Random matrix theory approach to quantum Fisher information in quantum ergodic systems.

We theoretically investigate quantum parameter estimation in quantum chaotic systems. Our analysis is based on an effective description of quantum ergodic systems in terms of a random matrix Hamiltonian. Based on this approach, we derive an analytical expression for the time evolution of the quantum Fisher information (QFI), which we find to have three distinct timescales.

Targeting of human cancer stem cells predicts efficacy and toxicity of FDA-approved oncology drugs.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide with approved oncology drugs continuing to have heterogenous patient responses and accompanied adverse effects (AEs) that limits effectiveness. Here, we examined >100 FDA-approved oncology drugs in the context of stemness using a surrogate model of transformed human pluripotent cancer stem cells (CSCs) vs. healthy stem cells (hSCs) capable of distinguishing abnormal self-renewal and differentiation.

Technical Success and Serious Adverse Events for Fetal Aortic Valvuloplasty in a Large 20-Year Cohort.

Background: FAV is offered to fetuses with severe aortic valve stenosis and evolving hypoplastic left heart syndrome. An inferential analysis of TS and SAE in a large series has not been reported.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with fetal aortic valvuloplasty (FAV) technical success (TS) and serious adverse events (SAEs).

Who Still Gets Ligated? Reasons for Persistence of Surgical Ligation of the Patent Ductus Arteriosus Following Availability of Transcatheter Device Occlusion for Premature Neonates.

(1) Background: To identify reasons for the persistence of surgical ligation of the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in premature infants after the 2019 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of transcatheter device closure; (2) Methods: We performed a 10-year (2014-2023) single-institution retrospective study of premature infants (<37 weeks) and compared clinical characteristics and neonatal morbidities between neonates that underwent surgical ligation before (epoch 1) and after (epoch 2) FDA approval of transcatheter closure; (3) Results: We identified 120 premature infants that underwent surgical ligation ( = 94 before, = 26 after FDA approval). Unfavorable PDA morphology, active infection, and recent abdominal pathology were the most common reasons for surgical ligation over device occlusion in epoch 2. There were no differences in demographics, age at closure, or outcomes between infants who received surgical ligation in the two epochs; (4) Conclusions: Despite increasing trends for transcatheter PDA closure in premature infants, surgical ligation persists due to unfavorable ductal morphology, active infection, or abdominal pathology.

The impact of policy and policy communication on COVID-19 vaccination inequalities among Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Colombia: a comparative cross-sectional interrupted time-series analysis.

Introduction: Equitable access to vaccines for migrants and refugees is necessary to ensure their right to health and to achieve public health goals of reducing vaccine-preventable illness. Public health policies require regulatory frameworks and communication to effect uptake of effective vaccines among the target population. In Colombia, the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan implicitly included Venezuelan refugees and migrants; however, initial communication of the policy indicated that vaccine availability was restricted to people with regular migration status.

Identifying Barriers Faced by Applicants without a Home Residency Program when Matching into Plastic Surgery.

 Applying into plastic surgery (PS) is competitive. Lacking a home residency program (HRP) is another barrier. Our goal is to characterize challenges faced by PS applicants without HRPs and identify solutions.

Safety and efficacy of combined dilation/stenting of venous abnormalities, including complete obstructions, during lead extractions in patients with congenital heart disease.

Introduction: Management of transvenous leads in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) can be complicated by venous obstructions and residual shunts. We present our experience performing concurrent lead extraction and dilation/stenting of venous pathways, including patients with complete venous obstruction.

Methods: All cases of concurrent lead extraction and recanalization of vena cavae/baffles between 2017 and 2021 at Boston Children's Hospital were retrospectively included and reviewed for safety and efficacy.

Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement in surgically-created double-barrel right ventricular outflow tracts: A single center case-series.

This manuscript describes the feasibility and approach to the assessment and performance of transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (tPVR) in patients with surgically-created "double-barrel" right ventricular outflow tracts (RVOT). Patients with tetralogy of Fallot may have coronary anomalies which prohibit the performance of traditional tetralogy of Fallot repair. In certain cases, this may necessitate the placement of a right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit in addition to the native RVOT, which is left in situ, creating so-called "double-barrel" RVOTs.

Variational Quantum Simulators Based on Waveguide QED.

Waveguide QED simulators are analog quantum simulators made by quantum emitters interacting with one-dimensional photonic band gap materials. One of their remarkable features is that they can be used to engineer tunable-range emitter interactions. Here, we demonstrate how these interactions can be a resource to develop more efficient variational quantum algorithms for certain problems.

Leukemic progenitor compartment serves as a prognostic measure of cancer stemness in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

We systematically investigate functional and molecular measures of stemness in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) using a cohort of 121 individuals. We confirm that the presence of leukemic stem cells (LSCs) detected through in vivo xenograft transplantation is associated with poor survival. However, the measurement of leukemic progenitor cells (LPCs) through in vitro colony-forming assays provides an even stronger predictor of overall and event-free survival.

Reprogramming of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Cells: Harboring Cancer Mutations Requires Targeting of AML Hierarchy.

Screening of primary patient acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells is challenging based on intrinsic characteristics of human AML disease and patient-specific conditions required to sustain AML cells in culture. This is further complicated by inter- and intra-patient heterogeneity, and "contaminating" normal cells devoid of molecular AML mutations. Derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from human somatic cells has provided approaches for the development of patient-specific models of disease biology and has recently included AML.

Pre-Glenn aorto-pulmonary collaterals in single-ventricle patients.

Background: In single-ventricle patients undergoing staged-bidirectional Glenn, 36-59% have aorto-pulmonary collateral flow, but risk factors and clinical outcomes are unknown. We hypothesise that shunt type and catheter haemodynamics may predict pre-bidirectional Glenn aorto-pulmonary collateral burden, which may predict death/transplantation, pulmonary artery or aorto-pulmonary collateral intervention.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing a Norwood procedure for single-ventricle anatomy.

Predictors of Serious Adverse Events and High-Level Cardiorespiratory Support in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Pulmonary Vein Interventions.

Patients with pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) often require frequent transcatheter pulmonary vein (PV) interventions for management of restenosis. Predictors of serious adverse events (AEs) and need for high-level cardiorespiratory support (mechanical ventilation, vasoactive support, and/or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) 48 h after transcatheter PV interventions have not been reported. This is a single-center retrospective cohort analysis of patients with PVS who underwent transcatheter PV interventions from 3/1/2014 to 12/31/2021.

Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm Pseudo-Boltzmann States.

In this Letter, we provide analytical and numerical evidence that the single-layer quantum approximate optimization algorithm on universal Ising spin models produces thermal-like states. We find that these pseudo-Boltzmann states can not be efficiently simulated on classical computers according to the general state-of-the-art condition that ensures rapid mixing for Ising models. Moreover, we observe that the temperature depends on a hidden universal correlation between the energy of a state and the covariance of other energy levels and the Hamming distances of the state to those energies.

Hemodynamic and anatomic changes after fetal aortic valvuloplasty are associated with procedural success and postnatal biventricular circulation.

Background: There are minimal data characterizing the trajectory of left heart growth and hemodynamics following fetal aortic valvuloplasty (FAV).

Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent FAV between 2000 and 2019, with echocardiograms performed pre-FAV, immediately post-FAV, and in late gestation.

Results: Of 118 fetuses undergoing FAV, 106 (90%) underwent technically successful FAV, of which 55 (52%) had biventricular circulation.

Enhanced mitochondrial activity reshapes a gut microbiota profile that delays NASH progression.

Background And Aims: Recent studies suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction promotes progression to NASH by aggravating the gut-liver status. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Herein, we hypothesized that enhanced mitochondrial activity might reshape a specific microbiota signature that, when transferred to germ-free (GF) mice, could delay NASH progression.

Challenges in Cell Fate Acquisition to Scid-Repopulating Activity from Hemogenic Endothelium of hiPSCs Derived from AML Patients Using Forced Transcription Factor Expression.

The generation of human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represents a major goal in regenerative medicine and is believed would follow principles of early development. HSCs arise from a type of endothelial cell called a "hemogenic endothelium" (HE), and human HSCs are experimentally detected by transplantation into SCID or other immune-deficient mouse recipients, termed SCID-Repopulating Cells (SRC). Recently, SRCs were detected by forced expression of seven transcription factors (TF) (ERG, HOXA5, HOXA9, HOXA10, LCOR, RUNX1, and SPI1) in hPSC-derived HE, suggesting these factors are deficient in hPSC differentiation to HEs required to generate HSCs.

Definitive Closure of the Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Preterm Infants and Subsequent Short-Term Respiratory Outcomes.

A persistent patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) can have significant clinical consequences in preterm infants, depending on the degree of left-to-right shunting, its impact on cardiac performance, and associated perinatal risk factors that can mitigate or exacerbate the shunt. Although the best management strategy remains contentious, PDAs that have contraindications to, or have failed medical management have historically undergone surgical ligation. Recently smaller occluder devices and delivery systems have allowed for minimally invasive closure in the catheterization laboratory even in extremely premature infants.

Developing CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Fluorescent Reporter Human Pluripotent Stem-Cell Lines for High-Content Screening.

Application of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to knock in fluorescent proteins to endogenous genes of interest in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has the potential to facilitate hPSC-based disease modeling, drug screening, and optimization of transplantation therapy. To evaluate the capability of fluorescent reporter hPSC lines for high-content screening approaches, we targeted EGFP to the endogenous OCT4 locus. Resulting hPSC-OCT4-EGFP lines generated expressed EGFP coincident with pluripotency markers and could be adapted to multi-well formats for high-content screening (HCS) campaigns.

The Synbiotic Combination of and Quercetin Ameliorates Early Obesity and NAFLD through Gut Microbiota Reshaping and Bile Acid Metabolism Modulation.

Gut microbiota plays a key role in obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), so synbiotics could be a therapeutic alternative. We aim to evaluate a nutritional intervention together with the administration of the bacteria and the antioxidant quercetin in an in vivo model of early obesity and NAFLD. 21-day-old rats were fed with control or high-fat diet for six weeks.