Prevalence of Thyroid Nodules in Residents of Ukraine Exposed as Children or Adolescents to Iodine-131 from the Chornobyl Accident.

Although childhood exposure to radioactive iodine-131 (I-131) is an established risk factor for thyroid cancer, evidence for an association with thyroid nodules is less clear. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between childhood I-131 exposure and prevalence of ultrasound-detected thyroid nodules overall and by nodule histology/cytology (neoplastic/suspicious/non-neoplastic), size (<10 mm/≥10 mm), and number (single/multiple). This is a cross-sectional study of radiation dose (mean = 0.

Integrated visible-light polarization rotators and splitters for atomic quantum systems.

In this work, we design and experimentally demonstrate the first, to the best of our knowledge, integrated polarization splitters and rotators at blue wavelengths. We develop compact and efficient designs for both a polarization splitter and rotator at a 422-nm wavelength, an important laser-cooling transition for Sr ions. These devices are fabricated in a 200-mm wafer-scale process and experimentally demonstrated, resulting in a measured polarization-splitter transverse-electric thru-port coupling of 98.

Radiation Dose Does Not Affect the Predictive Value of Thyroid Biopsy for Diagnosing Papillary Thyroid Cancer in a Belarusian Cohort Exposed to Chernobyl Fallout.

Introduction: The Chernobyl nuclear accident exposed residents of contaminated territories to substantial quantities of radioiodines and was followed by an increase in thyroid cancer, primarily papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), among exposed children and adolescents. Although thyroid biopsy is an essential component of screening programs following accidental exposure to radioiodines, it is unknown whether the predictive value of biopsy is affected by different levels of environmental exposure.

Methods: A cohort of 11,732 Belarusians aged ≤18 years at the time of the Chernobyl accident with individual thyroid radiation dose estimates was screened at least once 11-22 years later.

Experimental Quantum Channel Discrimination Using Metastable States of a Trapped Ion.

We present experimental demonstrations of accurate and unambiguous single-shot discrimination between three quantum channels using a single trapped ^{40}Ca^{+} ion. The three channels cannot be distinguished unambiguously using repeated single channel queries, the natural classical analogue. We develop techniques for using the six-dimensional D_{5/2} state space for quantum information processing, and we implement protocols to discriminate quantum channel analogues of phase shift keying and amplitude shift keying data encodings used in classical radio communication.

Optical frequency averaging of light.

The use of averaging has long been known to reduce noise in statistically independent systems that exhibit similar levels of stochastic fluctuation. This concept of averaging is general and applies to a wide variety of physical and man-made phenomena such as particle motion, shot noise, atomic clock stability, measurement uncertainty reduction, and methods of signal processing. Despite its prevalence in use for reducing statistical uncertainty, such averaging techniques so far remain comparatively undeveloped for application to light.

Palliative care inpatients favour research participation irrespective of prognosis, performance or socioeconomic status: multicentre cohort study.

Objectives: Palliative care needs to embrace research to guide service development and effective symptom management. Healthcare professionals often feel research is too burdensome for patients who have poor performance status or are near the end of life. Many studies exclude these groups from participating.

Cooling of an integrated Brillouin laser below the thermal limit.

Photonically integrated resonators are promising as a platform for enabling ultranarrow linewidth lasers in a compact form factor. Owing to their small size, these integrated resonators suffer from thermal noise that limits the frequency stability of the optical mode to ∼100 kHz. Here, we demonstrate an integrated stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) laser based on a large mode-volume annulus resonator that realizes an ultranarrow thermal-noise-limited linewidth of 270 Hz.

High-Fidelity Ion State Detection Using Trap-Integrated Avalanche Photodiodes.

Integrated technologies greatly enhance the prospects for practical quantum information processing and sensing devices based on trapped ions. High-speed and high-fidelity ion state readout is critical for any such application. Integrated detectors offer significant advantages for system portability and can also greatly facilitate parallel operations if a separate detector can be incorporated at each ion-trapping location.

Magnesium-induced ketamine toxicity.

A 62-year-old man with metastatic duodenal cancer was admitted to a hospice for a trial of ketamine to manage complex neuropathic abdominal pain. The patient was incrementally established on a dose of 150 mg orally four times day with no adverse effects. Following treatment of hypomagnesaemia intravenously, the patient experienced marked symptoms of ketamine toxicity, known as a 'K-hole' amongst recreational users, following the next dose of ketamine.

Operation of an optical atomic clock with a Brillouin laser subsystem.

Microwave atomic clocks have traditionally served as the 'gold standard' for precision measurements of time and frequency. However, over the past decade, optical atomic clocks have surpassed the precision of their microwave counterparts by two orders of magnitude or more. Extant optical clocks occupy volumes of more than one cubic metre, and it is a substantial challenge to enable these clocks to operate in field environments, which requires the ruggedization and miniaturization of the atomic reference and clock laser along with their supporting lasers and electronics.

Ventilator dependence complications in motor neuron disease.

Long-term dependence on non-invasive ventilation (NIV) without time for advance care planning can result in significant complications that may require innovative management strategies. We present the case of a man who was admitted with respiratory failure and required NIV. Despite effective treatment for community acquired pneumonia, attempts to wean NIV failed.

A Multidisciplinary Head-to-Head Comparison of American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging and Reporting Data System and American Thyroid Association Ultrasound Risk Stratification Systems.

Background: Ultrasound plays a critical role in evaluating thyroid nodules. We compared the performance of the two most popular ultrasound malignancy risk stratification systems, the 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines and the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging and Reporting Data System (ACR TI-RADS).

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively identified 250 thyroid nodules that were surgically removed from 137 patients.

Comparative evaluation of risk management frameworks for U.S. source waters.

The U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act required states to develop source water assessment programs identifying existing and potential contamination sources; however, comprehensive risk prioritization and management approaches for surface water supplies have seen limited application.

Dumbell atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumour (AT/RT) of the cervical spine.

Spinal Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumour (AT/RT) is a highly malignant tumour, and its prognosis is dismal especially for very young patients. In this article, we present the case of a teenage boy with AT/RT in the cervical spine and its multimodality management. A review of the literature on ATRT of the spine is also presented.

Development of a new biochip array for APOE4 classification from plasma samples using immunoassay-based methods.

Background: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is a key player in lipid transport and metabolism and exists in three common isoforms: APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4. The presence of the E4 allelic variant is recognized as a major genetic risk factor for dementia and other chronic (neuro)degenerative diseases. The availability of a validated assay for rapid and reliable APOE4 classification is therefore advantageous.

Factors associated with serum thyroglobulin in a Ukrainian cohort exposed to iodine-131 from the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.

Background: Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) is associated with the presence of thyroid disease and has been proposed as a biomarker of iodine status. Few studies have examined factors related to serum Tg in populations environmentally exposed to ionizing radiation and living in regions with endemic mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency.

Methods: We screened 10,430 individuals who were living in Ukraine and under 18 years of age at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident for thyroid disease from 2001 to 2003.

Risk of Thyroid Nodules in Residents of Belarus Exposed to Chernobyl Fallout as Children and Adolescents.

Context: Although radiation exposure is an important predictor of thyroid cancer on diagnosis of a thyroid nodule, the relationship between childhood radiation exposure and thyroid nodules has not been comprehensively evaluated.

Objective: To examine the association between internal I-131 thyroid dose and thyroid nodules in young adults exposed during childhood.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cross-sectional study, we screened residents of Belarus aged ≤18 years at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident for thyroid disease (median age, 21 years) with thyroid palpation, ultrasonography, blood/urine analysis, and medical follow-up when appropriate.

Integrated optical addressing of an ion qubit.

The long coherence times and strong Coulomb interactions afforded by trapped ion qubits have enabled realizations of the necessary primitives for quantum information processing and the highest-fidelity quantum operations in any qubit to date. Although light delivery to each individual ion in a system is essential for general quantum manipulations and readout, experiments so far have employed optical systems that are cumbersome to scale to even a few tens of qubits. Here we demonstrate lithographically defined nanophotonic waveguide devices for light routing and ion addressing that are fully integrated within a surface-electrode ion trap chip.

Scalable loading of a two-dimensional trapped-ion array.

Two-dimensional arrays of trapped-ion qubits are attractive platforms for scalable quantum information processing. Sufficiently rapid reloading capable of sustaining a large array, however, remains a significant challenge. Here with the use of a continuous flux of pre-cooled neutral atoms from a remotely located source, we achieve fast loading of a single ion per site while maintaining long trap lifetimes and without disturbing the coherence of an ion quantum bit in an adjacent site.

Histopathological features of papillary thyroid carcinomas detected during four screening examinations of a Ukrainian-American cohort.

Background: There are limited data on the histopathology of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) diagnosed in irradiated populations. We evaluated the associations between iodine-131 dose and the histopathological characteristics of post-Chernobyl PTCs, the changes in these characteristics over time, and their associations with selected somatic mutations.

Methods: This study included 115 PTCs diagnosed in a Ukrainian-American cohort (n=13,243) during prescreening and four successive thyroid screenings.

Risk of thyroid follicular adenoma among children and adolescents in Belarus exposed to iodine-131 after the Chornobyl accident.

Several studies reported an increased risk of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents exposed to radioactive iodines, chiefly iodine-131 ((131)I), after the 1986 Chornobyl (Ukrainian spelling) nuclear power plant accident. The risk of benign thyroid tumors following such radiation exposure is much less well known. We have previously reported a novel finding of significantly increased risk of thyroid follicular adenoma in a screening study of children and adolescents exposed to the Chornobyl fallout in Ukraine.

Entanglement with negative Wigner function of almost 3,000 atoms heralded by one photon.

Quantum-mechanically correlated (entangled) states of many particles are of interest in quantum information, quantum computing and quantum metrology. Metrologically useful entangled states of large atomic ensembles have been experimentally realized, but these states display Gaussian spin distribution functions with a non-negative Wigner quasiprobability distribution function. Non-Gaussian entangled states have been produced in small ensembles of ions, and very recently in large atomic ensembles.

Analysis of thyroid malignant pathologic findings identified during 3 rounds of screening (1997-2008) of a cohort of children and adolescents from belarus exposed to radioiodines after the Chernobyl accident.

Background: Recent studies of children and adolescents who were exposed to radioactive iodine-131 (I-131) after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine exhibited a significant dose-related increase in the risk of thyroid cancer, but the association of radiation doses with tumor histologic and morphologic features is not clear.

Methods: A cohort of 11,664 individuals in Belarus who were aged ≤18 years at the time of the accident underwent 3 cycles of thyroid screening during 1997 to 2008. I-131 thyroid doses were estimated from individual thyroid activity measurements taken within 2 months after the accident and from dosimetric questionnaire data.