2,138 research outputs found

    Nonlocality in Bell's theorem, in Bohm's theory, and in Many Interacting Worlds theorising

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    'Locality' is a fraught word, even within the restricted context of Bell's theorem. As one of us has argued elsewhere, that is partly because Bell himself used the word with different meanings at different stages in his career. The original, weaker, meaning for locality was in his 1964 theorem: that the choice of setting by one party could never affect the outcome of a measurement performed by a distant second party. The epitome of a quantum theory violating this weak notion of locality (and hence exhibiting a strong form of nonlocality) is Bohmian mechanics. Recently, a new approach to quantum mechanics, inspired by Bohmian mechanics, has been proposed: Many Interacting Worlds. While it is conceptually clear how the interaction between worlds can enable this strong nonlocality, technical problems in the theory have thus far prevented a proof by simulation. Here we report significant progress in tackling one of the most basic difficulties that needs to be overcome: correctly modelling wavefunctions with nodes

    Core promoter short tandem repeats as evolutionary switch codes for primate speciation

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    Alteration in gene expression levels underlies many of the phenotypic differences across species. Because of their highly mutable nature, proximity to the +1 transcription start site (TSS), and the emerging evidence of functional impact on gene expression, core promoter short tandem repeats (STRs) may be considered an ideal source of variation across species. In a genome-scale analysis of the entire Homo sapiens protein-coding genes, we have previously identified core promoters with at least one STR of ≥6-repeats, with possible selective advantage in this species. In the current study, we performed reverse analysis of the entire Homo sapiens orthologous genes in mouse in the Ensembl database, in order to identify conserved STRs that have shrunk as an evolutionary advantage to humans. Two protocols were used to minimize ascertainment bias. Firstly, two species sharing a more recent ancestor with Homo sapiens (i.e. Pan troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla gorilla) were also included in the study. Secondly, four non-primate species encompassing the major orders across Mammals, including Scandentia, Laurasiatheria, Afrotheria, and Xenarthra were analyzed as out-groups. We introduce STR evolutionary events specifically identical in primates (i.e. Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, and Gorilla gorilla gorilla) vs. non-primate out-groups. The average frequency of the identically shared STR motifs across those primates ranged between 0.00005 and 0.06. The identified genes are involved in important evolutionary and developmental processes, such as normal craniofacial development (TFAP2B), regulation of cell shape (PALMD), learning and long-term memory (RGS14), nervous system development (GFRA2), embryonic limb morphogenesis (PBX2), and forebrain development (APAF1). We provide evidence of core promoter STRs as evolutionary switch codes for primate speciation, and the first instance of identity-by-descent for those motifs at the interspecies level. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

    Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG-supplemented formula expands butyrate-producing bacterial strains in food allergic infants.

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    Dietary intervention with extensively hydrolyzed casein formula supplemented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (EHCF+LGG) accelerates tolerance acquisition in infants with cow's milk allergy (CMA). We examined whether this effect is attributable, at least in part, to an influence on the gut microbiota. Fecal samples from healthy controls (n=20) and from CMA infants (n=19) before and after treatment with EHCF with (n=12) and without (n=7) supplementation with LGG were compared by 16S rRNA-based operational taxonomic unit clustering and oligotyping. Differential feature selection and generalized linear model fitting revealed that the CMA infants have a diverse gut microbial community structure dominated by Lachnospiraceae (20.5±9.7%) and Ruminococcaceae (16.2±9.1%). Blautia, Roseburia and Coprococcus were significantly enriched following treatment with EHCF and LGG, but only one genus, Oscillospira, was significantly different between infants that became tolerant and those that remained allergic. However, most tolerant infants showed a significant increase in fecal butyrate levels, and those taxa that were significantly enriched in these samples, Blautia and Roseburia, exhibited specific strain-level demarcations between tolerant and allergic infants. Our data suggest that EHCF+LGG promotes tolerance in infants with CMA, in part, by influencing the strain-level bacterial community structure of the infant gut

    Role of structural defects on exchange bias in the epitaxial CoO/Co system

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    We have studied the influence of non-magnetic defects throughout the antiferromagnet Co_{1-y}O on the exchange bias (EB) in epitaxially grown Co_{1-y}O/Co bilayers. These defects are either substitutional or structural (twin boundaries and surface morphology) which both lead to an increase of the EB-field. We find a dominance of twin boundaries over surface morphology (roughness) in enhancing EB which is consistent with the domain state model for exchange bias. In contrast, the crystal orientation of the Co_{1-y}O layer does not show a significant effect on the EB in this system.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
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