics at the time of onset of VAP, selection of antibiotics depended on the information of bacterial epidemiology of the intensive care unit (ICU), and also existence of high risk factors of multi-drug resistant bacteria. In target treatment group (from January 2012 to June 2014, n=43), the patients received antibiotics according to the results of bedside instant sputum smear examination and empirical antibiotic regime. The correlation between the results of sputum smear examination and culture result was analyzed. The levels of body temperature, white blood cell (WBC) count, procalcitonin (PCT) level,and high sensitivity C- reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured on the 1st day and 3rd day. The length of antibiotics treatment, duration of mechanical ventilation, and the time of ICU stay were recorded for both groups. There were 512 qualified sputum specimens for culture, from which 336 pathogens were found, and 358 strains of pathogenic bacteria were found from microscopic examination of 512 qualified sputum smear. The coincidence rate of results of bedside examination of sputum smear and that of sputum culture was 78.32%(401/512). The diagnostic acumen of the former was 85.42% (287/336), specificity was 64.77% (114/176), positive predictive value

  11. The Effect of an Educational Program Based on Protection Motivation Theory on Pap Smear Screening Behavior among Women Referring to Health Centers in Fasa

    OpenAIRE

    Zahra Khiyali; Leila Ghahremani; Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Sareh Keshavarzi

    2017-01-01

    Background and Objectives: Despite the importance of pap smear in reducing the incidence of cervical cancer and its death, this cancer is still one of the leading causes of death among women around the world. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to determine the effect of an educational program based on the protection motivation theory on Pap smear screening behavior. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 200 women referring to Fasa health centers, Fasa, Ira...

  12. The effect of health education on the knowledge, attitude, and uptake of free Pap smear among female teachers in Birnin-Kebbi, North-Western Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamu, A N; Abiola, A O; Ibrahim, Mto

    2012-01-01

    The Routine Pap smear test has successfully reduced the incidence of invasive cervical cancer in the presence of a proper structure for its implementation. This study was designed to assess the effect of health education on the knowledge, attitude, and uptake of Pap smear among female teachers. It was a quasi-experimental, controlled study with a pre-test, post-test design. A total of 100 respondents were recruited for each of the intervention and control groups, by the multistage sampling technique. The mean knowledge score of cervical cancer was low in both the interventions (25.5% ± 10.5) and control groups (18.9% ± 10.0) at baseline; a significant rise to 57.2% ± 20.7 was recorded after the intervention in the Intervention group (Pfree Pap smear was poor at the post-intervention phase in both the groups (P=0.45). Reported reasons for poor uptake included the respondents' dislike for the test (38.4%) and the belief that the test was not necessary (24.4%). About 20% of the respondents did not have any reason at all. Health education had no significant effect on the uptake of a free Pap smear among teachers. Despite the significant improvement in the attitude toward the test, many respondents did not like the test after than before the intervention. Sociocultural issues such as the gender of the sample collector, and system factors like few service delivery points, and the time required to access the service could have contributed to the poor uptake recorded in this study. A program designed to improve routine cervical cancer screening by Pap smear should therefore address not only the knowledge and cost, but also the sociocultural and systemic factors.

  13. The issue of phases in quantum measurement theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pati, Arun Kumar

    1999-01-01

    The issue of phases is always very subtle in quantum world and many of the curious phenomena are due to the existence of the phase of the quantum mechanical wave function. We investigate the issue of phases in quantum measurement theory and predict a new effect of fundamental importance. We call a quantum system under goes a quantum Zeno dynamics when the unitary evolution of a quantum system is interrupted by a sequence of measurements. In particular, we investigate the effect of repeated measurements on the geometric phase and show that the quantum Zeno dynamics can inhibit its development under a large number of measurement pulses. It is interesting to see that neither the total phase nor the dynamical phase goes to zero under large number of measurements. This new effect we call as the 'quantum Zeno Phase effect' in analogous to the quantum Zeno effect where the repeated measurements inhibit the transition probability. This 'quantum Zeno Phase effect' can be proved within von Neumann's collapse mechanism as well as using a continuous measurement model. So the effect is really independent of any particular measurement model considered. Since the geometric phase attributes a memory to a quantum system our results also proves that the path dependent memory of a system can be erased by a sequence of measurements. The quantum Zeno Phase effect provides a way to control and manipulate the phase of a wave function in an interference set up. Finally, we stress that the quantum Zeno Phase effect can be tested using neutron, photon and atom interference experiments with the presently available technology. (Author)

  14. White blood cell counting analysis of blood smear images using various segmentation strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safuan, Syadia Nabilah Mohd; Tomari, Razali; Zakaria, Wan Nurshazwani Wan; Othman, Nurmiza

    2017-09-01

    In white blood cell (WBC) diagnosis, the most crucial measurement parameter is the WBC counting. Such information is widely used to evaluate the effectiveness of cancer therapy and to diagnose several hidden infection within human body. The current practice of manual WBC counting is laborious and a very subjective assessment which leads to the invention of computer aided system (CAS) with rigorous image processing solution. In the CAS counting work, segmentation is the crucial step to ensure the accuracy of the counted cell. The optimal segmentation strategy that can work under various blood smeared image acquisition conditions is remain a great challenge. In this paper, a comparison between different segmentation methods based on color space analysis to get the best counting outcome is elaborated. Initially, color space correction is applied to the original blood smeared image to standardize the image color intensity level. Next, white blood cell segmentation is performed by using combination of several color analysis subtraction which are RGB, CMYK and HSV, and Otsu thresholding. Noises and unwanted regions that present after the segmentation process is eliminated by applying a combination of morphological and Connected Component Labelling (CCL) filter. Eventually, Circle Hough Transform (CHT) method is applied to the segmented image to estimate the number of WBC including the one under the clump region. From the experiment, it is found that G-S yields the best performance.

  15. Precursors, gauge invariance, and quantum error correction in AdS/CFT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Freivogel, Ben; Jefferson, Robert A.; Kabir, Laurens [ITFA and GRAPPA, Universiteit van Amsterdam,Science Park 904, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2016-04-19

    A puzzling aspect of the AdS/CFT correspondence is that a single bulk operator can be mapped to multiple different boundary operators, or precursors. By improving upon a recent model of Mintun, Polchinski, and Rosenhaus, we demonstrate explicitly how this ambiguity arises in a simple model of the field theory. In particular, we show how gauge invariance in the boundary theory manifests as a freedom in the smearing function used in the bulk-boundary mapping, and explicitly show how this freedom can be used to localize the precursor in different spatial regions. We also show how the ambiguity can be understood in terms of quantum error correction, by appealing to the entanglement present in the CFT. The concordance of these two approaches suggests that gauge invariance and entanglement in the boundary field theory are intimately connected to the reconstruction of local operators in the dual spacetime.

  16. Quantum eigenstates of a strongly chaotic system and the scar phenomenon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aurich, R.; Steiner, F.

    1993-04-01

    The quantum eigenstates of a strongly chaotic system (hyperbolic octagon) are studied with special emphasis on the scar phenomenon. The dynamics of a localized wavepacket is discussed which travels along a short periodic orbit yielding a test for the scar model developed by Heller. The autocorrelation function C(t) and the smeared weighted spectral density S τ (E) are in accordance with this model, but the conclusion that this implies the existence of scarred eigenstates is not confirmed. A random wavefunction model generates with the same probability intensity structures being localized near short periodic orbits as the wavefunctions obeying the Schroedinger equation. Although there are some eigenstates which are localized near a periodic orbit, the conclusion that their intensities differ significantly from the statistically expected ones cannot be drawn. Thus the scar phenomenon seems to be absent in the case of hyperbolic octagons. (orig.)

  17. Quantum Cybernetics and Complex Quantum Systems Science - A Quantum Connectionist Exploration

    OpenAIRE

    Gonçalves, Carlos Pedro

    2014-01-01

    Quantum cybernetics and its connections to complex quantum systems science is addressed from the perspective of complex quantum computing systems. In this way, the notion of an autonomous quantum computing system is introduced in regards to quantum artificial intelligence, and applied to quantum artificial neural networks, considered as autonomous quantum computing systems, which leads to a quantum connectionist framework within quantum cybernetics for complex quantum computing systems. Sever...

  18. Role of Papanicolaou Smear in the Diagnosis of Pathologic Flora in Asymptomatic Patients in Rural Health Care Set-Up

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siona Sabu

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The infections of female genital tract, especially the cervix are asymptomatic in presentation and pose a diagnostic challenge. Vaginal infections can lead to cytoplasmic and nuclear abnormalities in the epithelial cells. Additionally, these infections could augur an inflammatory response of varying nature. The most common flora include Candida albicans, Gardnerella vaginalis, Trichomonas vaginalis, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV, Human Herpes Virus (HHV and Actinomyces sp. Aim: This study seeks to measure the role of Papanicolaou smear in detection of pathologic flora: Candida albicans, Gardnerella vaginalis, Trichomonas vaginalis, HPV, HHV and Actinomyces; in a rural health care set up amongst women in the reproductive and menopausal age group. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of cervical smears by Papanicolaou method, over a 14 month period was carried out in a tertiary care centre including a total number of 150 patients. Results: Of the total of 150 samples examined, Candida species was the most frequently detected (8.7% followed by Trichomonas vaginalis (5.3% and Gardnerella vaginalis species (4.7%. HPV-induced changes were noted in a mere 2% of cases. Actinomyces species was noted in less than 1% of cases. Conclusion: The Papanicolaou test for examining cervical smear has definite uses in detecting vaginal microorganisms. Apart from detection of the usual pathogenic flora, the test has utility in defining the degree of inflammation and additional reparative changes.

  19. Three-dimensional quantum algebras: a Cartan-like point of view

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ballesteros, A; Celeghini, E; Olmo, M A del

    2004-01-01

    A perturbative quantization procedure for Lie bialgebras is introduced. The relevance of the choice of a completely symmetrized basis of the quantum universal enveloping algebra is stressed. Sets of elements of the quantum algebra that play a role similar to generators in the case of Lie algebras are considered and a Cartan-like procedure applied to find a representative for each class of quantum algebras. The method is used to construct and classify all three-dimensional complex quantum algebras that are compatible with a given type of coproduct. The quantization of all Lie algebras that, in the classical limit, belong to the most relevant sector in the classification for three-dimensional Lie bialgebras is thus performed. New quantizations of solvable algebras, whose simplicity makes them suitable for possible physical applications, are obtained and already known related quantum algebras recovered

  20. Adherence to tuberculosis treatment, sputum smear conversion and mortality: a retrospective cohort study in 48 rwandan clinics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kayigamba, Felix R.; Bakker, Mirjam I.; Mugisha, Veronicah; de Naeyer, Ludwig; Gasana, Michel; Cobelens, Frank; Schim van der Loeff, Maarten

    2013-01-01

    Adherence to treatment and sputum smear conversion after 2 months of treatment are thought to be important for successful outcome of tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Retrospective cohort study of new adult TB patients diagnosed in the first quarter of 2007 at 48 clinics in Rwanda. Data were abstracted

  1. Comparisons of Photosynthetic Responses of Xanthium strumarium and Helianthus annuus to Chronic and Acute Water Stress in Sun and Shade 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben, Gui-Ying; Osmond, C. Barry; Sharkey, Thomas D.

    1987-01-01

    We have examined the effects of mild, chronic water stress and acute water stress on two water stress sensitive plants, Xanthium strumarium and Helianthus annuus. Using a combination of the leaf disc O2 electrode to measure the light responses of photosynthesis and 77 K fluorescence to monitor damage to the primary photochemistry, we have found the following: (a) The CO2 saturated rate of photosynthesis at high light is the most water stress sensitive parameter measured. (b) The apparent quantum yield (moles O2 per mole photons) was slightly, if at all, affected by mild water stress (>−1.5 megapascals). (c) Severe water stress (<−1.5 megapascals) reduced the quantum yield of photosynthesis regardless of whether the stress was applied in sun or shade. The light independent reduction of quantum yield was not associated with a reduction in 77 K fluorescence (Fv/Fm) indicating that the quantum yield reduction was not the result of damage to primary photochemistry. (d) The diel fluctuation in 77 K fluorescence seen in sun-exposed control leaves was greatly exaggerated in water stressed leaves because of enhanced decline in 77 K fluorescence in the morning. The rate of recovery was similar in both control and water stressed leaves. Shaded leaves showed no change in 77 K fluorescence regardless of whether water stress was imposed or not. (e) The water stress sensitive plants used in these experiments did not recover from acute water stress severe enough to reduce the quantum yield or chronic water stress which lasted long enough that light dependent damage to primary photochemistry occurred. PMID:16665465

  2. Quantum Erasure: Quantum Interference Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Walborn, Stephen P.; Cunha, Marcelo O. Terra; Pádua, Sebastião; Monken, Carlos H.

    2005-01-01

    Recent experiments in quantum optics have shed light on the foundations of quantum physics. Quantum erasers - modified quantum interference experiments - show that quantum entanglement is responsible for the complementarity principle.

  3. Modelisation of transport in fractured media with a smeared fractures modeling approach: special focus on matrix diffusion process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fourno, A.; Grenier, C.; Benabderrahmane, H.

    2003-04-01

    Modeling flow and transport in natural fractured media is a difficult issue due among others to the complexity of the system, the particularities of the geometrical features, the strong parameter value contrasts between the fracture zones (flow zones) and the matrix zones (no flow zones). This lead to the development of dedicated tools like for instance discrete fracture network models (DFN). We follow here another line applicable for classical continuous modeling codes. The fracture network is not meshed here but presence of fractures is taken into account by means of continuous heterogeneous fields (permeability, porosity, head, velocity, concentration ...). This line, followed by different authors, is referred as smeared fracture approach and presents the following advantages: the approach is very versatile because no dedicated spatial discretization effort is required (we use a basic regular mesh, simulations can be done on a rough mesh saving computer time). This makes this kind of approach very promising for taking heterogeneity of properties as well as uncertainties into account within a Monte Carlo framework for instance. Furthermore, the geometry of the matrix blocks where transfers proceed by diffusion is fully taken into account contrary to classical simplified 1D approach for instance. Nevertheless continuous heterogeneous field representation of a fractured medium requires a homogenization process at the scale of the mesh considered. Literature proves that this step of homogenization for transport is still a challenging task. Consequently, the level precision of the results has to be estimated. We precedently proposed a new approach dedicated to Mixed and Hybrid Finite Element approach. This numerical scheme is very interesting for such highly heterogeneous media and in particular guaranties exact conservation of mass flow for each mesh leading to good transport results. We developed a smeared fractures approach to model flow and transport limited to

  4. Quantum Monte Carlo tunneling from quantum chemistry to quantum annealing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzola, Guglielmo; Smelyanskiy, Vadim N.; Troyer, Matthias

    2017-10-01

    Quantum tunneling is ubiquitous across different fields, from quantum chemical reactions and magnetic materials to quantum simulators and quantum computers. While simulating the real-time quantum dynamics of tunneling is infeasible for high-dimensional systems, quantum tunneling also shows up in quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, which aim to simulate quantum statistics with resources growing only polynomially with the system size. Here we extend the recent results obtained for quantum spin models [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 180402 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.180402], and we study continuous-variable models for proton transfer reactions. We demonstrate that QMC simulations efficiently recover the scaling of ground-state tunneling rates due to the existence of an instanton path, which always connects the reactant state with the product. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of quantum chemical reactions and quantum annealing, where quantum tunneling is expected to be a valuable resource for solving combinatorial optimization problems.

  5. PEMERIKSAAN LEUCOCYTOZOONOSIS PADA BROILER DAN ITIK MENGGUNAKAN METODE GERUSAN ORGAN DAN HAPUSAN DARAH (EXAMINATION OF LEUCOCYTOZOONOSIS IN BROILERS AND DUCKS USING ORGAN MASHED METHODS AND BLOOD SMEAR *

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Hanafiah

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available The study has been done to examine Leucocytozoonosis case using organ mashed method in broiler and ducks slaughtered in chickens slaughter house in Banda Aceh Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. From each of broiler and ducks fifty organs were collected for sample. Before those animals were killed blood smear were taken to find merozoites and gametosites stadium while smashed organs were made to find schizont stadium. The number of schizont of Leucocytozoonosis were analyzed descriptively. Result of research indicate that was higher positiveLeucocytozoonosis with mashed method better than blood smear in broiler and duck. The prevalence of Leucocylozoonosis with blood smear respectively are 30 % and 24 % from broiler while by using organ smashed methods are 58 % and 54 % respectively.

  6. Quantum field theory in spaces with closed time-like curves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boulware, D.G.

    1992-01-01

    Gott spacetime has closed timelike curves, but no locally anomalous stress-energy. A complete orthonormal set of eigenfunctions of the wave operator is found in the special case of a spacetime in which the total deficit angle is 27π. A scalar quantum field theory is constructed using these eigenfunctions. The resultant interacting quantum field theory is not unitary because the field operators can create real, on-shell, particles in the acausal region. These particles propagate for finite proper time accumulating an arbitrary phase before being annihilated at the same spacetime point as that at which they were created. As a result, the effective potential within the acausal region is complex, and probability is not conserved. The stress tensor of the scalar field is evaluated in the neighborhood of the Cauchy horizon; in the case of a sufficiently small Compton wavelength of the field, the stress tensor is regular and cannot prevent the formation of the Cauchy horizon

  7. Diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis in a rural setup: Comparison of clinical algorithm, smear scoring and culture by semiquantitative technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rao P

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs in a rural set up and compare the smear scoring system to that of culture by semiquantitative technique. A total of 505 married women, who were in sexually active age group of 15-44 years, were selected from three different villages. High vaginal swabs, endocervical swabs, vaginal discharge and blood were collected and processed in the laboratory. Overall prevalence of 29% reproductive tract infection was detected. Endogenous infection was commonly observed (27.92%, and very low prevalence of STIs (Trichomonas 1.18%, Syphilis 0%, Gonorrhea 0% was detected. Diagnosis of BV was possible in 104 (20.5% women by smear alone and 88 (17.42% women by semiquantitative culture.

  8. Development of quantum perspectives in modern physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles Baily

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Introductory undergraduate courses in classical physics stress a perspective that can be characterized as realist; from this perspective, all physical properties of a classical system can be simultaneously specified and thus determined at all future times. Such a perspective can be problematic for introductory quantum physics students, who must develop new perspectives in order to properly interpret what it means to have knowledge of quantum systems. We document this evolution in student thinking in part through pre- and post-instruction evaluations using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey. We further characterize variations in student epistemic and ontological commitments by examining responses to two essay questions, coupled with responses to supplemental quantum attitude statements. We find that, after instruction in modern physics, many students are still exhibiting a realist perspective in contexts where a quantum-mechanical perspective is needed. We further find that this effect can be significantly influenced by instruction, where we observe variations for courses with differing learning goals. We also note that students generally do not employ either a realist or a quantum perspective in a consistent manner.

  9. Comparison between high concentration EDTA (24%) and low concentration EDTA (3%) with surfactant upon removal of smear layer after rotary instrumentation: a SEM study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daghustani, Mohsen; Alhammadi, Ahmad; Merdad, Khalid; Ohlin, Johan; Erhardt, Fredrik; Ahlquist, Michael

    2011-01-01

    This in vitro study compare cleanliness of tooth canal walls regarding smear layer after final treatment with 24% ethylenediaminetetraaceticacid (EDTA) and 3% EDTA with or without surfactant. Sixty extracted teeth, randomly distributed into four groups, were prepared using ProFile instruments (DENTSPLY, Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), and subjected to different final irrigation solutions: group A, 24% EDTA; group B, 3% EDTA with surfactant; group C (positive control), 3% EDTA; and group D (negative control), 0.5% sodium hypochlorite. Roots were sectioned, examined and evaluated under scanning electron microscope; microphotographs were taken for the coronal, middle and apical third of each specimen. Statistical analysis showed no difference regarding presence of smear layer between test groups in the coronal and apical sections. They were cleaned in the coronal sections and uncleaned in the apical sections. In the middle section, group B was significantly cleaner (p EDTA did not improve root canal cleanliness and there is no difference between different EDTA concentrations in removing the smear layer.

  10. A trajectory description of quantum processes. II. Applications. A Bohmian perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanz, Angel S.; Miret-Artes, Salvador [CSIC, Madrid (Spain). Inst. de Fisica Fundamental (IFF-CSIC)

    2014-07-01

    Presents a thorough introduction to, and treatment of, trajectory-based quantum-mechanical calculations. Useful for a wide range of scattering problems. Presents the applications of the trajectory description of basic quantum processes. Trajectory-based formalisms are an intuitively appealing way of describing quantum processes because they allow the use of ''classical'' concepts. Beginning as an introductory level suitable for students, this two-volume monograph presents (1) the fundamentals and (2) the applications of the trajectory description of basic quantum processes. This second volume is focussed on simple and basic applications of quantum processes such as interference and diffraction of wave packets, tunneling, diffusion and bound-state and scattering problems. The corresponding analysis is carried out within the Bohmian framework. By stressing its interpretational aspects, the book leads the reader to an alternative and complementary way to better understand the underlying quantum dynamics.

  11. Quantum theory in vector bundles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayer, M.E.

    1986-01-01

    This paper describes a framework capable of accomodating quantum gauge theory (QGT), based on recent insights on the cohomological interpretation of ghosts, BRS-transformations, anomalies, and Schwinger terms. The hope is that the approach will lead to a trial marriage of quantum theory and gravity. Some points that are stressed are: nonabelian QGT is subtler than QED; in spite of their BRS-variance, the Yang-Mills potential together with the ghost-form are needed in addition to the field theory; the ghost form together with their Lagrange multiplier in a Lagrangian formalism makes its appearance through the BRS cohomology; and, in QGT one can treat the connection form, the curvature form and the ghost form in one of several ways

  12. Effects of liquid- and paste-type EDTA on smear-layer removal during rotary root-canal instrumentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gin Chen

    2011-03-01

    Conclusions: The use of paste/gel-type chelators during rotary nickel–titanium instrumentation resulted in improved cleanliness in the coronal and middle parts of the root canal. We recommend using liquid EDTA as a final flushing solution during root-canal preparation because it provides a better smear layer-free condition before 3-dimensional root-canal obturation.

  13. Immunoglobulin and enzyme-conjugated dextran polymers enhance u-PAR staining intensity of carcinoma cells in peripheral blood smears

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Werther, K; Normark, M; Hansen, B F

    1999-01-01

    phenotyping of disseminated carcinoma cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood smears. In the first step, the cells were incubated with antibodies against urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (u-PAR) and subsequently with secondary antibodies conjugated to peroxidase-labeled dextran polymers. A brown...

  14. Quantum games as quantum types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delbecque, Yannick

    In this thesis, we present a new model for higher-order quantum programming languages. The proposed model is an adaptation of the probabilistic game semantics developed by Danos and Harmer [DH02]: we expand it with quantum strategies which enable one to represent quantum states and quantum operations. Some of the basic properties of these strategies are established and then used to construct denotational semantics for three quantum programming languages. The first of these languages is a formalisation of the measurement calculus proposed by Danos et al. [DKP07]. The other two are new: they are higher-order quantum programming languages. Previous attempts to define a denotational semantics for higher-order quantum programming languages have failed. We identify some of the key reasons for this and base the design of our higher-order languages on these observations. The game semantics proposed in this thesis is the first denotational semantics for a lambda-calculus equipped with quantum types and with extra operations which allow one to program quantum algorithms. The results presented validate the two different approaches used in the design of these two new higher-order languages: a first one where quantum states are used through references and a second one where they are introduced as constants in the language. The quantum strategies presented in this thesis allow one to understand the constraints that must be imposed on quantum type systems with higher-order types. The most significant constraint is the fact that abstraction over part of the tensor product of many unknown quantum states must not be allowed. Quantum strategies are a new mathematical model which describes the interaction between classical and quantum data using system-environment dialogues. The interactions between the different parts of a quantum system are described using the rich structure generated by composition of strategies. This approach has enough generality to be put in relation with other

  15. Development of an automatic smear sampler and a polymer film for surface radioactive contamination assay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seo, B.-K.; Lee, K.-W.; Woo, Z.-H.; Jeong, K.-S.; Oh, W.-Z.; Han, M.-J.

    2004-01-01

    Measurement of the surface contamination by an indirect method is subject to the various kinds of error according to the sampling person and needs much time and effort in the sampling and assay. In this research, an automatic smear sampler is developed. It improved efficiency for assay work of surface contamination level achieved periodically in a radiation controlled area. Using an automatic smear sampler developed, it is confirmed that radioactive contaminated materials are uniformly transferred to smear paper more than any sampling method by an operator. Also, Solid scintillation proximity membranes were prepared for measuring the amount of radioactive contamination in laboratories contaminated by the low energy beta-ray emitter, such as 3 H and 14 C. Polysulfone scintillation proximity membranes were prepared by impregnating Cerium Activated Yttrium Silicate (CAYS), an inorganic fluor, in a membrane structure. The inorganic fluor-impregnated membranes were applied to detect the radioactive surface contamination. The preparation of membranes was divided into two processes. A supporting polymer film was made of casting solutions consisting of polysulfone and solvent, their cast film being solidified by vacuum evaporation. CAYS-dispersed polymer solutions were cast over the first, solidified polymer films and coagulated either by evaporating solvent in the solution with non-solvent in a coagulation bath. The prepared membranes had two distinguished, but tightly attached, double layers : one is the supporting layer of dense polymer film and the other results revealed that the prepared membranes were efficient to monitor radioactive contamination with reliable counting ability. For enhancement of pick-up and measurement efficiency, the membrane was prepared with the condition of different membrane solidification. The scintillation produced by interaction with radiation and CAYS was measured with photomultiplier tube. The test results showed that the prepared

  16. Comparative study of Gram stain, potassium hydroxide smear, culture and nested PCR in the diagnosis of fungal keratitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badiee, Parisa; Nejabat, Mahmood; Alborzi, Abdolvahab; Keshavarz, Fatemeh; Shakiba, Elaheh

    2010-01-01

    This study seeks to evaluate the efficacy and practicality of the molecular method, compared to the standard microbiological techniques for diagnosing fungal keratitis (FK). Patients with eye findings suspected of FK were enrolled for cornea sampling. Scrapings from the affected areas of the infected corneas were obtained and were divided into two parts: one for smears and cultures, and the other for nested PCR analysis. Of the 38 eyes, 28 were judged to have fungal infections based on clinical and positive findings in the culture, smear and responses to antifungal treatment. Potassium hydroxide, Gram staining, culture and nested PCR results (either positive or negative) matched in 76.3, 42.1, 68.4 and 81.6%, respectively. PCR is a sensitive method but due to the lack of sophisticated facilities in routine laboratory procedures, it can serve only complementarily and cannot replace conventional methods. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  17. Quantum information. Teleporation - cryptography - quantum computer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breuer, Reinhard

    2010-01-01

    The following topics are dealt with: Reality in the test house, quantum teleportation, 100 years of quantum theory, the reality of quanta, interactionless quantum measurement, rules for quantum computers, quantum computers with ions, spintronics with diamond, the limits of the quantum computers, a view into the future of quantum optics. (HSI)

  18. The frequency of herpes simplex virus changes in anal Pap smear and its association with squamous intraepithelial lesions in high-risk male patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greebon, Leslie J; Avery, Diane L; Prihoda, Thomas J; Valente, Philip T; Policarpio-Nicolas, Maria Luisa C

    2014-06-01

    While there are studies postulating a model of synergism between human papillomavirus (HPV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) in cervical carcinogenesis, the frequency of anal herpes as well as its association with anal squamous intraepithelial lesions (ASILs) has been understudied in men. This study evaluates the frequency of HSV changes in anal Pap smears and its association with ASILs in a high-risk population. A computerized search for specimens associated with anal cytology that had positive findings of HSV was performed. The electronic medical records were examined for past diagnosis of herpes, HSV serology prior to or after cytology, and if the patient received treatment after cytologic diagnosis of HSV. Of the 470 anal Pap smears (Thin-prep) examined, seven had cellular changes consistent with HSV infection. All patients were asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive males with no prior HSV serology tests. Two patients had prior diagnoses of HSV infection. Cytologic abnormalities were identified in 86% ranging from atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance to high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion. Three patients were treated after the HSV cytologic diagnosis. The frequency of HSV changes in anal Pap smear is low (1.48%), but the presence of concomitant cytologic abnormalities is high (86%). While our findings suggest the possible role of HSV as a HPV co-factor in ASILs, larger studies are needed to support this. Identification of HSV infection on anal Pap smear is important for institution of patient treatment and subsequent reduction of transmission. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Comparison of a four-drug fixed-dose combination regimen with a single tablet regimen in smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartacek, A; Schütt, D; Panosch, B; Borek, M

    2009-06-01

    To compare the efficacy, safety and acceptability of two short-course regimens of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol (HRZE) given either as fixed-dose combination (4-FDC) tablets or as single tablets (ST) in patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). This randomised, open, multicentre, multinational study was conducted in 26 centres and included 1159 patients with smear-positive PTB. 4-FDC daily for 2 months then H+R for 4 months, or single preparations of H, R, Z and E for 2 months followed by H and R for 4 months were administered daily. Sputum smear conversion rates at 2, 4 and 6 months (end of treatment [EOT], primary endpoint) and at 9 and 12 months (follow-up) were measured, together with adverse events and the acceptability of the formulations. Smear conversion rates for 4-FDC and ST at EOT were 80.4% (468/582 patients) vs. 82.7% (477/577) in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population, and 98.1% (404/412) vs. 98.6% (416/422) in the per-protocol (PP) subgroup. Non-inferiority of 4-FDC was demonstrated at month 2, EOT and follow-up in both the ITT and the PP populations. Overall numbers of adverse events were not significantly different between the groups. The efficacy of the 4-FDC regimen was non-inferior to that of the ST regimens, but patient acceptability significantly improved with 4-FDC.

  20. Development of floor smear sampler (floor radioactive contamination measuring instrument) for nuclear facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyagawa, Minoru; Ito, Haruo; Nozawa, Katsuro; Shinohara, Yotaro; Hashimoto, Hiroshi.

    1980-01-01

    The control of the floor contamination with radioactive substances in nuclear facilities is strictly carried out by smear method, in which the contaminants on floor surfaces are wiped off with filter papers or cloths, and the contamination density on the floor surfaces is measured through their intensity of radioactivity. This wiping work is laborious since it is carried out in leaning-over posture when many samples must be taken in wide floor area. Therefore, to achieve labor saving in this work, an automatic sampler was developed. In the floor smear sampler developed, samples are taken on long band type wiping cloths only by handle operation, and the sample numbers are printed. When many samples are taken in wide floor area, this is especially effective, and the labor saving by 1/3 to 1/2 can be achieved. At present, this sampler is put in practical use in Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station. At the time of trial manufacture, the method of wiping, the mechanisms of wiping, cloth feeding and running, the contact pressure and the number of times of wiping affecting wiping efficiency and the required torque of a motor were examined. The developed sampler is that of constant contact pressure, vibration wiping type, and the rate of sampling is 10 sec per one sample. 100 samples can be taken on one roll of wiping cloth. The results of performance test are reported. (Kako, I.)

  1. Diagnosis of hemoparasitosis trough the spread-smear technique using a drop of blood clot

    OpenAIRE

    Neusa Saltiél Stobbe; Eunice Leonora Chaplin; Maria das Graças de Souza Paiva; Nilton Rogério Santos Silva; Flávio A. Pacheco Araújo; Elinor Fortes

    1992-01-01

    The spread-smear technique using a drop of blood clot and stained by diluted and undimitcd Giemsa stain was evaluated for the search of blood cell types and recognition of Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina and Anaplasma marginale hemoparasites. The blood clot samples were taken from a 6 month-old calf experimentally inoculated with the blood from a Cattle Tick Fever carrier. The Technique was sumitable for the observation of different blood cells and for the recognition of the hemoparasites.

  2. Diagnosing multibacillary leprosy: A comparative evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of slit-skin smear, bacterial index of granuloma and WHO operational classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bhushan Premanshu

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: In view of the relatively poor performance of skin smears WHO adopted a purely clinical operational classification, however the poor specificity of operational classification leads to overdiagnosis and unwarranted overtreatment while the poor sensitivity leads to underdiagnosis of multibacillary (MB cases with inadequate treatment. Bacilli are more frequently and abundantly demonstrated in tissue sections. Aims and Methods: We compared WHO classification, slit-skin smears (SSS and demonstration of bacilli in biopsies (bacterial index of granuloma or BIG with regards to their efficacy in correctly identifying multibacillary cases. The tests were done on 141 patients and were evaluated for their ability to diagnose true MB leprosy using detailed statistical analysis. Results: A total of 76 patients were truly MB with either positive smears, BIG positivity or with a typical histology of BB, BL or LL. Amongst these 76 true-MB patients, WHO operational classification correctly identified multibacillary status in 56 (73.68%, and SSS in 43 (56.58%, while BIG correctly identified 65 (85.53% true-MB cases. Conclusion: BIG was most sensitive and effective of the three methods especially in paucilesional patients. We suggest adding estimation of bacterial index of granuloma in the diagnostic workup of paucilesional patients.

  3. Quantum correlations in multipartite quantum systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jafarizadeh, M. A.; Heshmati, A.; Karimi, N.; Yahyavi, M.

    2018-03-01

    Quantum entanglement is the most famous type of quantum correlation between elements of a quantum system that has a basic role in quantum communication protocols like quantum cryptography, teleportation and Bell inequality detection. However, it has already been shown that various applications in quantum information theory do not require entanglement. Quantum discord as a new kind of quantum correlations beyond entanglement, is the most popular candidate for general quantum correlations. In this paper, first we find the entanglement witness in a particular multipartite quantum system which consists of a N-partite system in 2 n -dimensional space. Then we give an exact analytical formula for the quantum discord of this system. At the end of the paper, we investigate the additivity relation of the quantum correlation and show that this relation is satisfied for a N-partite system with 2 n -dimensional space.

  4. Renormalisation in Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Instantons and Quantum Chaos

    OpenAIRE

    Jirari, H.; Kröger, H.; Luo, X. Q.; Moriarty, K. J. M.

    2001-01-01

    We suggest how to construct non-perturbatively a renormalized action in quantum mechanics. We discuss similarties and differences with the standard effective action. We propose that the new quantum action is suitable to define and compute quantum instantons and quantum chaos.

  5. Nonlinear Dynamics In Quantum Physics -- Quantum Chaos and Quantum Instantons

    OpenAIRE

    Kröger, H.

    2003-01-01

    We discuss the recently proposed quantum action - its interpretation, its motivation, its mathematical properties and its use in physics: quantum mechanical tunneling, quantum instantons and quantum chaos.

  6. Aspects of quantum field theory in curved space-time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fulling, S.A.

    1989-01-01

    The theory of quantum fields on curved spacetimes has attracted great attention since the discovery, by Stephen Hawking, of black-hole evaporation. It remains an important subject for the understanding of such contemporary topics as inflationary cosmology, quantum gravity and superstring theory. The topics covered include normal-mode expansions for a general elliptic operator, Fock space, the Casimir effect, the Klein 'paradox', particle definition and particle creation in expanding universes, asymptotic expansion of Green's functions and heat kernels, and renormalization of the stress tensor. (author)

  7. Awareness and Practice of Cervical Smear as A Screening Procedure for Cervical Cancer among Female Nurses in A Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Imoh Unang

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available AIM: Carcinoma of the cervix, the second most common cancer among women remains a public health problem. Though this preventable cancer occurs more commonly in the developing world, it is almost non-existent in developed countries where there are well established screening programs. The aim of this study is to determine the degree of awareness and practice of cervical smear as a screening procedure for cervical cancer among female nurses in a tertiary health facility in south-south Nigeria. METHOD: Semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to all the female nurses at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. RESULTS: The ages of the respondents were between 21 - 60 years with the modal age group being 31- 40 years (48.9%. Majority of the respondents were married (59.7% and 36.4% of them had practiced nursing for over 10 years. Majority of the respondents (94.3% had heard of the cervical smear and 79.5% of the nurses knew that cervical smears were used to detect premalignant diseases of the cervix. Only 7.4% of the nurses had undergone screening for cervical cancer. Common reasons given by the respondents who had not screened were not being a candidate for cervical cancer (31.9% and ignorance as to where screening is done (28.8%. The most common sources of information about cervical smear were the hospital (87.5% and textbooks (13.6%. CONCLUSION: The level of awareness of the cervical smear as a preventive tool for cervical cancer was high but utilization of the test was disappointingly low. Modern concepts of cancer prevention and control should be included in the curriculum of the school of nursing and nurses should be involved in the organisation of health talks to members of the community on cervical cancer and its prevention. The print and electronic media should be made to participate in the dissemination of information on the prevention of cervical cancer in our environment. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2011; 10(6.000: 675-680

  8. Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing and Sequencing Combined with Acid-Fast Staining in Needle Biopsy Lung Tissues for the Diagnosis of Smear-Negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Faming; Huang, Weiwei; Wang, Ye; Tian, Panwen; Chen, Xuerong; Liang, Zongan

    2016-01-01

    Smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is common and difficult to diagnose. In this study, we investigated the diagnostic value of nucleic acid amplification testing and sequencing combined with acid-fast bacteria (AFB) staining of needle biopsy lung tissues for patients with suspected smear-negative PTB. Patients with suspected smear-negative PTB who underwent percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy between May 1, 2012, and June 30, 2015, were enrolled in this retrospective study. Patients with AFB in sputum smears were excluded. All lung biopsy specimens were fixed in formalin, embedded in paraffin, and subjected to acid-fast staining and tuberculous polymerase chain reaction (TB-PCR). For patients with positive AFB and negative TB-PCR results in lung tissues, probe assays and 16S rRNA sequencing were used for identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic accuracy of PCR and AFB staining were calculated separately and in combination. Among the 220 eligible patients, 133 were diagnosed with TB (men/women: 76/57; age range: 17-80 years, confirmed TB: 9, probable TB: 124). Forty-eight patients who were diagnosed with other specific diseases were assigned as negative controls, and 39 patients with indeterminate final diagnosis were excluded from statistical analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of histological AFB (HAFB) for the diagnosis of smear-negative were 61.7% (82/133), 100% (48/48), 100% (82/82), 48.5% (48/181), and 71.8% (130/181), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of histological PCR were 89.5% (119/133), 95.8% (46/48), 98.3% (119/121), and 76.7% (46/60), respectively, demonstrating that histological PCR had significantly higher accuracy (91.2% [165/181]) than histological acid-fast staining (71.8% [130/181]), P pulmonary tuberculosis. For patients with positive histological AFB and

  9. Quantum dynamics of quantum bits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, Bich Ha

    2011-01-01

    The theory of coherent oscillations of the matrix elements of the density matrix of the two-state system as a quantum bit is presented. Different calculation methods are elaborated in the case of a free quantum bit. Then the most appropriate methods are applied to the study of the density matrices of the quantum bits interacting with a classical pumping radiation field as well as with the quantum electromagnetic field in a single-mode microcavity. The theory of decoherence of a quantum bit in Markovian approximation is presented. The decoherence of a quantum bit interacting with monoenergetic photons in a microcavity is also discussed. The content of the present work can be considered as an introduction to the study of the quantum dynamics of quantum bits. (review)

  10. Quantum symmetry in quantum theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schomerus, V.

    1993-02-01

    Symmetry concepts have always been of great importance for physical problems like explicit calculations, classification or model building. More recently, new 'quantum symmetries' ((quasi) quantum groups) attracted much interest in quantum theory. It is shown that all these quantum symmetries permit a conventional formulation as symmetry in quantum mechanics. Symmetry transformations can act on the Hilbert space H of physical states such that the ground state is invariant and field operators transform covariantly. Models show that one must allow for 'truncation' in the tensor product of representations of a quantum symmetry. This means that the dimension of the tensor product of two representations of dimension σ 1 and σ 2 may be strictly smaller than σ 1 σ 2 . Consistency of the transformation law of field operators local braid relations leads us to expect, that (weak) quasi quantum groups are the most general symmetries in local quantum theory. The elements of the R-matrix which appears in these local braid relations turn out to be operators on H in general. It will be explained in detail how examples of field algebras with weak quasi quantum group symmetry can be obtained. Given a set of observable field with a finite number of superselection sectors, a quantum symmetry together with a complete set of covariant field operators which obey local braid relations are constructed. A covariant transformation law for adjoint fields is not automatic but will follow when the existence of an appropriate antipode is assumed. At the example of the chiral critical Ising model, non-uniqueness of the quantum symmetry will be demonstrated. Generalized quantum symmetries yield examples of gauge symmetries in non-commutative geometry. Quasi-quantum planes are introduced as the simplest examples of quasi-associative differential geometry. (Weak) quasi quantum groups can act on them by generalized derivations much as quantum groups do in non-commutative (differential-) geometry

  11. Quantum information. Teleportation - cryptography - quantum computer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koenneker, Carsten

    2012-01-01

    The following topics are dealt with: Reality in the test facility, quantum teleportation, the reality of quanta, interaction-free quantum measurement, rules for quantum computers, quantum computers with ions, spintronics with diamond, the limits of the quantum computers, a view in the future of quantum optics. (HSI)

  12. Effects of a food supplement rich in arginine in patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis--a randomised trial

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schön, T; Idh, J; Westman, A

    2011-01-01

    In tuberculosis (TB), the production of nitric oxide (NO) is confirmed but its importance in host defense is debated. Our aim was to investigate whether a food supplement rich in arginine could enhance clinical improvement in TB patients by increased NO production. Smear positive TB patients from...

  13. Simplified Pan-species Real-time PCR-based Detection of Plasmodium Spp. in Blood Smear.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanpour, Gholamreza; Mirhendi, Hossein; Mohebali, Mehdi; Raeisi, Ahmad; Zeraati, Hojjat; Keshavarz, Hossein

    2016-01-01

    We aimed to quicken and simplify the detection of Plasmodium in blood samples by developing and testing a pan- Plasmodium real-time PCR for accurate screening of individuals suspected of malaria. A single primer/probe set for pan-species Plasmodium -specific real time PCR targeting a conserved region of the small subunit 18S ribosomal DNA was designed and evaluated for rapid diagnosis and screening of malaria infections using dried blood smears. FTA cards were used for rapid and simple DNA extraction. The primers and probes showed a positive response with the DNA extracted from bloods infected with P. falciparum and P. vivax but not with DNA extracted from various smears from uninfected blood samples. Seven positive cases positive by both microscopy and nested PCR were found among 280 blood samples taken from in South and Southeast Iran. Five samples were identified as positive for P. vivax and two as positive for P. falciparum . All positive samples were positive by real-time PCR. Furthermore, all 38-blood samples positive by microscopy were positive by real-time PCR. No microscopy-negative samples were positive by real-time PCR. By using a simple FTA card for DNA extraction and by application of the real-time PCR developed in this study, sensitivity similar to nested-PCR and microscopy was achieved. This format simplifies the detection of Plasmodium in large numbers of samples.

  14. Quantumness-generating capability of quantum dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Nan; Luo, Shunlong; Mao, Yuanyuan

    2018-04-01

    We study quantumness-generating capability of quantum dynamics, where quantumness refers to the noncommutativity between the initial state and the evolving state. In terms of the commutator of the square roots of the initial state and the evolving state, we define a measure to quantify the quantumness-generating capability of quantum dynamics with respect to initial states. Quantumness-generating capability is absent in classical dynamics and hence is a fundamental characteristic of quantum dynamics. For qubit systems, we present an analytical form for this measure, by virtue of which we analyze several prototypical dynamics such as unitary dynamics, phase damping dynamics, amplitude damping dynamics, and random unitary dynamics (Pauli channels). Necessary and sufficient conditions for the monotonicity of quantumness-generating capability are also identified. Finally, we compare these conditions for the monotonicity of quantumness-generating capability with those for various Markovianities and illustrate that quantumness-generating capability and quantum Markovianity are closely related, although they capture different aspects of quantum dynamics.

  15. Mesoscopic Elastic Distortions in GaAs Quantum Dot Heterostructures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pateras, Anastasios; Park, Joonkyu; Ahn, Youngjun; Tilka, Jack A; Holt, Martin V; Reichl, Christian; Wegscheider, Werner; Baart, Timothy A; Dehollain, Juan Pablo; Mukhopadhyay, Uditendu; Vandersypen, Lieven M K; Evans, Paul G

    2018-05-09

    Quantum devices formed in high-electron-mobility semiconductor heterostructures provide a route through which quantum mechanical effects can be exploited on length scales accessible to lithography and integrated electronics. The electrostatic definition of quantum dots in semiconductor heterostructure devices intrinsically involves the lithographic fabrication of intricate patterns of metallic electrodes. The formation of metal/semiconductor interfaces, growth processes associated with polycrystalline metallic layers, and differential thermal expansion produce elastic distortion in the active areas of quantum devices. Understanding and controlling these distortions present a significant challenge in quantum device development. We report synchrotron X-ray nanodiffraction measurements combined with dynamical X-ray diffraction modeling that reveal lattice tilts with a depth-averaged value up to 0.04° and strain on the order of 10 -4 in the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. Elastic distortions in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures modify the potential energy landscape in the 2DEG due to the generation of a deformation potential and an electric field through the piezoelectric effect. The stress induced by metal electrodes directly impacts the ability to control the positions of the potential minima where quantum dots form and the coupling between neighboring quantum dots.

  16. A Comparative SEM Investigation of Smear Layer Remaining on Dentinal Walls by Three Rotary NiTi Files with Different Cross Sectional Designs in Moderately Curved Canals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kakkar, Pooja; Vats, Asit

    2015-01-01

    Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the smear layer formed on root canal walls during canal preparation of extracted human teeth by Twisted, Mtwo, and ProTaper rotary nickel titanium instruments. Materials and Methods: Sixty single rooted human premolar teeth with root curvature rotary nickel titanium instruments were used, Twisted (SybronEndo, Orange, CA, USA), Mtwo (VDW, Munich, Germany) and ProTaper (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) according to manufacturer’s instructions to instrument the root canals. Irrigation for all groups was performed after each instrument change with 3ml of 3% sodium hypochlorite followed by Glyde (File Prep, Dentsply, Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) as chelator paste and lubricant. Three different areas (coronal, middle and apical thirds) of the root canal were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The canal wall of each sample was assessed and compared using a predefined scale for the presence or absence of smear layer. Data were analysed statistically using ANOVA and Tukey HSD test Results: All three groups showed statistically significant more smear layer in the apical thirds of the canal as compared to the coronal and middle thirds (protary file system produced significantly less smear layer (protary instruments in the apical portion. Twisted Files resulted in less smear layer formation in the apical thirds of the canal compared to ProTaper rotary instruments but were statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Completely clean root canals were not found after instrumentation with any of the three instruments. Under the confines of this study Mtwo instruments produced significantly cleaner dentin wall surfaces throughout the canal length in comparison to Twisted and ProTaper rotary files. Twisted Files proved to be comparable to ProTaper rotary instruments with respect to canal cleanliness in the apical thirds of the root canal. PMID:25954704

  17. qPCR detection of Mycobacterium leprae in biopsies and slit skin smear of different leprosy clinical forms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle de Campos Soriani Azevedo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Leprosy, whose etiological agent is Mycobacterium leprae, is a chronic infectious disease that mainly affects the skin and peripheral nervous system. The diagnosis of leprosy is based on clinical evaluation, whereas histopathological analysis and bacilloscopy are complementary diagnostic tools. Quantitative PCR (qPCR, a current useful tool for diagnosis of infectious diseases, has been used to detect several pathogens including Mycobacterium leprae. The validation of this technique in a robust set of samples comprising the different clinical forms of leprosy is still necessary. Thus, in this study samples from 126 skin biopsies (collected from patients on all clinical forms and reactional states of leprosy and 25 slit skin smear of leprosy patients were comparatively analyzed by qPCR (performed with primers for the RLEP region of M. leprae DNA and routine bacilloscopy performed in histological sections or in slit skin smear. Considering clinical diagnostic as the gold standard, 84.9% of the leprosy patients were qPCR positive in skin biopsies, resulting in 84.92% sensitivity, with 84.92 and 61.22% positive (PPV and negative (NPV predictive values, respectively. Concerning bacilloscopy of histological sections (BI/H, the sensitivity was 80.15% and the PPV and NPV were 80.15 and 44.44%, respectively. The concordance between qPCR and BI/H was 87.30%. Regarding the slit skin smear, 84% of the samples tested positive in the qPCR. Additionally, qPCR showed 100% specificity, since all samples from different mycobacteria, from healthy individuals, and from other granulomatous diseases presented negative results. In conclusion, the qPCR technique for detection of M. leprae using RLEP primers proved to be specific and sensitive, and qPCR can be used as a complementary test to diagnose leprosy irrespective of the clinical form of disease.

  18. qPCR detection of Mycobacterium leprae in biopsies and slit skin smear of different leprosy clinical forms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azevedo, Michelle de Campos Soriani; Ramuno, Natália Mortari; Fachin, Luciana Raquel Vincenzi; Tassa, Mônica; Rosa, Patrícia Sammarco; Belone, Andrea de Faria Fernandes; Diório, Suzana Madeira; Soares, Cleverson Teixeira; Garlet, Gustavo Pompermaier; Trombone, Ana Paula Favaro

    Leprosy, whose etiological agent is Mycobacterium leprae, is a chronic infectious disease that mainly affects the skin and peripheral nervous system. The diagnosis of leprosy is based on clinical evaluation, whereas histopathological analysis and bacilloscopy are complementary diagnostic tools. Quantitative PCR (qPCR), a current useful tool for diagnosis of infectious diseases, has been used to detect several pathogens including Mycobacterium leprae. The validation of this technique in a robust set of samples comprising the different clinical forms of leprosy is still necessary. Thus, in this study samples from 126 skin biopsies (collected from patients on all clinical forms and reactional states of leprosy) and 25 slit skin smear of leprosy patients were comparatively analyzed by qPCR (performed with primers for the RLEP region of M. leprae DNA) and routine bacilloscopy performed in histological sections or in slit skin smear. Considering clinical diagnostic as the gold standard, 84.9% of the leprosy patients were qPCR positive in skin biopsies, resulting in 84.92% sensitivity, with 84.92 and 61.22% positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values, respectively. Concerning bacilloscopy of histological sections (BI/H), the sensitivity was 80.15% and the PPV and NPV were 80.15 and 44.44%, respectively. The concordance between qPCR and BI/H was 87.30%. Regarding the slit skin smear, 84% of the samples tested positive in the qPCR. Additionally, qPCR showed 100% specificity, since all samples from different mycobacteria, from healthy individuals, and from other granulomatous diseases presented negative results. In conclusion, the qPCR technique for detection of M. leprae using RLEP primers proved to be specific and sensitive, and qPCR can be used as a complementary test to diagnose leprosy irrespective of the clinical form of disease. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  19. Quantum entanglement and quantum teleportation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shih, Y.H.

    2001-01-01

    One of the most surprising consequences of quantum mechanics is the entanglement of two or more distance particles. The ''ghost'' interference and the ''ghost'' image experiments demonstrated the astonishing nonlocal behavior of an entangled photon pair. Even though we still have questions in regard to fundamental issues of the entangled quantum systems, quantum entanglement has started to play important roles in quantum information and quantum computation. Quantum teleportation is one of the hot topics. We have demonstrated a quantum teleportation experiment recently. The experimental results proved the working principle of irreversibly teleporting an unknown arbitrary quantum state from one system to another distant system by disassembling into and then later reconstructing from purely classical information and nonclassical EPR correlations. The distinct feature of this experiment is that the complete set of Bell states can be distinguished in the Bell state measurement. Teleportation of a quantum state can thus occur with certainty in principle. (orig.)

  20. Quantum ensembles of quantum classifiers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuld, Maria; Petruccione, Francesco

    2018-02-09

    Quantum machine learning witnesses an increasing amount of quantum algorithms for data-driven decision making, a problem with potential applications ranging from automated image recognition to medical diagnosis. Many of those algorithms are implementations of quantum classifiers, or models for the classification of data inputs with a quantum computer. Following the success of collective decision making with ensembles in classical machine learning, this paper introduces the concept of quantum ensembles of quantum classifiers. Creating the ensemble corresponds to a state preparation routine, after which the quantum classifiers are evaluated in parallel and their combined decision is accessed by a single-qubit measurement. This framework naturally allows for exponentially large ensembles in which - similar to Bayesian learning - the individual classifiers do not have to be trained. As an example, we analyse an exponentially large quantum ensemble in which each classifier is weighed according to its performance in classifying the training data, leading to new results for quantum as well as classical machine learning.

  1. Quantum computer games: quantum minesweeper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Michal; Gordon, Goren

    2010-07-01

    The computer game of quantum minesweeper is introduced as a quantum extension of the well-known classical minesweeper. Its main objective is to teach the unique concepts of quantum mechanics in a fun way. Quantum minesweeper demonstrates the effects of superposition, entanglement and their non-local characteristics. While in the classical minesweeper the goal of the game is to discover all the mines laid out on a board without triggering them, in the quantum version there are several classical boards in superposition. The goal is to know the exact quantum state, i.e. the precise layout of all the mines in all the superposed classical boards. The player can perform three types of measurement: a classical measurement that probabilistically collapses the superposition; a quantum interaction-free measurement that can detect a mine without triggering it; and an entanglement measurement that provides non-local information. The application of the concepts taught by quantum minesweeper to one-way quantum computing are also presented.

  2. Proceedings of quantum field theory, quantum mechanics, and quantum optics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dodonov, V.V.; Man; ko, V.I.

    1991-01-01

    This book contains papers presented at the XVIII International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics held in Moscow on June 4-9, 1990. Topics covered include; applications of algebraic methods in quantum field theory, quantum mechanics, quantum optics, spectrum generating groups, quantum algebras, symmetries of equations, quantum physics, coherent states, group representations and space groups

  3. Electric-Field-Induced Energy Tuning of On-Demand Entangled-Photon Emission from Self-Assembled Quantum Dots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jiaxiang; Zallo, Eugenio; Höfer, Bianca; Chen, Yan; Keil, Robert; Zopf, Michael; Böttner, Stefan; Ding, Fei; Schmidt, Oliver G

    2017-01-11

    We explore a method to achieve electrical control over the energy of on-demand entangled-photon emission from self-assembled quantum dots (QDs). The device used in our work consists of an electrically tunable diode-like membrane integrated onto a piezoactuator, which is capable of exerting a uniaxial stress on QDs. We theoretically reveal that, through application of the quantum-confined Stark effect to QDs by a vertical electric field, the critical uniaxial stress used to eliminate the fine structure splitting of QDs can be linearly tuned. This feature allows experimental realization of a triggered source of energy-tunable entangled-photon emission. Our demonstration represents an important step toward realization of a solid-state quantum repeater using indistinguishable entangled photons in Bell state measurements.

  4. Local Risk Factors in Genital Human Papilloma Virus Infection in Cervical Smears

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ojiyi, EC; Dike, IE; Okeudo, C; Ejikem, C; Nzewuihe, AC; Agbata, A

    2013-01-01

    Background: Infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer, but the local risk factors have not been sufficiently assessed. Aim: The study is aimed at determining the prevalence and to evaluate the local risk factors of HPV infection in cervical smears at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu, Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: The participants involved 445 randomly selected sexually active women attending the antenatal, postnatal, gynecology and family planning clinics in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the university between April 2004 and May 2012. A questionnaire assessing various socio-demographic characteristics of the participants was administered. The pap smears of the participants were examined microscopically for evidence of HPV infection. The SPSS version 17.0 (Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used to compute and analyze the results. The results were presented in tables as simple percentages. Tests of significance using the Chi-square and fisher exact tests were applied where appropriate. Results: The prevalence rate of HPV was 10.3%. The peak age-specific prevalence of 11.7% occurred in the 15-19 years age group. There were significant associations between the occurrence of HPV and multiple sexual partners, coital frequency, multiparity, contraceptive use, marital status, low socio-economic status, abnormal vaginal discharge, irregular menstruation, post-coital and post-menopausal bleeding, (P < 0.05). Conclusion: All sexually active women including teenagers should be screened for cervical HPV infection in an organized systematic program equipped with a good call and recall system. There is, therefore, a need to move emphasis from the current practice of opportunistic screening to a systematic screening of the whole population at risk despite cost implications. PMID:24380003

  5. A New Nano-Chitosan Irrigant with Superior Smear Layer Removal and Penetration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Kassaee

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Our primary objective was to measure root canal penetrations of aqueous antibacterial nano-chitosan (Nano-CS, for the first time. The second objective was to compare and contrast such penetrations to those of chitosan (CS itself, as well as sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl, chlorhexidine (CHX and ethylenediamintetraacetic acid (EDTA, at the routinely used concentrations. Molar roots were split longitudinally by a rotary diamond saw. Nano-CS was made by dissolving CS in acetic acid and adding tripolyphosphate (TPP, followed by a freeze-drying process. Dentin penetrations are estimated through measurements of sessile contact angles. Penetrations of the probed irrigants were assessed as inverse functions of their sessile contact angles. Accordingly, all Nano-CS solutions showed smaller sessile angles compared to those of NaOCl, CS, and EDTA samples. Hence, Nano-CS appeared to be a superior irrigant for demonstrating a higher penetration than the latter three. It fell only behind CHX, yet, the superb chelating ability of Nano-CS enabled it to remove smear layer to a larger extend than all of our other irrigants including CHX. Nano-CS could be considered as a new irrigant. Higher penetration was its main advantage over CS, and commercial NaOCl, and EDTA. This was verified by  the smaller sessile contact angle of Nano-CS. Anticipated chelating effect of Nano-CS could anchor more efficient removal of smear layer. This was another advantage of Nano-CS over other irrigants including CHX. Other advantages of Nano-CS included its reported biocompatibility, biodegradability and antibacterial effects. Commercialization of Nano-CS was deemed in the near horizon.

  6. Pap smear receipt among Vietnamese immigrants: the importance of health care factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Victoria M; Yasui, Yutaka; Nguyen, Tung T; Woodall, Erica; Do, H Hoai; Acorda, Elizabeth; Li, Lin; Choe, John; Jackson, J Carey

    2009-12-01

    Recent US data indicate that women of Vietnamese descent have higher cervical cancer incidence rates than women of any other race/ethnicity, and lower levels of Pap testing than white, black, and Latina women. Our objective was to provide information about Pap testing barriers and facilitators that could be used to develop cervical cancer control intervention programs for Vietnamese American women. We conducted a cross-sectional, community-based survey of Vietnamese immigrants. Our study was conducted in metropolitan Seattle, Washington, DC. A total of 1532 Vietnamese American women participated in the study. Demographic, health care, and knowledge/belief items associated with previous cervical cancer screening participation (ever screened and screened according to interval screening guidelines) were examined. Eighty-one percentage of the respondents had been screened for cervical cancer in the previous three years. Recent Pap testing was strongly associated (p<0.001) with having a regular doctor, having a physical in the last year, previous physician recommendation for testing, and having asked a physician for testing. Women whose regular doctor was a Vietnamese man were no more likely to have received a recent Pap smear than those with no regular doctor. Our findings indicate that cervical cancer screening disparities between Vietnamese and other racial/ethnic groups are decreasing. Efforts to further increase Pap smear receipt in Vietnamese American communities should enable women without a source of health care to find a regular provider. Additionally, intervention programs should improve patient-provider communication by encouraging health care providers (especially male Vietnamese physicians serving women living in ethnic enclaves) to recommend Pap testing, as well as by empowering Vietnamese women to specifically ask their physicians for Pap testing.

  7. Quantum control limited by quantum decoherence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xue, Fei; Sun, C. P.; Yu, S. X.

    2006-01-01

    We describe quantum controllability under the influences of the quantum decoherence induced by the quantum control itself. It is shown that, when the controller is considered as a quantum system, it will entangle with its controlled system and then cause quantum decoherence in the controlled system. In competition with this induced decoherence, the controllability will be limited by some uncertainty relation in a well-armed quantum control process. In association with the phase uncertainty and the standard quantum limit, a general model is studied to demonstrate the possibility of realizing a decoherence-free quantum control with a finite energy within a finite time. It is also shown that if the operations of quantum control are to be determined by the initial state of the controller, then due to the decoherence which results from the quantum control itself, there exists a low bound for quantum controllability

  8. Effect of tropical fruit juices on dentine permeability and erosive ability in removing the smear layer: An in vitro study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kanittha Kijsamanmith

    2016-06-01

    Conclusion: We conclude that tropical fruit juices, especially green mango and lime, increase dentine permeability and have a strong erosive ability to remove the smear layer, which causes dentine hypersensitivity.

  9. Quantum memory Quantum memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Gouët, Jean-Louis; Moiseev, Sergey

    2012-06-01

    Interaction of quantum radiation with multi-particle ensembles has sparked off intense research efforts during the past decade. Emblematic of this field is the quantum memory scheme, where a quantum state of light is mapped onto an ensemble of atoms and then recovered in its original shape. While opening new access to the basics of light-atom interaction, quantum memory also appears as a key element for information processing applications, such as linear optics quantum computation and long-distance quantum communication via quantum repeaters. Not surprisingly, it is far from trivial to practically recover a stored quantum state of light and, although impressive progress has already been accomplished, researchers are still struggling to reach this ambitious objective. This special issue provides an account of the state-of-the-art in a fast-moving research area that makes physicists, engineers and chemists work together at the forefront of their discipline, involving quantum fields and atoms in different media, magnetic resonance techniques and material science. Various strategies have been considered to store and retrieve quantum light. The explored designs belong to three main—while still overlapping—classes. In architectures derived from photon echo, information is mapped over the spectral components of inhomogeneously broadened absorption bands, such as those encountered in rare earth ion doped crystals and atomic gases in external gradient magnetic field. Protocols based on electromagnetic induced transparency also rely on resonant excitation and are ideally suited to the homogeneous absorption lines offered by laser cooled atomic clouds or ion Coulomb crystals. Finally off-resonance approaches are illustrated by Faraday and Raman processes. Coupling with an optical cavity may enhance the storage process, even for negligibly small atom number. Multiple scattering is also proposed as a way to enlarge the quantum interaction distance of light with matter. The

  10. Diagnosis of hemoparasitosis trough the spread-smear technique using a drop of blood clot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neusa Saltiél Stobbe

    1992-12-01

    Full Text Available The spread-smear technique using a drop of blood clot and stained by diluted and undimitcd Giemsa stain was evaluated for the search of blood cell types and recognition of Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina and Anaplasma marginale hemoparasites. The blood clot samples were taken from a 6 month-old calf experimentally inoculated with the blood from a Cattle Tick Fever carrier. The Technique was sumitable for the observation of different blood cells and for the recognition of the hemoparasites.

  11. From quantum coherence to quantum correlations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yuan; Mao, Yuanyuan; Luo, Shunlong

    2017-06-01

    In quantum mechanics, quantum coherence of a state relative to a quantum measurement can be identified with the quantumness that has to be destroyed by the measurement. In particular, quantum coherence of a bipartite state relative to a local quantum measurement encodes quantum correlations in the state. If one takes minimization with respect to the local measurements, then one is led to quantifiers which capture quantum correlations from the perspective of coherence. In this vein, quantum discord, which quantifies the minimal correlations that have to be destroyed by quantum measurements, can be identified as the minimal coherence, with the coherence measured by the relative entropy of coherence. To advocate and formulate this idea in a general context, we first review coherence relative to Lüders measurements which extends the notion of coherence relative to von Neumann measurements (or equivalently, orthonomal bases), and highlight the observation that quantum discord arises as minimal coherence through two prototypical examples. Then, we introduce some novel measures of quantum correlations in terms of coherence, illustrate them through examples, investigate their fundamental properties and implications, and indicate their applications to quantum metrology.

  12. Pap smears for men: a vision of the future?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Oon, S F

    2012-02-01

    BACKGROUND: Anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) rarely receives as much publicity as its neighbouring orifice, the cervix. As in the cervix, intraepithelial neoplasias are precursors to cancer in the anal canal. AIN and cervical interstitial neoplasia (CIN) undergo dysplasia as a consequence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Since the advent of screening with the Pap smear in CIN, cervical cancer has plummeted to a fifth of its initial incidence. Anal cancer, however, has been rising, with a predilection for human immunodeficiency virus-infected men. HPV causes a squamous epithelial dysplasia and converts healthy tissue into AINs of increasing severity until anal cancer manifests. CLINICAL CASE: This article describes a clinical case of anogenital HPV infection refractory to medical and surgical therapy. It also describes an effective surgical excision technique associated with a good cosmetic outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The paper concludes by briefly discussing the implications of a national screening programme against AIN in the future.

  13. Less medical intervention after sharp demarcation of grade 1-2 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia smears by neural network screening

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kok, MR; Boon, ME; Schreiner-Kok, PG; Hermans, J; Grobbee, DE; Kok, LP

    2001-01-01

    BACKGROUND. Neural network technology has been used for the daily screening of cervical smears in The Netherlands since 1992. The authors believe this method might have the potential to demarcate diagnoses of Grade 1-2 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 1-2). METHODS. Of 133,196 women who were

  14. Quantum Instantons and Quantum Chaos

    OpenAIRE

    Jirari, H.; Kröger, H.; Luo, X. Q.; Moriarty, K. J. M.; Rubin, S. G.

    1999-01-01

    Based on a closed form expression for the path integral of quantum transition amplitudes, we suggest rigorous definitions of both, quantum instantons and quantum chaos. As an example we compute the quantum instanton of the double well potential.

  15. Duality Quantum Information and Duality Quantum Communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, C. Y.; Wang, W. Y.; Wang, C.; Song, S. Y.; Long, G. L.

    2011-01-01

    Quantum mechanical systems exhibit particle wave duality property. This duality property has been exploited for information processing. A duality quantum computer is a quantum computer on the move and passing through a multi-slits. It offers quantum wave divider and quantum wave combiner operations in addition to those allowed in an ordinary quantum computer. It has been shown that all linear bounded operators can be realized in a duality quantum computer, and a duality quantum computer with n qubits and d-slits can be realized in an ordinary quantum computer with n qubits and a qudit in the so-called duality quantum computing mode. The quantum particle-wave duality can be used in providing secure communication. In this paper, we will review duality quantum computing and duality quantum key distribution.

  16. Quantum computers and quantum computations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valiev, Kamil' A

    2005-01-01

    This review outlines the principles of operation of quantum computers and their elements. The theory of ideal computers that do not interact with the environment and are immune to quantum decohering processes is presented. Decohering processes in quantum computers are investigated. The review considers methods for correcting quantum computing errors arising from the decoherence of the state of the quantum computer, as well as possible methods for the suppression of the decohering processes. A brief enumeration of proposed quantum computer realizations concludes the review. (reviews of topical problems)

  17. Tuned and Balanced Redistributed Charge Scheme for Combined Quantum Mechanical and Molecular Mechanical (QM/MM) Methods and Fragment Methods: Tuning Based on the CM5 Charge Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Bo; Truhlar, Donald G

    2013-02-12

    Tuned and balanced redistributed charge schemes have been developed for modeling the electrostatic fields of bonds that are cut by a quantum mechanical-molecular mechanical boundary in combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods. First, the charge is balanced by adjusting the charge on the MM boundary atom to conserve the total charge of the entire QM/MM system. In the balanced smeared redistributed charge (BSRC) scheme, the adjusted MM boundary charge is smeared with a smearing width of 1.0 Å and is distributed in equal portions to the midpoints of the bonds between the MM boundary atom and the MM atoms bonded to it; in the balanced redistributed charge-2 (BRC2) scheme, the adjusted MM boundary charge is distributed as point charges in equal portions to the MM atoms that are bonded to the MM boundary atom. The QM subsystem is capped by a fluorine atom that is tuned to reproduce the sum of partial atomic charges of the uncapped portion of the QM subsystem. The new aspect of the present study is a new way to carry out the tuning process; in particular, the CM5 charge model, rather than the Mulliken population analysis applied in previous studies, is used for tuning the capping atom that terminates the dangling bond of the QM region. The mean unsigned error (MUE) of the QM/MM deprotonation energy for a 15-system test suite of deprotonation reactions is 2.3 kcal/mol for the tuned BSRC scheme (TBSRC) and 2.4 kcal/mol for the tuned BRC2 scheme (TBRC2). As was the case for the original tuning method based on Mulliken charges, the new tuning method performs much better than using conventional hydrogen link atoms, which have an MUE on this test set of about 7 kcal/mol. However, the new scheme eliminates the need to use small basis sets, which can be problematic, and it allows one to be more consistent by tuning the parameters with whatever basis set is appropriate for applications. (Alternatively, since the tuning parameters and partial charges

  18. Aspects of quantum field theory in curved space-time

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fulling, S.A. (Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (USA). Dept. of Mathematics)

    1989-01-01

    The theory of quantum fields on curved spacetimes has attracted great attention since the discovery, by Stephen Hawking, of black-hole evaporation. It remains an important subject for the understanding of such contemporary topics as inflationary cosmology, quantum gravity and superstring theory. The topics covered include normal-mode expansions for a general elliptic operator, Fock space, the Casimir effect, the Klein 'paradox', particle definition and particle creation in expanding universes, asymptotic expansion of Green's functions and heat kernels, and renormalization of the stress tensor. (author).

  19. Diagnostic utility of melanin production by fungi: Study on tissue sections and culture smears with Masson-Fontana stain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Challa Sundaram

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Dematiaceous fungi appear brown in tissue section due to melanin in their cell walls. When the brown color is not seen on routine H and E and culture is not available, differentiation of dematiaceous fungi from other fungi is difficult on morphology alone. Aims and Objective: To study if melanin production by dematiaceous fungi can help differentiate them from other types of fungi. Materials and Methods: Fifty tissue sections of various fungal infections and 13 smears from cultures of different species of fungi were stained with Masson Fontana stain to assess melanin production. The tissue sections included biopsies from 26 culture-proven fungi and 24 biopsies of filamentous fungi diagnosed on morphology alone with no culture confirmation. Results: All culture-proven dematiaceous fungi and Zygomycetes showed strong positivity in sections and culture smears. Aspergillus sp showed variable positivity and intensity. Cryptococcus neoformans showed strong positivity in tissue sections and culture smears. Tissue sections of septate filamentous fungi (9/15, Zygomycetes (4/5, and fungi with both hyphal and yeast morphology (4/4 showed positivity for melanin. The septate filamentous fungi negative for melanin were from biopsy samples of fungal sinusitis including both allergic and invasive fungal sinusitis and colonizing fungal balls. Conclusion: Melanin is produced by both dematiaceous and non-dematiaceous fungi. Masson-Fontana stain cannot reliably differentiate dematiaceous fungi from other filamentous fungi like Aspergillus sp; however, absence of melanin in the hyphae may be used to rule out dematiaceous fungi from other filamentous fungi. In the differential diagnosis of yeast fungi, Cryptococcus sp can be differentiated from Candida sp by Masson-Fontana stain in tissue sections.

  20. Implementation of the Thin Layer Agar Method for Diagnosis of Smear-Negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Setting with a High Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Homa Bay, Kenya▿ †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Anandi; Munga Waweru, Peter; Babu Okatch, Fred; Amondi Ouma, Naureen; Bonte, Laurence; Varaine, Francis; Portaels, Françoise

    2009-01-01

    The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a low-cost method, the thin layer agar (TLA) method, for the diagnosis of smear-negative patients. This prospective study was performed in Homa Bay District Hospital in Kenya. Out of 1,584 smear-negative sputum samples, 212 (13.5%) were positive by culture in Löwenstein-Jensen medium (LJ) and 220 (14%) were positive by the TLA method. The sensitivities of LJ and TLA were 71% and 74%, respectively. TLA could become an affordable method for the diagnosis of smear-negative tuberculosis in resource-limited settings, with results available within 2 weeks. PMID:19494065

  1. Quantum Computation and Quantum Spin Dynamics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Raedt, Hans De; Michielsen, Kristel; Hams, Anthony; Miyashita, Seiji; Saito, Keiji

    2001-01-01

    We analyze the stability of quantum computations on physically realizable quantum computers by simulating quantum spin models representing quantum computer hardware. Examples of logically identical implementations of the controlled-NOT operation are used to demonstrate that the results of a quantum

  2. Stress tensor from the trace anomaly in Reissner-Nordstroem spacetimes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, Paul R.; Mottola, Emil; Vaulin, Ruslan

    2007-01-01

    The effective action associated with the trace anomaly provides a general algorithm for approximating the expectation value of the stress tensor of conformal matter fields in arbitrary curved spacetimes. In static, spherically symmetric spacetimes, the algorithm involves solving a fourth order linear differential equation in the radial coordinate r for the two scalar auxiliary fields appearing in the anomaly action, and its corresponding stress tensor. By appropriate choice of the homogeneous solutions of the auxiliary field equations, we show that it is possible to obtain finite stress tensors on all Reissner-Nordstroem event horizons, including the extreme Q=M case. We compare these finite results to previous analytic approximation methods, which yield invariably an infinite stress energy on charged black hole horizons, as well as with detailed numerical calculations that indicate the contrary. The approximation scheme based on the auxiliary field effective action reproduces all physically allowed behaviors of the quantum stress tensor, in a variety of quantum states, for fields of any spin, in the vicinity of the entire family (0≤Q≤M) of RN horizons

  3. What is quantum in quantum randomness?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grangier, P; Auffèves, A

    2018-07-13

    It is often said that quantum and classical randomness are of different nature, the former being ontological and the latter epistemological. However, so far the question of 'What is quantum in quantum randomness?', i.e. what is the impact of quantization and discreteness on the nature of randomness, remains to be answered. In a first part, we make explicit the differences between quantum and classical randomness within a recently proposed ontology for quantum mechanics based on contextual objectivity. In this view, quantum randomness is the result of contextuality and quantization. We show that this approach strongly impacts the purposes of quantum theory as well as its areas of application. In particular, it challenges current programmes inspired by classical reductionism, aiming at the emergence of the classical world from a large number of quantum systems. In a second part, we analyse quantum physics and thermodynamics as theories of randomness, unveiling their mutual influences. We finally consider new technological applications of quantum randomness that have opened up in the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  4. Prevalence of high-risk human papilloma virus types and cervical smear abnormalities in female sex workers in Chandigarh, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, M P; Kaur, M; Gupta, N; Kumar, A; Goyal, K; Sharma, A; Majumdar, M; Gupta, M; Ratho, R K

    2016-01-01

    Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in developing nations. Nearly 90% of the cases have been linked to the presence of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) types 16 and 18. The risk of cervical cancer may be high in female sex workers (FSWs) due to multiple sexual partners. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cytological abnormalities and hrHPV types 16 and 18 in FSWs in Chandigarh, North India using the liquid-based cytology (LBC) approach. The cervical brush samples were collected from 120 FSW and 98 age-matched healthy controls (HCs). These were subjected to pap smear using conventional method, LBC and the detection of hrHPV types 16 and 18 was carried out using polymerase chain reaction. The LBC samples showed better cytological details and also reduced the number of unsatisfactory smears from 11% in Pap to 1.5% in the LBC. A significantly higher number of inflammatory smears were reported in FSWs (51.7% vs. 34.7%, P = 0.01). The hrHPV types 16/18 were detected in 33/120 (27.5%) FSW versus 23/98 (23.5%) HCs. The risk of acquiring hrHPV was higher in FSWs, who had age at first sex ≤25 years, higher income and the habit of smoking. The high prevalence of hrHPV among FSWs and HCs suggests the need for the implementation of effective National Screening Programme for early detection of hrHPV types to decrease the burden of cervical cancer, especially in high-risk population.

  5. On the quantum mechanics of deep inelastic collisions between heavy ions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toledo Piza, A.F.R. de

    1981-06-01

    An overview of the quantum-mechanical foundations of the dynamical behaviour of deep inelastic collisions between heavy ions is given. The use of time dependent Hartree-Fock method is stressed. (L.C.) [pt

  6. Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing and Sequencing Combined with Acid-Fast Staining in Needle Biopsy Lung Tissues for the Diagnosis of Smear-Negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faming Jiang

    Full Text Available Smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB is common and difficult to diagnose. In this study, we investigated the diagnostic value of nucleic acid amplification testing and sequencing combined with acid-fast bacteria (AFB staining of needle biopsy lung tissues for patients with suspected smear-negative PTB.Patients with suspected smear-negative PTB who underwent percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy between May 1, 2012, and June 30, 2015, were enrolled in this retrospective study. Patients with AFB in sputum smears were excluded. All lung biopsy specimens were fixed in formalin, embedded in paraffin, and subjected to acid-fast staining and tuberculous polymerase chain reaction (TB-PCR. For patients with positive AFB and negative TB-PCR results in lung tissues, probe assays and 16S rRNA sequencing were used for identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV, negative predictive value (NPV, and diagnostic accuracy of PCR and AFB staining were calculated separately and in combination.Among the 220 eligible patients, 133 were diagnosed with TB (men/women: 76/57; age range: 17-80 years, confirmed TB: 9, probable TB: 124. Forty-eight patients who were diagnosed with other specific diseases were assigned as negative controls, and 39 patients with indeterminate final diagnosis were excluded from statistical analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of histological AFB (HAFB for the diagnosis of smear-negative were 61.7% (82/133, 100% (48/48, 100% (82/82, 48.5% (48/181, and 71.8% (130/181, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of histological PCR were 89.5% (119/133, 95.8% (46/48, 98.3% (119/121, and 76.7% (46/60, respectively, demonstrating that histological PCR had significantly higher accuracy (91.2% [165/181] than histological acid-fast staining (71.8% [130/181], P < 0.001. Parallel testing of histological AFB staining and PCR showed the

  7. Quantum robots and quantum computers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benioff, P.

    1998-07-01

    Validation of a presumably universal theory, such as quantum mechanics, requires a quantum mechanical description of systems that carry out theoretical calculations and systems that carry out experiments. The description of quantum computers is under active development. No description of systems to carry out experiments has been given. A small step in this direction is taken here by giving a description of quantum robots as mobile systems with on board quantum computers that interact with different environments. Some properties of these systems are discussed. A specific model based on the literature descriptions of quantum Turing machines is presented.

  8. Educational intervention on knowledge of cervical cancer and uptake of Pap smear test among market women in Niger State, Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gana, Godwin Jiya; Oche, Mansur O; Ango, Jessica Timane; Kaoje, Aminu Umar; Awosan, Kehinde Joseph; Raji, Ismail A

    2017-12-31

    Cervical cancer is the most common female genital tract carcinoma worldwide. It is increasingly becoming the leading carcinoma seen among women in the developing world. The aim of our study was to showcase the effect of educational intervention on the knowledge of cervical cancer and subsequently the uptake of Pap smear test amongst market women in Niger state, Nigeria. The state has a rich network of markets in all the local government areas because of the fishing activities, bountiful agricultural produce yearly and its situation to the North of the national capital, Abuja. This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in two groups with pre and post intervention data collection. Sample size was determined based on a previous similar study done in Nigeria. Multi stage sampling technique was used for recruiting the study participants. SPSS statistical software was used for data entry, editing and analysis. Respondents' knowledge of cervical cancer were comparable at pre-intervention but were statistically significantly better (P<0.0001) at post-intervention in the intervention group compared to the control group for every variable measured. However, there was only a (Fisher's exact, P=0.621) compared to the control group. This study showed an increase in knowledge about cervical cancer and Pap smear test however the uptake of Pap smear test remained low even after intervention. This underscores the need for sustained intervention programs to eventually translate knowledge acquired to habitual practice.

  9. [The frequency of sex chromatine occurring in cell nuclei of internal organs determined by the smear method (author's transl)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michailow, R

    1975-09-05

    The frequency of sex chromatine occurring in cell nuclei of twelve organs from 25 male and female corpses was determined using the smear method. It was found to be about 60% in the case of female, and about 6% in the case of male corpses.

  10. Quantum relativity theory and quantum space-time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banai, M.

    1984-01-01

    A quantum relativity theory formulated in terms of Davis' quantum relativity principle is outlined. The first task in this theory as in classical relativity theory is to model space-time, the arena of natural processes. It is shown that the quantum space-time models of Banai introduced in another paper is formulated in terms of Davis's quantum relativity. The recently proposed classical relativistic quantum theory of Prugovecki and his corresponding classical relativistic quantum model of space-time open the way to introduce, in a consistent way, the quantum space-time model (the quantum substitute of Minkowski space) of Banai proposed in the paper mentioned. The goal of quantum mechanics of quantum relativistic particles living in this model of space-time is to predict the rest mass system properties of classically relativistic (massive) quantum particles (''elementary particles''). The main new aspect of this quantum mechanics is that it provides a true mass eigenvalue problem, and that the excited mass states of quantum relativistic particles can be interpreted as elementary particles. The question of field theory over quantum relativistic model of space-time is also discussed. Finally it is suggested that ''quarks'' should be considered as quantum relativistic particles. (author)

  11. Use of Polyphosphate to Decrease Uranium Leaching in Hanford 300 Area Smear Zone Sediments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szecsody, James E.; Zhong, Lirong; Oostrom, Martinus; Vermeul, Vincent R.; Fruchter, Jonathan S.; Williams, Mark D.

    2012-09-30

    The primary objective of this study is to summarize the laboratory investigations performed to evaluate short- and long-term effects of phosphate treatment on uranium leaching from 300 area smear zone sediments. Column studies were used to compare uranium leaching in phosphate-treated to untreated sediments over a year with multiple stop flow events to evaluate longevity of the uranium leaching rate and mass. A secondary objective was to compare polyphosphate injection, polyphosphate/xanthan injection, and polyphosphate infiltration technologies that deliver phosphate to sediment.

  12. Quantum Correlations Evolution Asymmetry in Quantum Channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Meng; Huang Yun-Feng; Guo Guang-Can

    2017-01-01

    It was demonstrated that the entanglement evolution of a specially designed quantum state in the bistochastic channel is asymmetric. In this work, we generalize the study of the quantum correlations, including entanglement and quantum discord, evolution asymmetry to various quantum channels. We found that the asymmetry of entanglement and quantum discord only occurs in some special quantum channels, and the behavior of the entanglement evolution may be quite different from the behavior of the quantum discord evolution. To quantum entanglement, in some channels it decreases monotonously with the increase of the quantum channel intensity. In some other channels, when we increase the intensity of the quantum channel, it decreases at first, then keeps zero for some time, and then rises up. To quantum discord, the evolution becomes more complex and you may find that it evolutes unsmoothly at some points. These results illustrate the strong dependence of the quantum correlations evolution on the property of the quantum channels. (paper)

  13. Quantum Secure Dialogue with Quantum Encryption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ye Tian-Yu

    2014-01-01

    How to solve the information leakage problem has become the research focus of quantum dialogue. In this paper, in order to overcome the information leakage problem in quantum dialogue, a novel approach for sharing the initial quantum state privately between communicators, i.e., quantum encryption sharing, is proposed by utilizing the idea of quantum encryption. The proposed protocol uses EPR pairs as the private quantum key to encrypt and decrypt the traveling photons, which can be repeatedly used after rotation. Due to quantum encryption sharing, the public announcement on the state of the initial quantum state is omitted, thus the information leakage problem is overcome. The information-theoretical efficiency of the proposed protocol is nearly 100%, much higher than previous information leakage resistant quantum dialogue protocols. Moreover, the proposed protocol only needs single-photon measurements and nearly uses single photons as quantum resource so that it is convenient to implement in practice. (general)

  14. Quantum group and quantum symmetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang Zhe.

    1994-05-01

    This is a self-contained review on the theory of quantum group and its applications to modern physics. A brief introduction is given to the Yang-Baxter equation in integrable quantum field theory and lattice statistical physics. The quantum group is primarily introduced as a systematic method for solving the Yang-Baxter equation. Quantum group theory is presented within the framework of quantum double through quantizing Lie bi-algebra. Both the highest weight and the cyclic representations are investigated for the quantum group and emphasis is laid on the new features of representations for q being a root of unity. Quantum symmetries are explored in selected topics of modern physics. For a Hamiltonian system the quantum symmetry is an enlarged symmetry that maintains invariance of equations of motion and allows a deformation of the Hamiltonian and symplectic form. The configuration space of the integrable lattice model is analyzed in terms of the representation theory of quantum group. By means of constructing the Young operators of quantum group, the Schroedinger equation of the model is transformed to be a set of coupled linear equations that can be solved by the standard method. Quantum symmetry of the minimal model and the WZNW model in conformal field theory is a hidden symmetry expressed in terms of screened vertex operators, and has a deep interplay with the Virasoro algebra. In quantum group approach a complete description for vibrating and rotating diatomic molecules is given. The exact selection rules and wave functions are obtained. The Taylor expansion of the analytic formulas of the approach reproduces the famous Dunham expansion. (author). 133 refs, 20 figs

  15. Local effects of the quantum vacuum in Lorentz-violating electrodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martín-Ruiz, A.; Escobar, C. A.

    2017-02-01

    The Casimir effect is one of the most remarkable consequences of the nonzero vacuum energy predicted by quantum field theory. In this paper we use a local approach to study the Lorentz violation effects of the minimal standard model extension on the Casimir force between two parallel conducting plates in the vacuum. Using a perturbative method similar to that used for obtaining the Born series for the scattering amplitudes in quantum mechanics, we compute, at leading order in the Lorentz-violating coefficients, the relevant Green's function which satisfies given boundary conditions. The standard point-splitting technique allow us to express the vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor in terms of the Green's function. We discuss its structure in the region between the plates. We compute the renormalized vacuum stress, which is obtained as the difference between the vacuum stress in the presence of the plates and that of the vacuum. The Casimir force is evaluated in an analytical fashion by two methods: by differentiating the renormalized global energy density and by computing the normal-normal component of the renormalized vacuum stress. We compute the local Casimir energy, which is found to diverge as approaching the plates, and we demonstrate that it does not contribute to the observable force.

  16. Boundaries immersed in a scalar quantum field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Actor, A.A.; Bender, I.

    1996-01-01

    We study the interaction between a scalar quantum field φ(x), and many different boundary configurations constructed from (parallel and orthogonal) thin planar surfaces on which φ(x) is constrained to vanish, or to satisfy Neumann conditions. For most of these boundaries the Casimir problem has not previously been investigated. We calculate the canonical and improved vacuum stress tensors left angle T μv (x) right angle and left angle direct difference μv (x) right angle of φ(x) for each example. From these we obtain the local Casimir forces on all boundary planes. For massless fields, both vacuum stress tensors yield identical attractive local Casimir forces in all Dirichlet examples considered. This desirable outcome is not a priori obvious, given the quite different features of left angle T μv (x) right angle and left angle direct difference μv (x) right angle. For Neumann conditions, left angle T μv (x) right angle and left angle direct difference μv (x) right angle lead to attractive Casimir stresses which are not always the same. We also consider Dirichlet and Neumann boundaries immersed in a common scalar quantum field, and find that these repel. The extensive catalogue of worked examples presented here belongs to a large class of completely solvable Casimir problems. Casimir forces previously unknown are predicted, among them ones which might be measurable. (orig.)

  17. Electron and hole spectrum in InAs quantum dot renormalized by InAs/GaAs heterostructure deformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dan'kiv, O.O.; Peleshchak, R.M.

    2005-01-01

    Analytical expressions describing the energy spectrum of electrons and holes are obtained for a quantum dot occurring in a self-consistent strain field created by an array of coherently stressed quantum dots. A method of taking into account the lattice mismatch at the quantum dot-matrix interface is proposed that allows for the dependence of the mismatch parameter on the quantum dot size and the matrix layer thickness. It is shown that the internal elastic strain arising at the quantum dot-matrix interface influences the energy spectrum of electrons more significantly than the spectrum of holes [ru

  18. Quantum Computer Games: Quantum Minesweeper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Michal; Gordon, Goren

    2010-01-01

    The computer game of quantum minesweeper is introduced as a quantum extension of the well-known classical minesweeper. Its main objective is to teach the unique concepts of quantum mechanics in a fun way. Quantum minesweeper demonstrates the effects of superposition, entanglement and their non-local characteristics. While in the classical…

  19. Quantum Chess: Making Quantum Phenomena Accessible

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantwell, Christopher

    Quantum phenomena have remained largely inaccessible to the general public. There tends to be a scare factor associated with the word ``Quantum''. This is in large part due to the alien nature of phenomena such as superposition and entanglement. However, Quantum Computing is a very active area of research and one day we will have games that run on those quantum computers. Quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement will seem as normal as gravity. Is it possible to create such games today? Can we make games that are built on top of a realistic quantum simulation and introduce players of any background to quantum concepts in a fun and mentally stimulating way? One of the difficulties with any quantum simulation run on a classical computer is that the Hilbert space grows exponentially, making simulations of an appreciable size physically impossible due largely to memory restrictions. Here we will discuss the conception and development of Quantum Chess, and how to overcome some of the difficulties faced. We can then ask the question, ``What's next?'' What are some of the difficulties Quantum Chess still faces, and what is the future of quantum games?

  20. Quantum group gauge theory on quantum spaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brzezinski, T.; Majid, S.

    1993-01-01

    We construct quantum group-valued canonical connections on quantum homogeneous spaces, including a q-deformed Dirac monopole on the quantum sphere of Podles quantum differential coming from the 3-D calculus of Woronowicz on SU q (2). The construction is presented within the setting of a general theory of quantum principal bundles with quantum group (Hopf algebra) fiber, associated quantum vector bundles and connection one-forms. Both the base space (spacetime) and the total space are non-commutative algebras (quantum spaces). (orig.)

  1. Quantum signature scheme for known quantum messages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Taewan; Lee, Hyang-Sook

    2015-01-01

    When we want to sign a quantum message that we create, we can use arbitrated quantum signature schemes which are possible to sign for not only known quantum messages but also unknown quantum messages. However, since the arbitrated quantum signature schemes need the help of a trusted arbitrator in each verification of the signature, it is known that the schemes are not convenient in practical use. If we consider only known quantum messages such as the above situation, there can exist a quantum signature scheme with more efficient structure. In this paper, we present a new quantum signature scheme for known quantum messages without the help of an arbitrator. Differing from arbitrated quantum signature schemes based on the quantum one-time pad with the symmetric key, since our scheme is based on quantum public-key cryptosystems, the validity of the signature can be verified by a receiver without the help of an arbitrator. Moreover, we show that our scheme provides the functions of quantum message integrity, user authentication and non-repudiation of the origin as in digital signature schemes. (paper)

  2. Simplified Pan-species Real-time PCR-based Detection of Plasmodium Spp. in Blood Smear

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gholamreza HASSANPOUR

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: We aimed to quicken and simplify the detection of Plasmodium in blood samples by developing and testing a pan-Plasmodium real-time PCR for accurate screening of individuals suspected of malaria.Methods: A single primer/probe set for pan-species Plasmodium-specific real time PCR targeting a conserved region of the small subunit 18S ribosomal DNA was designed and evaluated for rapid diagnosis and screening of malaria infections using dried blood smears. FTA cards were used for rapid and simple DNA extraction.Results: The primers and probes showed a positive response with the DNA extracted from bloods infected with P. falciparum and P. vivax but not with DNA extracted from various smears from uninfected blood samples. Seven positive cases positive by both microscopy and nested PCR were found among 280 blood samples taken from in South and Southeast Iran. Five samples were identified as positive for P. vivax and two as positive for P. falciparum. All positive samples were positive by real-time PCR. Furthermore, all 38-blood samples positive by microscopy were positive by real-time PCR. No microscopy-negative samples were positive by real-time PCR.Conclusion: By using a simple FTA card for DNA extraction and by application of the real-time PCR developed in this study, sensitivity similar to nested-PCR and microscopy was achieved. This format simplifies the detection of Plasmodium in large numbers of samples.

  3. Expected number of quantum channels in quantum networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xi; Wang, He-Ming; Ji, Dan-Tong; Mu, Liang-Zhu; Fan, Heng

    2015-07-01

    Quantum communication between nodes in quantum networks plays an important role in quantum information processing. Here, we proposed the use of the expected number of quantum channels as a measure of the efficiency of quantum communication for quantum networks. This measure quantified the amount of quantum information that can be teleported between nodes in a quantum network, which differs from classical case in that the quantum channels will be consumed if teleportation is performed. We further demonstrated that the expected number of quantum channels represents local correlations depicted by effective circles. Significantly, capacity of quantum communication of quantum networks quantified by ENQC is independent of distance for the communicating nodes, if the effective circles of communication nodes are not overlapped. The expected number of quantum channels can be enhanced through transformations of the lattice configurations of quantum networks via entanglement swapping. Our results can shed lights on the study of quantum communication in quantum networks.

  4. Blind Quantum Signature with Blind Quantum Computation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wei; Shi, Ronghua; Guo, Ying

    2017-04-01

    Blind quantum computation allows a client without quantum abilities to interact with a quantum server to perform a unconditional secure computing protocol, while protecting client's privacy. Motivated by confidentiality of blind quantum computation, a blind quantum signature scheme is designed with laconic structure. Different from the traditional signature schemes, the signing and verifying operations are performed through measurement-based quantum computation. Inputs of blind quantum computation are securely controlled with multi-qubit entangled states. The unique signature of the transmitted message is generated by the signer without leaking information in imperfect channels. Whereas, the receiver can verify the validity of the signature using the quantum matching algorithm. The security is guaranteed by entanglement of quantum system for blind quantum computation. It provides a potential practical application for e-commerce in the cloud computing and first-generation quantum computation.

  5. Quantum memory for images: A quantum hologram

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasilyev, Denis V.; Sokolov, Ivan V.; Polzik, Eugene S.

    2008-01-01

    Matter-light quantum interface and quantum memory for light are important ingredients of quantum information protocols, such as quantum networks, distributed quantum computation, etc. [P. Zoller et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 36, 203 (2005)]. In this paper we present a spatially multimode scheme for quantum memory for light, which we call a quantum hologram. Our approach uses a multiatom ensemble which has been shown to be efficient for a single spatial mode quantum memory. Due to the multiatom nature of the ensemble and to the optical parallelism it is capable of storing many spatial modes, a feature critical for the present proposal. A quantum hologram with the fidelity exceeding that of classical hologram will be able to store quantum features of an image, such as multimode superposition and entangled quantum states, something that a standard hologram is unable to achieve

  6. On the uncertainties in the shell correction by Strutinsky smearing procedure for certain shapes relevant in fission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramamurthy, V.S.; Prakash, M.; Kapoor, S.

    1976-01-01

    It is found that for level schemes obtained from a folded Yukawa potential, the Strutinsky smearing procedure for the evaluation of the shell correction to the total potential energy of nuclei does not lead to a unique value for nuclear shapes near and beyond the outer fission barrier deformations and consequently introduces uncertainties in the relative fission barrier heights. (author)

  7. Comments on conformal Killing vector fields and quantum field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, M.R.; Ottewill, A.C.; Siklos, S.T.C.

    1982-01-01

    We give a comprehensive analysis of those vacuums for flat and conformally flat space-times which can be defined by timelike, hypersurface-orthogonal, conformal Killing vector fields. We obtain formulas for the difference in stress-energy density between any two such states and display the correspondence with the renormalized stress tensors. A brief discussion is given of the relevance of these results to quantum-mechanical measurements made by noninertial observers moving through flat space

  8. Scattering theory using smeared non-Hermitian potentials

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Znojil, Miloslav

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 80, č. 4 (2009), 045009/1-045009/12 ISSN 1550-7998 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC06002; GA ČR GA202/07/1307 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10480505 Keywords : symmetric quantum-mechanics * pseudo-hermiticity * real spectrum Subject RIV: BE - Theoretical Physics Impact factor: 4.922, year: 2009

  9. Comparative Evaluation of Smear Layer and Debris on the Canal Walls prepared with a Combination of Hand and Rotary ProTaper Technique using Scanning Electron Microscope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiran, S; Prakash, Sandeep; Siddharth, Pujari R; Saha, Supradip; Geojan, Naiza E; Ramachandran, Mookambika

    2016-07-01

    The effect of smear layer and debris on the success rate of endodontic treatment has not yet been definitely determined. So the present study was aimed to evaluate the amount of smear layer and debris on the canal walls prepared with a combination of hand and rotary ProTaper technique using NaOCl and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) alternately as root canal irrigants using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Eighty intact freshly extracted human permanent mandibular premolar teeth were collected and randomly divided equally into four groups. In group I canals were prepared with hand K-Flexofiles; group II with rotary ProTaper instruments; group III with rotary ProTaper instruments and final instrumentation was done with hand K-Flexofile; group IV with rotary ProTaper instruments and final instrumentation was done with RC-Prep and irrigated with 1 mL of normal saline. In all groups canals were irrigated using NaOCl and EDTA alternately. After instrumentation, the teeth were prepared for SEM examination using five-score indices for debris and smear layer at coronal, middle, and apical third levels. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test (p hand files after automated rotary preparation could result in cleaner canal walls. Alternate irrigation with NaOCl and EDTA is effective in the removal of debris and smear layer in the coronal and middle level, but the effectiveness in the apical third is less.

  10. Quantum correlations and distinguishability of quantum states

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spehner, Dominique [Université Grenoble Alpes and CNRS, Institut Fourier, F-38000 Grenoble, France and Laboratoire de Physique et Modélisation des Milieux Condensés, F-38000 Grenoble (France)

    2014-07-15

    A survey of various concepts in quantum information is given, with a main emphasis on the distinguishability of quantum states and quantum correlations. Covered topics include generalized and least square measurements, state discrimination, quantum relative entropies, the Bures distance on the set of quantum states, the quantum Fisher information, the quantum Chernoff bound, bipartite entanglement, the quantum discord, and geometrical measures of quantum correlations. The article is intended both for physicists interested not only by collections of results but also by the mathematical methods justifying them, and for mathematicians looking for an up-to-date introductory course on these subjects, which are mainly developed in the physics literature.

  11. Quantum correlations and distinguishability of quantum states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spehner, Dominique

    2014-01-01

    A survey of various concepts in quantum information is given, with a main emphasis on the distinguishability of quantum states and quantum correlations. Covered topics include generalized and least square measurements, state discrimination, quantum relative entropies, the Bures distance on the set of quantum states, the quantum Fisher information, the quantum Chernoff bound, bipartite entanglement, the quantum discord, and geometrical measures of quantum correlations. The article is intended both for physicists interested not only by collections of results but also by the mathematical methods justifying them, and for mathematicians looking for an up-to-date introductory course on these subjects, which are mainly developed in the physics literature

  12. The Effect of an Educational Program Based on Protection Motivation Theory on Pap Smear Screening Behavior among Women Referring to Health Centers in Fasa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Khiyali

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Despite the importance of pap smear in reducing the incidence of cervical cancer and its death, this cancer is still one of the leading causes of death among women around the world. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to determine the effect of an educational program based on the protection motivation theory on Pap smear screening behavior. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 200 women referring to Fasa health centers, Fasa, Iran. The participants were randomized into experimental and control groups (n=100 per group. The data collection tool, which consisted of demographic data and protection motivation theory constructs, was completed by both groups before and 2 months after the intervention. For the experimental group, the educational program was implemented during 4 sessions using group discussions and educational pamphlets. To analyze the data, chi-square test, independent t-test, and paired t-test were run in SPSS, version 22. Results: After the intervention, the mean scores of protection motivation theory constructs significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.001. However, no significant difference was noted between the two groups regarding the response efficacy construct at the post-intervention stage (P=0.552. In addition, after the intervention, the rate of conducting Pap smear test significantly incremented in the experimental group (58%. Conclusions: The study results revealed the effectiveness of the educational intervention based on protection motivation theory in promoting Pap smear screening behavior. Therefore, we recommend designing educational interventions based on this theory to promote public health, especially in women.

  13. Myoepithelial Cells: Any role in aspiration cytology smears of breast tumors?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pattari Sanjib

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Aims and Objective To study the role of myoepithelial (ME cells in distinguishing benign, proliferative breast diseases (PBD and frank malignant breast lesions. Materials and methods In this study, histology proven 71 cases of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC of palpable breast lesions were selected. There were 30 invasive carcinomas (24 infiltrating duct carcinoma and 6 infiltrating lobular carcinoma, 25 cases of benign lesion (21 fibroadenomas and 4 fibrocystic lesions and 11 proliferative breast diseases (other than carcinoma in situ and five cases of carcinoma in situ. The number of ME cells were estimated in respect to 1000 ductal cells. In every case at least 20 high power fields (× 40 were studied. Quantitative estimation of ME cell was correlated with the final diagnosis. Corresponding histopathology cases were also evaluated for diagnostic confirmation along with the pattern of distribution of ME cells. The ME cells were also quantitated on histopathology sections on smooth muscle actin (SMA immunostained sections. Results The mean number of ME cells per 1000 ductal cells on cytology smears was 5.1 ± 5.5, 30.8 ± 25, 28.3 ± 20.2, and 38.4 ± 38.8 in malignant, carcinoma in situ, PBD and benign breast lesions respectively. The non parametric Mann Whitney test showed significant difference in number of the ME cells between benign and malignant groups (p .01. In SMA stained histopathology sections, ME cell in benign, PBD, carcinoma in situ and malignant cases were 741.12 ± 248, 238 ± 172, 121.6 ± 115 and 15.6 ± 25.1 respectively. Statistical analysis showed significantly different number of ME cell between benign versus PBD group, carcinoma in situ and malignant group. It was also significant between PBD versus malignant, and carcinoma in situ versus malignant (p Conclusion The number of ME cell in breast lesions may be helpful in distinguishing PBD versus invasive malignant tumors on FNAC smears. However it is not

  14. Perturbative determination of c{sub SW} with Symanzik improved gauge action and stout smearing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horsley, R. [Edinburgh Univ. (United Kingdom). School of Physics; Perlt, H.; Schiller, A. [Leipzig Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Rakow, P.E.L. [Liverpool Univ. (United Kingdom). Theoretical Physics Dept., Dept. of Mathematical Sciences; Schierholz, G. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

    2007-10-15

    We determine the improvement factor c{sub SW} in one-loop lattice perturbation theory for the plaquette and Symanzik improved gauge actions. The fermionic action is O(a) clover improved with one-time stout smearing. c{sub SW} is derived from the one-loop correction to the quark-quark-gluon vertex in the off-shell regime. We give a first numerical value for the one-loop contribution to the non gauge-invariant improvement coefficient c{sub NGI} for the quark field using the plaquette action. A discussion of mean field improvement is included. (orig.)

  15. Segmentation of touching mycobacterium tuberculosis from Ziehl-Neelsen stained sputum smear images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Chao; Zhou, Dongxiang; Liu, Yunhui

    2015-12-01

    Touching Mycobacterium tuberculosis objects in the Ziehl-Neelsen stained sputum smear images present different shapes and invisible boundaries in the adhesion areas, which increases the difficulty in objects recognition and counting. In this paper, we present a segmentation method of combining the hierarchy tree analysis with gradient vector flow snake to address this problem. The skeletons of the objects are used for structure analysis based on the hierarchy tree. The gradient vector flow snake is used to estimate the object edge. Experimental results show that the single objects composing the touching objects are successfully segmented by the proposed method. This work will improve the accuracy and practicability of the computer-aided diagnosis of tuberculosis.

  16. Bronchoscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with negative sputum smear microscopy results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacomelli, Márcia; Silva, Priscila Regina Alves Araújo; Rodrigues, Ascedio Jose; Demarzo, Sergio Eduardo; Seicento, Márcia; Figueiredo, Viviane Rossi

    2012-01-01

    To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of bronchoscopy in patients with clinical or radiological suspicion of tuberculosis who were unable to produce sputum or with negative sputum smear microscopy results. A prospective cross-sectional study involving 286 patients under clinical or radiological suspicion of having pulmonary tuberculosis and submitted to bronchoscopy-BAL and transbronchial biopsy (TBB). The BAL specimens were submitted to direct testing and culture for AFB and fungi, whereas the TBB specimens were submitted to histopathological examination. Of the 286 patients studied, 225 (79%) were diagnosed on the basis of bronchoscopic findings, as follows: pulmonary tuberculosis, in 127 (44%); nonspecific chronic inflammation, in 51 (18%); pneumocystis, fungal infections, or nocardiosis, in 20 (7%); bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia, alveolites, or pneumoconiosis, in 14 (5%); lung or metastatic neoplasms, in 7 (2%); and nontuberculous mycobacterium infections, in 6 (2%). For the diagnosis of tuberculosis, BAL showed a sensitivity and a specificity of 60% and 100%, respectively. Adding the TBB findings significantly increased this sensitivity (to 84%), as did adding the post-bronchoscopy sputum smear microscopy results (total sensitivity, 94%). Minor post-procedure complications occurred in 5.6% of the cases. Bronchoscopy is a reliable method for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, with low complication rates. The combination of TBB and BAL increases the sensitivity of the method and facilitates the differential diagnosis with other diseases.

  17. Quantum dynamics in open quantum-classical systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapral, Raymond

    2015-02-25

    Often quantum systems are not isolated and interactions with their environments must be taken into account. In such open quantum systems these environmental interactions can lead to decoherence and dissipation, which have a marked influence on the properties of the quantum system. In many instances the environment is well-approximated by classical mechanics, so that one is led to consider the dynamics of open quantum-classical systems. Since a full quantum dynamical description of large many-body systems is not currently feasible, mixed quantum-classical methods can provide accurate and computationally tractable ways to follow the dynamics of both the system and its environment. This review focuses on quantum-classical Liouville dynamics, one of several quantum-classical descriptions, and discusses the problems that arise when one attempts to combine quantum and classical mechanics, coherence and decoherence in quantum-classical systems, nonadiabatic dynamics, surface-hopping and mean-field theories and their relation to quantum-classical Liouville dynamics, as well as methods for simulating the dynamics.

  18. Quantum machine learning for quantum anomaly detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Nana; Rebentrost, Patrick

    2018-04-01

    Anomaly detection is used for identifying data that deviate from "normal" data patterns. Its usage on classical data finds diverse applications in many important areas such as finance, fraud detection, medical diagnoses, data cleaning, and surveillance. With the advent of quantum technologies, anomaly detection of quantum data, in the form of quantum states, may become an important component of quantum applications. Machine-learning algorithms are playing pivotal roles in anomaly detection using classical data. Two widely used algorithms are the kernel principal component analysis and the one-class support vector machine. We find corresponding quantum algorithms to detect anomalies in quantum states. We show that these two quantum algorithms can be performed using resources that are logarithmic in the dimensionality of quantum states. For pure quantum states, these resources can also be logarithmic in the number of quantum states used for training the machine-learning algorithm. This makes these algorithms potentially applicable to big quantum data applications.

  19. Quantum quincunx in cavity quantum electrodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanders, Barry C.; Bartlett, Stephen D.; Tregenna, Ben; Knight, Peter L.

    2003-01-01

    We introduce the quantum quincunx, which physically demonstrates the quantum walk and is analogous to Galton's quincunx for demonstrating the random walk by employing gravity to draw pellets through pegs on a board, thereby yielding a binomial distribution of final peg locations. In contradistinction to the theoretical studies of quantum walks over orthogonal lattice states, we introduce quantum walks over nonorthogonal lattice states (specifically, coherent states on a circle) to demonstrate that the key features of a quantum walk are observable albeit for strict parameter ranges. A quantum quincunx may be realized with current cavity quantum electrodynamics capabilities, and precise control over decoherence in such experiments allows a remarkable decrease in the position noise, or spread, with increasing decoherence

  20. Prevalence of high-risk human papilloma virus types and cervical smear abnormalities in female sex workers in Chandigarh, India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M P Singh

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in developing nations. Nearly 90% of the cases have been linked to the presence of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV types 16 and 18. The risk of cervical cancer may be high in female sex workers (FSWs due to multiple sexual partners. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cytological abnormalities and hrHPV types 16 and 18 in FSWs in Chandigarh, North India using the liquid-based cytology (LBC approach. Materials and Methods: The cervical brush samples were collected from 120 FSW and 98 age-matched healthy controls (HCs. These were subjected to pap smear using conventional method, LBC and the detection of hrHPV types 16 and 18 was carried out using polymerase chain reaction. Results: The LBC samples showed better cytological details and also reduced the number of unsatisfactory smears from 11% in Pap to 1.5% in the LBC. A significantly higher number of inflammatory smears were reported in FSWs (51.7% vs. 34.7%, P = 0.01. The hrHPV types 16/18 were detected in 33/120 (27.5% FSW versus 23/98 (23.5% HCs. The risk of acquiring hrHPV was higher in FSWs, who had age at first sex ≤25 years, higher income and the habit of smoking. Conclusion: The high prevalence of hrHPV among FSWs and HCs suggests the need for the implementation of effective National Screening Programme for early detection of hrHPV types to decrease the burden of cervical cancer, especially in high-risk population.

  1. Quantum conductance in silicon quantum wires

    CERN Document Server

    Bagraev, N T; Klyachkin, L E; Malyarenko, A M; Gehlhoff, W; Ivanov, V K; Shelykh, I A

    2002-01-01

    The results of investigations of electron and hole quantum conductance staircase in silicon quantum wires are presented. The characteristics of self-ordering quantum wells of n- and p-types, which from on the silicon (100) surface in the nonequilibrium boron diffusion process, are analyzed. The results of investigations of the quantum conductance as the function of temperature, carrier concentration and modulation degree of silicon quantum wires are given. It is found out, that the quantum conductance of the one-dimensional channels is observed, for the first time, at an elevated temperature (T >= 77 K)

  2. Quantum key distribution via quantum encryption

    CERN Document Server

    Yong Sheng Zhang; Guang Can Guo

    2001-01-01

    A quantum key distribution protocol based on quantum encryption is presented in this Brief Report. In this protocol, the previously shared Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs act as the quantum key to encode and decode the classical cryptography key. The quantum key is reusable and the eavesdropper cannot elicit any information from the particle Alice sends to Bob. The concept of quantum encryption is also discussed. (21 refs).

  3. On understanding crosstalk in the face of small, quantized, signals highly smeared by Poisson statistics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lincoln, D.; Hsieh, F.; Li, H.

    1995-01-01

    As detectors become smaller and more densely packed, signals become smaller and crosstalk between adjacent channels generally increases. Since it is often appropriate to use the distribution of signals in adjacent channels to make a useful measurement, it is imperative that inter-channel crosstalk be well understood. In this paper we shall describe the manner in which Poissonian fluctuations can give counter-intuitive results and offer some methods for extracting the desired information from the highly smeared, observed distributions. (orig.)

  4. Diabetes mellitus and its influence on sputum smear positivity at the 2nd month of treatment among pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A case control study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shariff, Noorsuzana Mohd; Safian, Nazarudin

    2015-12-01

    Many studies have suggested that sputum smear conversion after 2 months of antituberculosis treatment is an important determinant of treatment success and can be a predictor for relapse. The objective of this study is to determine the factors that influence sputum smear conversion after 2 months of treatment among pulmonary tuberculosis patients receiving treatment in the Institute of Respiratory Medicine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 75 cases and 75 controls were interviewed, and their medical records were retrieved in order to extract the information needed. All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 17, and binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of sputum smear nonconversion. Results showed that the following factors were associated with sputum smear positivity after 2 months of intensive treatment: diabetes mellitus (p=.013, odds ratio [OR]=2.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.27-5.33), underweight body mass index (p=.025, OR=1.67, 95% CI 0.80-3.49), nonadherent to tuberculosis treatment (p=.024, OR=2.85, 95% CI 1.21-6.74), and previous history of tuberculosis (p=.043, OR=2.53, 95% CI 1.09-5.83). Multivariable analysis identified diabetes mellitus (p=.003, OR=4.01, 95% CI 1.61-9.96) as being independently associated with the risk of persistent sputum smear positivity after 2 months of intensive treatment. Based on the findings, identification of these factors is valuable in strengthening the management and treatment of tuberculosis in Malaysia in the future. This study emphasizes the importance of diabetes screening and integration of diabetic controls among tuberculosis patients in achieving better treatment outcome. Copyright © 2015 Asian-African Society for Mycobacteriology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Geometric measure of quantum discord and total quantum correlations in an N-partite quantum state

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hassan, Ali Saif M; Joag, Pramod S

    2012-01-01

    Quantum discord, as introduced by Ollivier and Zurek (2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 017901), is a measure of the discrepancy between quantum versions of two classically equivalent expressions for mutual information and is found to be useful in quantification and application of quantum correlations in mixed states. It is viewed as a key resource present in certain quantum communication tasks and quantum computational models without containing much entanglement. An early step toward the quantification of quantum discord in a quantum state was by Dakic et al (2010 Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 190502) who introduced a geometric measure of quantum discord and derived an explicit formula for any two-qubit state. Recently, Luo and Fu (2010 Phys. Rev. A 82 034302) introduced a generic form of the geometric measure of quantum discord for a bipartite quantum state. We extend these results and find generic forms of the geometric measure of quantum discord and total quantum correlations in a general N-partite quantum state. Further, we obtain computable exact formulas for the geometric measure of quantum discord and total quantum correlations in an N-qubit quantum state. The exact formulas for the N-qubit quantum state can be used to get experimental estimates of the quantum discord and the total quantum correlation. (paper)

  6. Quantum Physics and Mental Health Counseling: The Time Is...!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerstein, Lawrence H.; Bennett, Matt

    1999-01-01

    Introduces a new framework of mental health counseling based on quantum physics. The framework stresses systemic thinking and intervention, interdependence, and the importance of adopting a novel perspective about time, space, reality, and change. This framework has the potential of modifying mental health counseling practice and training. Offers…

  7. Quantum demultiplexer of quantum parameter-estimation information in quantum networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Yanqing; Huang, Yumeng; Wu, Yinzhong; Hao, Xiang

    2018-05-01

    The quantum demultiplexer is constructed by a series of unitary operators and multipartite entangled states. It is used to realize information broadcasting from an input node to multiple output nodes in quantum networks. The scheme of quantum network communication with respect to phase estimation is put forward through the demultiplexer subjected to amplitude damping noises. The generalized partial measurements can be applied to protect the transferring efficiency from environmental noises in the protocol. It is found out that there are some optimal coherent states which can be prepared to enhance the transmission of phase estimation. The dynamics of state fidelity and quantum Fisher information are investigated to evaluate the feasibility of the network communication. While the state fidelity deteriorates rapidly, the quantum Fisher information can be enhanced to a maximum value and then decreases slowly. The memory effect of the environment induces the oscillations of fidelity and quantum Fisher information. The adjustment of the strength of partial measurements is helpful to increase quantum Fisher information.

  8. Efficient spin filter using multi-terminal quantum dot with spin-orbit interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yokoyama Tomohiro

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We propose a multi-terminal spin filter using a quantum dot with spin-orbit interaction. First, we formulate the spin Hall effect (SHE in a quantum dot connected to three leads. We show that the SHE is significantly enhanced by the resonant tunneling if the level spacing in the quantum dot is smaller than the level broadening. We stress that the SHE is tunable by changing the tunnel coupling to the third lead. Next, we perform a numerical simulation for a multi-terminal spin filter using a quantum dot fabricated on semiconductor heterostructures. The spin filter shows an efficiency of more than 50% when the conditions for the enhanced SHE are satisfied. PACS numbers: 72.25.Dc,71.70.Ej,73.63.Kv,85.75.-d

  9. Research progress on quantum informatics and quantum computation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yusheng

    2018-03-01

    Quantum informatics is an emerging interdisciplinary subject developed by the combination of quantum mechanics, information science, and computer science in the 1980s. The birth and development of quantum information science has far-reaching significance in science and technology. At present, the application of quantum information technology has become the direction of people’s efforts. The preparation, storage, purification and regulation, transmission, quantum coding and decoding of quantum state have become the hotspot of scientists and technicians, which have a profound impact on the national economy and the people’s livelihood, technology and defense technology. This paper first summarizes the background of quantum information science and quantum computer and the current situation of domestic and foreign research, and then introduces the basic knowledge and basic concepts of quantum computing. Finally, several quantum algorithms are introduced in detail, including Quantum Fourier transform, Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm, Shor’s quantum algorithm, quantum phase estimation.

  10. Quantum cryptography beyond quantum key distribution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broadbent, A.; Schaffner, C.

    2016-01-01

    Quantum cryptography is the art and science of exploiting quantum mechanical effects in order to perform cryptographic tasks. While the most well-known example of this discipline is quantum key distribution (QKD), there exist many other applications such as quantum money, randomness generation,

  11. Efficient quantum circuit implementation of quantum walks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Douglas, B. L.; Wang, J. B.

    2009-01-01

    Quantum walks, being the quantum analog of classical random walks, are expected to provide a fruitful source of quantum algorithms. A few such algorithms have already been developed, including the 'glued trees' algorithm, which provides an exponential speedup over classical methods, relative to a particular quantum oracle. Here, we discuss the possibility of a quantum walk algorithm yielding such an exponential speedup over possible classical algorithms, without the use of an oracle. We provide examples of some highly symmetric graphs on which efficient quantum circuits implementing quantum walks can be constructed and discuss potential applications to quantum search for marked vertices along these graphs.

  12. Is Quantum Gravity a Super-Quantum Theory?

    OpenAIRE

    Chang, Lay Nam; Lewis, Zachary; Minic, Djordje; Takeuchi, Tatsu

    2013-01-01

    We argue that quantum gravity should be a super-quantum theory, that is, a theory whose non-local correlations are stronger than those of canonical quantum theory. As a super-quantum theory, quantum gravity should display distinct experimentally observable super-correlations of entangled stringy states.

  13. Quantum metrology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiang Guo-Yong; Guo Guang-Can

    2013-01-01

    The statistical error is ineluctable in any measurement. Quantum techniques, especially with the development of quantum information, can help us squeeze the statistical error and enhance the precision of measurement. In a quantum system, there are some quantum parameters, such as the quantum state, quantum operator, and quantum dimension, which have no classical counterparts. So quantum metrology deals with not only the traditional parameters, but also the quantum parameters. Quantum metrology includes two important parts: measuring the physical parameters with a precision beating the classical physics limit and measuring the quantum parameters precisely. In this review, we will introduce how quantum characters (e.g., squeezed state and quantum entanglement) yield a higher precision, what the research areas are scientists most interesting in, and what the development status of quantum metrology and its perspectives are. (topical review - quantum information)

  14. Quantum probability and quantum decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yukalov, V I; Sornette, D

    2016-01-13

    A rigorous general definition of quantum probability is given, which is valid not only for elementary events but also for composite events, for operationally testable measurements as well as for inconclusive measurements, and also for non-commuting observables in addition to commutative observables. Our proposed definition of quantum probability makes it possible to describe quantum measurements and quantum decision-making on the same common mathematical footing. Conditions are formulated for the case when quantum decision theory reduces to its classical counterpart and for the situation where the use of quantum decision theory is necessary. © 2015 The Author(s).

  15. Constructing quantum dynamics from mixed quantum-classical descriptions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barsegov, V.; Rossky, P.J.

    2004-01-01

    The influence of quantum bath effects on the dynamics of a quantum two-level system linearly coupled to a harmonic bath is studied when the coupling is both diagonal and off-diagonal. It is shown that the pure dephasing kernel and the non-adiabatic quantum transition rate between Born-Oppenheimer states of the subsystem can be decomposed into a contribution from thermally excited bath modes plus a zero point energy contribution. This quantum rate can be modewise factorized exactly into a product of a mixed quantum subsystem-classical bath transition rate and a quantum correction factor. This factor determines dynamics of quantum bath correlations. Quantum bath corrections to both the transition rate and the pure dephasing kernel are shown to be readily evaluated via a mixed quantum-classical simulation. Hence, quantum dynamics can be recovered from a mixed quantum-classical counterpart by incorporating the missing quantum bath corrections. Within a mixed quantum-classical framework, a simple approach for evaluating quantum bath corrections in calculation of the non-adiabatic transition rate is presented

  16. Fermionic entanglement via quantum walks in quantum dots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melnikov, Alexey A.; Fedichkin, Leonid E.

    2018-02-01

    Quantum walks are fundamentally different from random walks due to the quantum superposition property of quantum objects. Quantum walk process was found to be very useful for quantum information and quantum computation applications. In this paper we demonstrate how to use quantum walks as a tool to generate high-dimensional two-particle fermionic entanglement. The generated entanglement can survive longer in the presence of depolorazing noise due to the periodicity of quantum walk dynamics. The possibility to create two distinguishable qudits in a system of tunnel-coupled semiconductor quantum dots is discussed.

  17. Efficient quantum walk on a quantum processor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiang, Xiaogang; Loke, Thomas; Montanaro, Ashley; Aungskunsiri, Kanin; Zhou, Xiaoqi; O'Brien, Jeremy L.; Wang, Jingbo B.; Matthews, Jonathan C. F.

    2016-01-01

    The random walk formalism is used across a wide range of applications, from modelling share prices to predicting population genetics. Likewise, quantum walks have shown much potential as a framework for developing new quantum algorithms. Here we present explicit efficient quantum circuits for implementing continuous-time quantum walks on the circulant class of graphs. These circuits allow us to sample from the output probability distributions of quantum walks on circulant graphs efficiently. We also show that solving the same sampling problem for arbitrary circulant quantum circuits is intractable for a classical computer, assuming conjectures from computational complexity theory. This is a new link between continuous-time quantum walks and computational complexity theory and it indicates a family of tasks that could ultimately demonstrate quantum supremacy over classical computers. As a proof of principle, we experimentally implement the proposed quantum circuit on an example circulant graph using a two-qubit photonics quantum processor. PMID:27146471

  18. Emergent mechanics, quantum and un-quantum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ralston, John P.

    2013-10-01

    There is great interest in quantum mechanics as an "emergent" phenomenon. The program holds that nonobvious patterns and laws can emerge from complicated physical systems operating by more fundamental rules. We find a new approach where quantum mechanics itself should be viewed as an information management tool not derived from physics nor depending on physics. The main accomplishment of quantum-style theory comes in expanding the notion of probability. We construct a map from macroscopic information as data" to quantum probability. The map allows a hidden variable description for quantum states, and efficient use of the helpful tools of quantum mechanics in unlimited circumstances. Quantum dynamics via the time-dependent Shroedinger equation or operator methods actually represents a restricted class of classical Hamiltonian or Lagrangian dynamics, albeit with different numbers of degrees of freedom. We show that under wide circumstances such dynamics emerges from structureless dynamical systems. The uses of the quantum information management tools are illustrated by numerical experiments and practical applications

  19. Local hidden variable modelling, classicality, quantum separability and the original Bell inequality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loubenets, Elena R

    2011-01-01

    We introduce a general condition sufficient for the validity of the original Bell inequality (1964) in a local hidden variable (LHV) frame. This condition can be checked experimentally and incorporates only as a particular case the assumption on perfect correlations or anticorrelations usually argued for this inequality in the literature. Specifying this general condition for a quantum bipartite case, we introduce the whole class of bipartite quantum states, separable and nonseparable, that (i) admit an LHV description under any bipartite measurements with two settings per site; (ii) do not necessarily exhibit perfect correlations and may even have a negative correlation function if the same quantum observable is measured at both sites, but (iii) satisfy the 'perfect correlation' version of the original Bell inequality for any three bounded quantum observables A 1 , A 2 = B 1 , B 2 at sites 'A' and 'B', respectively. Analysing the validity of this general LHV condition under classical and quantum correlation scenarios with the same physical context, we stress that, unlike the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality, the original Bell inequality distinguishes between classicality and quantum separability.

  20. Electron quantum optics as quantum signal processing

    OpenAIRE

    Roussel, B.; Cabart, C.; Fève, G.; Thibierge, E.; Degiovanni, P.

    2016-01-01

    The recent developments of electron quantum optics in quantum Hall edge channels have given us new ways to probe the behavior of electrons in quantum conductors. It has brought new quantities called electronic coherences under the spotlight. In this paper, we explore the relations between electron quantum optics and signal processing through a global review of the various methods for accessing single- and two-electron coherences in electron quantum optics. We interpret electron quantum optics...

  1. Quantum thermodynamic cycles and quantum heat engines. II.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quan, H T

    2009-04-01

    We study the quantum-mechanical generalization of force or pressure, and then we extend the classical thermodynamic isobaric process to quantum-mechanical systems. Based on these efforts, we are able to study the quantum version of thermodynamic cycles that consist of quantum isobaric processes, such as the quantum Brayton cycle and quantum Diesel cycle. We also consider the implementation of the quantum Brayton cycle and quantum Diesel cycle with some model systems, such as single particle in a one-dimensional box and single-mode radiation field in a cavity. These studies lay the microscopic (quantum-mechanical) foundation for Szilard-Zurek single-molecule engine.

  2. Quantum random oracle model for quantum digital signature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shang, Tao; Lei, Qi; Liu, Jianwei

    2016-10-01

    The goal of this work is to provide a general security analysis tool, namely, the quantum random oracle (QRO), for facilitating the security analysis of quantum cryptographic protocols, especially protocols based on quantum one-way function. QRO is used to model quantum one-way function and different queries to QRO are used to model quantum attacks. A typical application of quantum one-way function is the quantum digital signature, whose progress has been hampered by the slow pace of the experimental realization. Alternatively, we use the QRO model to analyze the provable security of a quantum digital signature scheme and elaborate the analysis procedure. The QRO model differs from the prior quantum-accessible random oracle in that it can output quantum states as public keys and give responses to different queries. This tool can be a test bed for the cryptanalysis of more quantum cryptographic protocols based on the quantum one-way function.

  3. A model of quantum communication device for quantum hashing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasiliev, A

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we consider a model of quantum communications between classical computers aided with quantum processors, connected by a classical and a quantum channel. This type of communications implying both classical and quantum messages with moderate use of quantum processing is implicitly used in many quantum protocols, such as quantum key distribution or quantum digital signature. We show that using the model of a quantum processor on multiatomic ensembles in the common QED cavity we can speed up quantum hashing, which can be the basis of quantum digital signature and other communication protocols. (paper)

  4. The evidential value of cosmetic foundation smears in forensic casework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Amanda; Coulson, Sally

    2004-11-01

    Cosmetic foundation products are easily transferred to clothing and other surfaces as a result of contact with such objects. Examination of past cases involving cosmetics in New Zealand has shown cosmetic foundation to be one of the more common cosmetic products encountered. The aim of this research was to determine the most discriminating method for the comparison of transferred foundation with samples obtained from a known source in forensic casework. Fifty-three foundation samples were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (SEM-EDX). It was found that a 5 mm2 section of a light smearing was enough to provide detectable results. The discriminating powers for FTIR, SEM-EDX and GC-FID were 98.3, 93.8, and 82.0% respectively. A combination of all three techniques provided a discriminating power of 99.7%, meaning that almost complete discrimination was achieved between the foundation samples.

  5. Growth reduction of Listeria spp. caused by undefined industrial red smear cheese cultures and bacteriocin-producing Brevibacterium lines as evaluated in situ on soft cheese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eppert, I; Valdés-Stauber, N; Götz, H; Busse, M; Scherer, S

    1997-01-01

    The undefined microbial floras derived from the surface of ripe cheese which are used for the ripening of commercial red smear cheeses have a strong impact on the growth of Listeria spp. In some cases, these microbial consortia inhibit Listeria almost completely. From such undefined industrial cheese-ripening floras, linocin M18-producing (lin+) (N. Valdés-Stauber and S. Scherer, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 60:3809-3814, 1994) and -nonproducing Brevibacterium linens strains were isolated and used as single-strain starter cultures on model red smear cheeses to evaluate their potential inhibitory effects on Listeria strains in situ. On cheeses ripened with lin+ strains, a growth reduction of L. ivanovii and L. monocytogenes of 1 to 2 log units was observed compared to cheeses ripened with lin strains. Linocin M18 activity was detected in cheeses ripened with lin+ strains but was not found in those ripened with lin strains. We suggest that production of linocin M18 contributes to the growth reduction of Listeria observed on model red smear cheeses but is unsufficient to explain the almost complete inhibition of Listeria caused by some undefined microbial floras derived from the surface of ripe cheeses. PMID:9406400

  6. Sources of long-lived atmospheric VOCs at the rural boreal forest site, SMEAR II

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patokoski, J.; Ruuskanen, T. M.; Kajos, M. K.; Taipale, R.; Rantala, P.; Aalto, J.; Ryyppö, T.; Nieminen, T.; Hakola, H.; Rinne, J.

    2015-12-01

    In this study a long-term volatile organic compound (VOCs) concentration data set, measured at the SMEAR II (Station for Measuring Ecosystem-Atmosphere Relations) boreal forest site in Hyytiälä, Finland during the years 2006-2011, was analyzed in order to identify source areas and profiles of the observed VOCs. VOC mixing ratios were measured using proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry. Four-day HYSPLIT 4 (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) backward trajectories and the Unmix 6.0 receptor model were used for source area and source composition analysis. Two major forest fire events in Russia took place during the measurement period. The effect of these fires was clearly visible in the trajectory analysis, lending confidence to the method employed with this data set. Elevated volume mixing ratios (VMRs) of non-biogenic VOCs related to forest fires, e.g. acetonitrile and aromatic VOCs, were observed. Ten major source areas for long-lived VOCs (methanol, acetonitrile, acetaldehyde, acetone, benzene, and toluene) observed at the SMEAR II site were identified. The main source areas for all the targeted VOCs were western Russia, northern Poland, Kaliningrad, and the Baltic countries. Industrial areas in northern continental Europe were also found to be source areas for certain VOCs. Both trajectory and receptor analysis showed that air masses from northern Fennoscandia were less polluted with respect to both the VOCs studied and other trace gases (CO, SO2 and NOx), compared to areas of eastern and western continental Europe, western Russia, and southern Fennoscandia.

  7. Calculating Casimir energies in renormalizable quantum field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milton, Kimball A.

    2003-01-01

    Quantum vacuum energy has been known to have observable consequences since 1948 when Casimir calculated the force of attraction between parallel uncharged plates, a phenomenon confirmed experimentally with ever increasing precision. Casimir himself suggested that a similar attractive self-stress existed for a conducting spherical shell, but Boyer obtained a repulsive stress. Other geometries and higher dimensions have been considered over the years. Local effects, and divergences associated with surfaces and edges were studied by several authors. Quite recently, Graham et al. have reexamined such calculations, using conventional techniques of perturbative quantum field theory to remove divergences, and have suggested that previous self-stress results may be suspect. Here we show that the examples considered in their work are misleading; in particular, it is well known that in two space dimensions a circular boundary has a divergence in the Casimir energy for massless fields, while for general spatial dimension D not equal to an even integer the corresponding Casimir energy arising from massless fields interior and exterior to a hyperspherical shell is finite. It has also long been recognized that the Casimir energy for massive fields is divergent for curved boundaries. These conclusions are reinforced by a calculation of the relevant leading Feynman diagram in D and in three dimensions. There is therefore no doubt of the validity of the conventional finite Casimir calculations

  8. Previous treatment, sputum-smear nonconversion, and suburban living: The risk factors of multidrugresistant tuberculosis among Malaysians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noorsuzana Mohd Shariff

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients is increasing each year in many countries all around the globe. Malaysia has no exception in facing this burdensome health problem. We aimed to investigate the factors that contribute to the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among Malaysian tuberculosis patients. An unmatched case-control study was conducted among tuberculosis patients who received antituberculosis treatments from April 2013 until April 2014. Cases are those diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis patients clinically, radiologically, and/or bacteriologically, and who were confirmed to be resistant to both isoniazid and rifampicin through drug-sensitivity testing. On the other hand, pulmonary tuberculosis patients who were sensitive to all first-line antituberculosis drugs and were treated during the same time period served as controls. A total of 150 tuberculosis patients were studied, of which the susceptible cases were 120. Factors found to be significantly associated with the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis are being Indian or Chinese (odds ratio 3.17, 95% confidence interval 1.04–9.68; and odds ratio 6.23, 95% confidence interval 2.24–17.35, respectively, unmarried (odds ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 1.09–6.09, living in suburban areas (odds ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 1.08–6.19, are noncompliant (odds ratio 4.50, 95% confidence interval 1.71–11.82, were treated previously (odds ratio 8.91, 95% confidence interval 3.66–21.67, and showed positive sputum smears at the 2nd (odds ratio 7.00, 95% confidence interval 2.46–19.89 and 6th months of treatment (odds ratio 17.96, 95% confidence interval 3.51–91.99. Living in suburban areas, positive sputum smears in the 2nd month of treatment, and was treated previously are factors that independently contribute to the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Those with positive smears in the second month of treatment

  9. Detected-jump-error-correcting quantum codes, quantum error designs, and quantum computation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alber, G.; Mussinger, M.; Beth, Th.; Charnes, Ch.; Delgado, A.; Grassl, M.

    2003-01-01

    The recently introduced detected-jump-correcting quantum codes are capable of stabilizing qubit systems against spontaneous decay processes arising from couplings to statistically independent reservoirs. These embedded quantum codes exploit classical information about which qubit has emitted spontaneously and correspond to an active error-correcting code embedded in a passive error-correcting code. The construction of a family of one-detected-jump-error-correcting quantum codes is shown and the optimal redundancy, encoding, and recovery as well as general properties of detected-jump-error-correcting quantum codes are discussed. By the use of design theory, multiple-jump-error-correcting quantum codes can be constructed. The performance of one-jump-error-correcting quantum codes under nonideal conditions is studied numerically by simulating a quantum memory and Grover's algorithm

  10. Quantum corrections to the gravitational backreaction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuntz, Ibere [University of Sussex, Physics and Astronomy, Brighton (United Kingdom)

    2018-01-15

    Effective field theory techniques are used to study the leading order quantum corrections to the gravitational wave backreaction. The effective stress-energy tensor is calculated and it is shown that it has a non-vanishing trace that contributes to the cosmological constant. By comparing the result obtained with LIGO's data, the first bound on the amplitude of the massive mode is found: ε < 1.4 x 10{sup -33}. (orig.)

  11. Wetting layers effect on InAs/GaAs quantum dots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Chao; Lu Pengfei; Yu Zhongyuan; Cao Huawei; Zhang Lidong

    2012-01-01

    FEM combining with the K·P theory is adopted to systematically investigate the effect of wetting layers on the strain-stress profiles and electronic structures of self-organized InAs quantum dot. Four different kinds of quantum dots are introduced at the same height and aspect ratio. We found that 0.5 nm wetting layer is an appropriate thickness for InAs/GaAs quantum dots. Strain shift down about 3%∼4.5% for the cases with WL (0.5 nm) and without WL in four shapes of quantum dots. For band edge energy, wetting layers expand the potential energy gap width. When WL thickness is more than 0.8 nm, the band edge energy profiles cannot vary regularly. The electron energy is affected while for heavy hole this impact on the energy is limited. Wetting layers for the influence of the electronic structure is obviously than the heavy hole. Consequently, the electron probability density function spread from buffer to wetting layer while the center of hole's function moves from QDs internal to wetting layer when introduce WLs. When WLs thickness is larger than 0.8 nm, the electronic structures of quantum dots have changed obviously. This will affect the instrument's performance which relies on the quantum dots' optical properties.

  12. Quantum technology past, present, future: quantum energetics (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Sang H.

    2017-04-01

    Since the development of quantum physics in the early part of the 1900s, this field of study has made remarkable contributions to our civilization. Some of these advances include lasers, light-emitting diodes (LED), sensors, spectroscopy, quantum dots, quantum gravity and quantum entanglements. In 1998, the NASA Langley Research Center established a quantum technology committee to monitor the progress in this area and initiated research to determine the potential of quantum technology for future NASA missions. The areas of interest in quantum technology at NASA included fundamental quantum-optics materials associated with quantum dots and quantum wells, device-oriented photonic crystals, smart optics, quantum conductors, quantum information and computing, teleportation theorem, and quantum energetics. A brief review of the work performed, the progress made in advancing these technologies, and the potential NASA applications of quantum technology will be presented.

  13. Quantum optics with single quantum dot devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zwiller, Valery; Aichele, Thomas; Benson, Oliver

    2004-01-01

    A single radiative transition in a single-quantum emitter results in the emission of a single photon. Single quantum dots are single-quantum emitters with all the requirements to generate single photons at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is also possible to generate more than single photons with single quantum dots. In this paper we show that single quantum dots can be used to generate non-classical states of light, from single photons to photon triplets. Advanced solid state structures can be fabricated with single quantum dots as their active region. We also show results obtained on devices based on single quantum dots

  14. Central charge for AdS2 quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartman, Thomas; Strominger, Andrew

    2009-01-01

    Two-dimensional Maxwell-dilaton quantum gravity on AdS 2 with radius l and a constant electric field E is studied. In conformal gauge, this is equivalent to a CFT on a strip. In order to maintain consistent boundary conditions, the usual conformal diffeomorphisms must be accompanied by a certain U(1) gauge transformation. The resulting conformal transformations are generated by a twisted stress tensor, which has a central charge c = 3kE 2 l 4 /4 where k is the level of the U(1) current. This is an AdS 2 analog of the Brown-Henneaux formula c = 3l/2G for the central charge of quantum gravity on AdS 3 .

  15. Quantum teleportation of propagating quantum microwaves

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Di Candia, R.; Felicetti, S.; Sanz, M. [University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Department of Physical Chemistry, Bilbao (Spain); Fedorov, K.G.; Menzel, E.P. [Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Walther-Meissner-Institut, Garching (Germany); Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physik-Department, Garching (Germany); Zhong, L.; Deppe, F.; Gross, R. [Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Walther-Meissner-Institut, Garching (Germany); Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physik-Department, Garching (Germany); Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Muenchen (Germany); Marx, A. [Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Walther-Meissner-Institut, Garching (Germany); Solano, E. [University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Department of Physical Chemistry, Bilbao (Spain); Basque Foundation for Science, IKERBASQUE, Bilbao (Spain)

    2015-12-15

    Propagating quantum microwaves have been proposed and successfully implemented to generate entanglement, thereby establishing a promising platform for the realisation of a quantum communication channel. However, the implementation of quantum teleportation with photons in the microwave regime is still absent. At the same time, recent developments in the field show that this key protocol could be feasible with current technology, which would pave the way to boost the field of microwave quantum communication. Here, we discuss the feasibility of a possible implementation of microwave quantum teleportation in a realistic scenario with losses. Furthermore, we propose how to implement quantum repeaters in the microwave regime without using photodetection, a key prerequisite to achieve long distance entanglement distribution. (orig.)

  16. Quantum teleportation of propagating quantum microwaves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Candia, R.; Felicetti, S.; Sanz, M.; Fedorov, K.G.; Menzel, E.P.; Zhong, L.; Deppe, F.; Gross, R.; Marx, A.; Solano, E.

    2015-01-01

    Propagating quantum microwaves have been proposed and successfully implemented to generate entanglement, thereby establishing a promising platform for the realisation of a quantum communication channel. However, the implementation of quantum teleportation with photons in the microwave regime is still absent. At the same time, recent developments in the field show that this key protocol could be feasible with current technology, which would pave the way to boost the field of microwave quantum communication. Here, we discuss the feasibility of a possible implementation of microwave quantum teleportation in a realistic scenario with losses. Furthermore, we propose how to implement quantum repeaters in the microwave regime without using photodetection, a key prerequisite to achieve long distance entanglement distribution. (orig.)

  17. From quantum dots to quantum circuits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ensslin, K.

    2008-01-01

    Full text: Quantum dots, or artificial atoms, confine charge carriers in three-dimensional islands in a semiconductor environment. Detailed understanding and exquisite control of the charge and spin state of the electrically tunable charge occupancy have been demonstrated over the years. Quantum dots with best quality for transport experiments are usually realized in n-type AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures. Novel material systems, such as graphene, nanowires and p-type heterostructures offer unexplored parameter regimes in view of spin-orbit interactions, carrier-carrier interactions and hyperfine coupling between electron and nuclear spins, which might be relevant for future spin qubits realized in quantum dots. With more sophisticated nanotechnology it has become possible to fabricate coupled quantum systems where classical and quantum mechanical coupling and back action is experimentally investigated. A narrow constriction, or quantum point contact, in vicinity to a quantum dot has been shown to serve as a minimally invasive sensor of the charge state of the dot. If charge transport through the quantum dot is slow enough (kHz), the charge sensor allows the detection of time-resolved transport through quantum-confined structures. This has allowed us to measure extremely small currents not detectable with conventional electronics. In addition the full statistics of current fluctuations becomes experimentally accessible. This way correlations between electrons which influence the current flow can be analyzed by measuring the noise and higher moments of the distribution of current fluctuations. Mesoscopic conductors driven out of equilibrium can emit photons which may be detected by another nearby quantum system with suitably tuned energy levels. This way an on-chip microwave single photon detector has been realized. In a ring geometry containing a tunable double quantum dot it has been possible to measure the self-interference of individual electrons as they traverse

  18. Dynamics of classical and quantum fields an introduction

    CERN Document Server

    Setlur, Girish S

    2014-01-01

    Dynamics of Classical and Quantum Fields: An Introduction focuses on dynamical fields in non-relativistic physics. Written by a physicist for physicists, the book is designed to help readers develop analytical skills related to classical and quantum fields at the non-relativistic level, and think about the concepts and theory through numerous problems. In-depth yet accessible, the book presents new and conventional topics in a self-contained manner that beginners would find useful. A partial list of topics covered includes: Geometrical meaning of Legendre transformation in classical mechanics Dynamical symmetries in the context of Noether's theorem The derivation of the stress energy tensor of the electromagnetic field, the expression for strain energy in elastic bodies, and the Navier Stokes equation Concepts of right and left movers in case of a Fermi gas explained Functional integration is interpreted as a limit of a sequence of ordinary integrations Path integrals for one and two quantum particles and for...

  19. Quantum Secure Direct Communication with Quantum Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; Ding, Dong-Sheng; Sheng, Yu-Bo; Zhou, Lan; Shi, Bao-Sen; Guo, Guang-Can

    2017-06-02

    Quantum communication provides an absolute security advantage, and it has been widely developed over the past 30 years. As an important branch of quantum communication, quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) promotes high security and instantaneousness in communication through directly transmitting messages over a quantum channel. The full implementation of a quantum protocol always requires the ability to control the transfer of a message effectively in the time domain; thus, it is essential to combine QSDC with quantum memory to accomplish the communication task. In this Letter, we report the experimental demonstration of QSDC with state-of-the-art atomic quantum memory for the first time in principle. We use the polarization degrees of freedom of photons as the information carrier, and the fidelity of entanglement decoding is verified as approximately 90%. Our work completes a fundamental step toward practical QSDC and demonstrates a potential application for long-distance quantum communication in a quantum network.

  20. Quantifying quantum coherence with quantum Fisher information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, X N; Wei, L F

    2017-11-14

    Quantum coherence is one of the old but always important concepts in quantum mechanics, and now it has been regarded as a necessary resource for quantum information processing and quantum metrology. However, the question of how to quantify the quantum coherence has just been paid the attention recently (see, e.g., Baumgratz et al. PRL, 113. 140401 (2014)). In this paper we verify that the well-known quantum Fisher information (QFI) can be utilized to quantify the quantum coherence, as it satisfies the monotonicity under the typical incoherent operations and the convexity under the mixing of the quantum states. Differing from most of the pure axiomatic methods, quantifying quantum coherence by QFI could be experimentally testable, as the bound of the QFI is practically measurable. The validity of our proposal is specifically demonstrated with the typical phase-damping and depolarizing evolution processes of a generic single-qubit state, and also by comparing it with the other quantifying methods proposed previously.

  1. Aggregating quantum repeaters for the quantum internet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azuma, Koji; Kato, Go

    2017-09-01

    The quantum internet holds promise for accomplishing quantum teleportation and unconditionally secure communication freely between arbitrary clients all over the globe, as well as the simulation of quantum many-body systems. For such a quantum internet protocol, a general fundamental upper bound on the obtainable entanglement or secret key has been derived [K. Azuma, A. Mizutani, and H.-K. Lo, Nat. Commun. 7, 13523 (2016), 10.1038/ncomms13523]. Here we consider its converse problem. In particular, we present a universal protocol constructible from any given quantum network, which is based on running quantum repeater schemes in parallel over the network. For arbitrary lossy optical channel networks, our protocol has no scaling gap with the upper bound, even based on existing quantum repeater schemes. In an asymptotic limit, our protocol works as an optimal entanglement or secret-key distribution over any quantum network composed of practical channels such as erasure channels, dephasing channels, bosonic quantum amplifier channels, and lossy optical channels.

  2. Quantum Chaos via the Quantum Action

    OpenAIRE

    Kröger, H.

    2002-01-01

    We discuss the concept of the quantum action with the purpose to characterize and quantitatively compute quantum chaos. As an example we consider in quantum mechanics a 2-D Hamiltonian system - harmonic oscillators with anharmonic coupling - which is classically a chaotic system. We compare Poincar\\'e sections obtained from the quantum action with those from the classical action.

  3. Quantum capacity of quantum black holes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adami, Chris; Bradler, Kamil

    2014-03-01

    The fate of quantum entanglement interacting with a black hole has been an enduring mystery, not the least because standard curved space field theory does not address the interaction of black holes with matter. We discuss an effective Hamiltonian of matter interacting with a black hole that has a precise analogue in quantum optics and correctly reproduces both spontaneous and stimulated Hawking radiation with grey-body factors. We calculate the quantum capacity of this channel in the limit of perfect absorption, as well as in the limit of a perfectly reflecting black hole (a white hole). We find that the white hole is an optimal quantum cloner, and is isomorphic to the Unruh channel with positive quantum capacity. The complementary channel (across the horizon) is entanglement-breaking with zero capacity, avoiding a violation of the quantum no-cloning theorem. The black hole channel on the contrary has vanishing capacity, while its complement has positive capacity instead. Thus, quantum states can be reconstructed faithfully behind the black hole horizon, but not outside. This work sheds new light on black hole complementarity because it shows that black holes can both reflect and absorb quantum states without violating the no-cloning theorem, and makes quantum firewalls obsolete.

  4. Duality quantum algorithm efficiently simulates open quantum systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Shi-Jie; Ruan, Dong; Long, Gui-Lu

    2016-01-01

    Because of inevitable coupling with the environment, nearly all practical quantum systems are open system, where the evolution is not necessarily unitary. In this paper, we propose a duality quantum algorithm for simulating Hamiltonian evolution of an open quantum system. In contrast to unitary evolution in a usual quantum computer, the evolution operator in a duality quantum computer is a linear combination of unitary operators. In this duality quantum algorithm, the time evolution of the open quantum system is realized by using Kraus operators which is naturally implemented in duality quantum computer. This duality quantum algorithm has two distinct advantages compared to existing quantum simulation algorithms with unitary evolution operations. Firstly, the query complexity of the algorithm is O(d3) in contrast to O(d4) in existing unitary simulation algorithm, where d is the dimension of the open quantum system. Secondly, By using a truncated Taylor series of the evolution operators, this duality quantum algorithm provides an exponential improvement in precision compared with previous unitary simulation algorithm. PMID:27464855

  5. Pap Smear Diagnosis Using a Hybrid Intelligent Scheme Focusing on Genetic Algorithm Based Feature Selection and Nearest Neighbor Classification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marinakis, Yannis; Dounias, Georgios; Jantzen, Jan

    2009-01-01

    The term pap-smear refers to samples of human cells stained by the so-called Papanicolaou method. The purpose of the Papanicolaou method is to diagnose pre-cancerous cell changes before they progress to invasive carcinoma. In this paper a metaheuristic algorithm is proposed in order to classify t...... other previously applied intelligent approaches....

  6. Perception and Experience of Primary Care Physicians on Pap Smear Screening for Women with Intellectual Disabilities: A Preliminary Finding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Jin-Ding; Sung, Chang-Lin; Lin, Lan-Ping; Liu, Ta-Wen; Lin, Pei-Ying; Chen, Li-Mei; Chu, Cordia M.; Wu, Jia-Ling

    2010-01-01

    This study aims to establish evidence-based data to explore the perceptions and experience of primary care physicians in the Pap smear screening provision for women with intellectual disabilities (ID), and to analyze the associated factors in the delivery of screening services to women with ID in Taiwan. Data obtained by a cross-sectional survey…

  7. Generalised BRST symmetry and gaugeon formalism for perturbative quantum gravity: Novel observation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Upadhyay, Sudhaker

    2014-01-01

    In this paper the novel features of Yokoyama gaugeon formalism are stressed out for the theory of perturbative quantum gravity in the Einstein curved spacetime. The quantum gauge transformations for the theory of perturbative gravity are demonstrated in the framework of gaugeon formalism. These quantum gauge transformations lead to renormalised gauge parameter. Further, we analyse the BRST symmetric gaugeon formalism which embeds more acceptable Kugo–Ojima subsidiary condition. Further, the BRST symmetry is made finite and field-dependent. Remarkably, the Jacobian of path integral under finite and field-dependent BRST symmetry amounts to the exact gaugeon action in the effective theory of perturbative quantum gravity. -- Highlights: •We analyse the perturbative gravity in gaugeon formalism. •The generalisation of BRST transformation is also studied in this context. •Within the generalised BRST framework we found the exact gaugeon modes in the theory

  8. Automated image processing method for the diagnosis and classification of malaria on thin blood smears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Nicholas E; Pritchard, Charles J; Rubin, David M; Dusé, Adriano G

    2006-05-01

    Malaria is a serious global health problem, and rapid, accurate diagnosis is required to control the disease. An image processing algorithm to automate the diagnosis of malaria on thin blood smears is developed. The image classification system is designed to positively identify malaria parasites present in thin blood smears, and differentiate the species of malaria. Images are acquired using a charge-coupled device camera connected to a light microscope. Morphological and novel threshold selection techniques are used to identify erythrocytes (red blood cells) and possible parasites present on microscopic slides. Image features based on colour, texture and the geometry of the cells and parasites are generated, as well as features that make use of a priori knowledge of the classification problem and mimic features used by human technicians. A two-stage tree classifier using backpropogation feedforward neural networks distinguishes between true and false positives, and then diagnoses the species (Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale or P. malariae) of the infection. Malaria samples obtained from the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School are used for training and testing of the system. Infected erythrocytes are positively identified with a sensitivity of 85% and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 81%, which makes the method highly sensitive at diagnosing a complete sample provided many views are analysed. Species were correctly determined for 11 out of 15 samples.

  9. Interfacing external quantum devices to a universal quantum computer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio A Lagana

    Full Text Available We present a scheme to use external quantum devices using the universal quantum computer previously constructed. We thereby show how the universal quantum computer can utilize networked quantum information resources to carry out local computations. Such information may come from specialized quantum devices or even from remote universal quantum computers. We show how to accomplish this by devising universal quantum computer programs that implement well known oracle based quantum algorithms, namely the Deutsch, Deutsch-Jozsa, and the Grover algorithms using external black-box quantum oracle devices. In the process, we demonstrate a method to map existing quantum algorithms onto the universal quantum computer.

  10. Quantum reference frames and quantum transformations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toller, M.

    1997-01-01

    A quantum frame is defined by a material object following the laws of quantum mechanics. The present paper studies the relations between quantum frames, which are described by some generalization of the Poincare' group. The possibility of using a suitable quantum group is examined, but some arguments are given which show that a different mathematical structure is necessary. Some simple examples in lower-dimensional space-times are treated. They indicate the necessity of taking into account some ''internal'' degrees of freedom of the quantum frames, that can be disregarded in a classical treatment

  11. Abstract quantum computing machines and quantum computational logics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiara, Maria Luisa Dalla; Giuntini, Roberto; Sergioli, Giuseppe; Leporini, Roberto

    2016-06-01

    Classical and quantum parallelism are deeply different, although it is sometimes claimed that quantum Turing machines are nothing but special examples of classical probabilistic machines. We introduce the concepts of deterministic state machine, classical probabilistic state machine and quantum state machine. On this basis, we discuss the question: To what extent can quantum state machines be simulated by classical probabilistic state machines? Each state machine is devoted to a single task determined by its program. Real computers, however, behave differently, being able to solve different kinds of problems. This capacity can be modeled, in the quantum case, by the mathematical notion of abstract quantum computing machine, whose different programs determine different quantum state machines. The computations of abstract quantum computing machines can be linguistically described by the formulas of a particular form of quantum logic, termed quantum computational logic.

  12. Quantum coherence and correlations in quantum system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xi, Zhengjun; Li, Yongming; Fan, Heng

    2015-01-01

    Criteria of measure quantifying quantum coherence, a unique property of quantum system, are proposed recently. In this paper, we first give an uncertainty-like expression relating the coherence and the entropy of quantum system. This finding allows us to discuss the relations between the entanglement and the coherence. Further, we discuss in detail the relations among the coherence, the discord and the deficit in the bipartite quantum system. We show that, the one-way quantum deficit is equal to the sum between quantum discord and the relative entropy of coherence of measured subsystem. PMID:26094795

  13. Interpreting quantum discord through quantum state merging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Madhok, Vaibhav; Datta, Animesh

    2011-01-01

    We present an operational interpretation of quantum discord based on the quantum state merging protocol. Quantum discord is the markup in the cost of quantum communication in the process of quantum state merging, if one discards relevant prior information. Our interpretation has an intuitive explanation based on the strong subadditivity of von Neumann entropy. We use our result to provide operational interpretations of other quantities like the local purity and quantum deficit. Finally, we discuss in brief some instances where our interpretation is valid in the single-copy scenario.

  14. Quantum Computing: a Quantum Group Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Zhenghan

    2013-01-01

    There is compelling theoretical evidence that quantum physics will change the face of information science. Exciting progress has been made during the last two decades towards the building of a large scale quantum computer. A quantum group approach stands out as a promising route to this holy grail, and provides hope that we may have quantum computers in our future.

  15. Diagnostic utility of the cell block method versus the conventional smear study in pleural fluid cytology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shivakumarswamy, Udasimath; Arakeri, Surekha U; Karigowdar, Mahesh H; Yelikar, Br

    2012-01-01

    The cytological examinations of serous effusions have been well-accepted, and a positive diagnosis is often considered as a definitive diagnosis. It helps in staging, prognosis and management of the patients in malignancies and also gives information about various inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions. Diagnostic problems arise in everyday practice to differentiate reactive atypical mesothelial cells and malignant cells by the routine conventional smear (CS) method. To compare the morphological features of the CS method with those of the cell block (CB) method and also to assess the utility and sensitivity of the CB method in the cytodiagnosis of pleural effusions. The study was conducted in the cytology section of the Department of Pathology. Sixty pleural fluid samples were subjected to diagnostic evaluation for over a period of 20 months. Along with the conventional smears, cell blocks were prepared by using 10% alcohol-formalin as a fixative agent. Statistical analysis with the 'z test' was performed to identify the cellularity, using the CS and CB methods. Mc. Naemer's χ(2)test was used to identify the additional yield for malignancy by the CB method. Cellularity and additional yield for malignancy was 15% more by the CB method. The CB method provides high cellularity, better architectural patterns, morphological features and an additional yield of malignant cells, and thereby, increases the sensitivity of the cytodiagnosis when compared with the CS method.

  16. Microscopy of Stained Urethral Smear in Male Urethritis; Which Cutoff Should be Used?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moi, Harald; Hartgill, Usha; Skullerud, Kristin Helene; Reponen, Elina J; Syvertsen, Line; Moghaddam, Amir

    2017-03-01

    The microscopical diagnosis of male urethritis was recently questioned by Rietmeijer and Mettenbrink, lowering the diagnostic criteria of the diagnosis to ≥2 polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNL) per high power field (HPF), and adopted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their 2015 STD Treatment Guidelines. The European Non-Gonococcal Urethritis Guideline advocates a limit of ≥5 PMNL/HPF. To determine if syndromic treatment of urethritis should be considered with a cutoff value of ≥2 PMNL/HPF in urethral smear. The design was a cross-sectional study investigating the presence and degree of urethritis relative to specific infections in men attending an STI clinic as drop-in patients. The material included 2 cohorts: a retrospective study of 13,295 men and a prospective controlled study including 356 men. We observed a mean chlamydia prevalence of 2.3% in the 0-9 stratum, and a 12-fold higher prevalence (27.3%) in the strata above 9. Of the chlamydia cases, 89.8% were diagnosed in strata above 9. For Mycoplasma genitalium, the prevalence was 1.4% in the 0-9 stratum and 11.2% in the stratum ≥10, and 83.6% were diagnosed in strata above 9. For gonorrhea, a significant increase in the prevalence occurred between the 0-30 strata and >30 strata from 0.2% to 20.7%. The results of the prospective study were similar. Our data do not support lowering the cutoff to ≥2 PMNL/HPF. However, a standardization of urethral smear microscopy seems to be impossible. The cutoff value should discriminate between low and high prevalence of chlamydia, mycoplasma, and gonorrhea to include as many as possible with a specific infection in syndromic treatment, without overtreating those with few PMNL/HPF and high possibility of having nonspecific or no urethritis.

  17. Quantum stochastics

    CERN Document Server

    Chang, Mou-Hsiung

    2015-01-01

    The classical probability theory initiated by Kolmogorov and its quantum counterpart, pioneered by von Neumann, were created at about the same time in the 1930s, but development of the quantum theory has trailed far behind. Although highly appealing, the quantum theory has a steep learning curve, requiring tools from both probability and analysis and a facility for combining the two viewpoints. This book is a systematic, self-contained account of the core of quantum probability and quantum stochastic processes for graduate students and researchers. The only assumed background is knowledge of the basic theory of Hilbert spaces, bounded linear operators, and classical Markov processes. From there, the book introduces additional tools from analysis, and then builds the quantum probability framework needed to support applications to quantum control and quantum information and communication. These include quantum noise, quantum stochastic calculus, stochastic quantum differential equations, quantum Markov semigrou...

  18. CD 99 immunocytochemistry in solid pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas: A study on fine-needle aspiration cytology smears.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Ranajoy; Mallik, Saumya R; Mathur, Sandeep R; Iyer, Venkateswaran K

    2013-07-01

    Solid pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas (SPTP) is a rare pancreatic tumor of uncertain histogenesis usually affecting young women. Though these tumors have characteristic cytomorphology, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate them from neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas. We reviewed cases of SPTP to delineate the diagnostic cytological features and also observed utility of CD 99 (MIC 2) immunostaining to aid in the diagnosis of this tumor. This study was designed to demonstrate the utility of CD 99 immunostaining along with cytological features for making a pre-operative diagnosis and delineating it from the neuroendocrine tumor of pancreas which is a close mimic. Cytomorphological features of 11 cases of solid pseudopapillary neoplasm diagnosed by pre-operative fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) at our institute were reviewed. Immunocytochemistry for CD 99 was also performed on the smears. All the cases had cellular smears with monomorphic cells lying singly, as loosely cohesive clusters as well as forming delicate pseudopapillae. Presence of intra and extra-cellular basement membrane material, background foamy macrophages and nuclear grooves were the other salient features. Immunocytochemistry for CD 99 could be performed on eight cases and demonstrated typical paranuclear dot-like positivity. Pre-operative early diagnosis of SPTP can be made by FNAC which can further be aided by CD 99 immunocytochemistry.

  19. Chaotic flows in a universe with a negative quantum pressure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kandrup, H.E.

    1983-01-01

    Lockhart, Misra, and Prigogine have pointed out that geodesic flow in an open k = -1 Friedmann universe is unstable. The implications of this instability are considered for a universe whose energetics was dominated, at some early time, by the Lorentz-invariant expectation value of a quantum stress-energy tensor

  20. Quantum stochastic calculus associated with quadratic quantum noises

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ji, Un Cig; Sinha, Kalyan B.

    2016-01-01

    We first study a class of fundamental quantum stochastic processes induced by the generators of a six dimensional non-solvable Lie †-algebra consisting of all linear combinations of the generalized Gross Laplacian and its adjoint, annihilation operator, creation operator, conservation, and time, and then we study the quantum stochastic integrals associated with the class of fundamental quantum stochastic processes, and the quantum Itô formula is revisited. The existence and uniqueness of solution of a quantum stochastic differential equation is proved. The unitarity conditions of solutions of quantum stochastic differential equations associated with the fundamental processes are examined. The quantum stochastic calculus extends the Hudson-Parthasarathy quantum stochastic calculus