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Biomedical subjects

M A Nielsen

Publications and source records attributed to M A Nielsen.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Determinants of variant surface antigen antibody response in severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria in an area of low and unstable malaria transmission.

The variant surface antigens (VSA) of infected erythrocytes are important pathogenic markers, a set of variants (VSA(SM)), were assumed to be associated with severe malaria (SM), while SM constitutes clinically diverse forms, such as, severe malarial anemia (SMA) and cerebral malaria (CM). This study was conducted in Eastern Sudan, an area of seasonal and unstable malaria transmission. Parasites and plasma were obtained from patients with different clinical grades of malaria, and flow cytometry was used for analysis of VSA antibody (Ab) response. We found that individuals recognized a broader range of isolates had a higher level of VSA Ab against the recognized isolates (correlation coefficient, 0.727, P<0.001). Unexpectedly, at the time of malaria diagnosis, plasma from patients with CM recognized a significantly larger number of isolates than did the plasma from patients with SMA (P<0.001). Parasites obtained from patients with SMA or from children were better recognized than isolates obtained from patients with uncomplicated malaria or from adults, P<0.001, P=0.021, respectively. Taken together, the above findings suggest that the limitations in the VSA immunoglobulin G repertoire were most probably contributing to the pathogenesis of SMA but not to that of CM.

Adolescent↗

Ancilla-assisted quantum process tomography.

Complete and precise characterization of a quantum dynamical process can be achieved via the method of quantum process tomography. Using a source of correlated photons, we have implemented several methods, each investigating a wide range of processes, e.g., unitary, decohering, and polarizing. One of these methods, ancilla-assisted process tomography (AAPT), makes use of an additional "ancilla system," and we have theoretically determined the conditions when AAPT is possible. Surprisingly, entanglement is not required. We present data obtained using both separable and entangled input states. The use of entanglement yields superior results, however.

Journal Article↗

Separable states are more disordered globally than locally.

A remarkable feature of quantum entanglement is that an entangled state of two parties, Alice ( A) and Bob ( B), may be more disordered locally than globally. That is, S(A)>S(A,B), where S(*) is the von Neumann entropy. It is known that satisfaction of this inequality implies that a state is nonseparable. In this paper we prove the stronger result that for separable states the vector of eigenvalues of the density matrix of system AB is majorized by the vector of eigenvalues of the density matrix of system A alone. This gives a strong sense in which a separable state is more disordered globally than locally and a new necessary condition for separability of bipartite states in arbitrary dimensions.

Journal Article↗

Age-dependent occurrence of the intestinal ciliate Balantidium coli in pigs at a Danish research farm.

A cross sectional study of the prevalence and intensity of Balantidium coli in pigs was carried out on a Danish research farm. The prevalence of B. coli infection increased from 57% in suckling piglets to 100% in most pig groups > or = 4 weeks old. The mean number of cysts per gram faeces (CPG) of pigs aged 12 weeks and younger were < or = 206, whereas pigs aged 28 weeks and > 52 weeks had significantly higher counts of > or = 865 CPG. Although some lactating sows had very high CPG's, no significant differences in CPG could be detected between the intensities of pregnant sows, lactating sows and empty and dry sows. No human cases of B. coli infection have been published in Denmark though it is zoonotic.

Age Factors↗

Free full thickness (patch) graft urethroplasty: long-term follow-up.

Thirty-two patients underwent free, full thickness skin (patch) graft urethroplasties between September, 1974, and May, 1978. Sixty-five per cent of the 23 patients available for five-year follow-up had good results from grafts ranging from 3 to 14 cm in length. In patients with good one-year results strictures did not develop during the review period, suggesting the need for only short-term follow-up in this group.

Adolescent↗

Evidence that an accumbens to subpallidal GABAergic projection contributes to locomotor activity.

Neural projections from nucleus accumbens to subpallidal region, which contains a major GABAergic component, have been demonstrated with anatomical and electrophysiological techniques. The possible contribution of this GABA projection to the initiation of locomotor activity was investigated using neuropharmacological techniques. Injecting picrotoxin, a GABA antagonist, into the ventral globus pallidus increased locomotor activity measured in an open-field test, confirming findings. Locomotor activity was also increased when picrotoxin was injected into the lateral preoptic area, the sublenticular part of the substantia innominata and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. In another series of experiments locomotor activity initiated by injecting dopamine into the nucleus accumbens was attenuated by pretreating the lateral preoptic area, the substantia innominata and ventral globus pallidus with GABA. These observations provide evidence that GABAergic projections from accumbens to subpallidal region contribute to locomotor activity and raise the possibility that they have a role in exploratory locomotion and in certain goal-directed behaviors.

Animals↗