Detecting Heat Leaks with Trapped Ion Qubits.

The concept of passivity has been conceived to set bounds on the evolution of microscopic systems initialized in thermal states. We experimentally demonstrate the utility of two frameworks, global passivity and passivity deformation, for the detection of coupling to a hidden environment. We employ a trapped-ion quantum processor, where system qubits undergoing unitary evolution may optionally be coupled to an unobserved environment qubit, resulting in a heat leak. Evaluating the measurement data from the system qubits only, we show that global passivity can verify the presence of a heat leak, which is not detectable by a microscopic equivalent of the second law of thermodynamics. Furthermore, we experimentally show that passivity deformation allows for even more sensitive detection of heat leaks, as compared to global passivity, and detect a heat leak with an error margin of 5.3 standard deviations, in a scenario where other tests fail.

Microscope objective for imaging atomic strontium with 0.63 micrometer resolution.

Imaging and manipulating individual atoms with submicrometer separation can be instrumental for quantum simulation of condensed matter Hamiltonians and quantum computation with neutral atoms. Here we present an open-source design of a microscope objective for atomic strontium, consisting solely of off-the-shelf lenses, that is diffraction-limited for 461 nm light. A prototype built with a simple stacking design is measured to have a resolution of 0.63(4) µm, which is in agreement with the predicted value. This performance, together with the near diffraction-limited performance for 532 nm light, makes this design useful for both quantum gas microscopes and optical tweezer experiments with strontium. Our microscope can easily be adapted to experiments with other atomic species such as erbium, ytterbium, and dysprosium, as with rubidium Rydberg atoms.

[Prostate biopsy in the outpatient setting].

The article describes the methodology of transrectal diagnostic prostate biopsy under ultrasound guidance with regard to settings of municipal polyclinic; existing complications are listed. The analysis of the results of 876 biopsies performed within 3 years is presented. The distribution of the results of histological examination depending on the level of total PSA, ratio of free and total PSA, and PSA density was followed-up. Relationship between PC detection rate using standard biopsy and prostate volume is shown. The analysis of the degree of PC differentiation (Gleason score) depending on the level of total PSA, the ratio of free and total PSA, and PSA density was performed. Practical recommendations to improvement of PC detection rate are presented. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that the screening for prostate cancer for the purpose of its earlier diagnosis is reasonable.

[Combined treatment of chronic cystitis in postmenopausal women with application of AMUS-01-INTRAMAG device and rectomassager attachment].

Sixty eight postmenopausal women with chronic recurrent cystitis received local antibacterial treatment consisting in bladder ionophoresis and vaginal exposure to estrogens and vibromagnetic action of RECTOMASSAGER attachment and AMUS-01-INTRAMAG device. This local treatment proved superior to systemic one as 1-year follow-up registered a 3.1-fold reduction in recurrence rate vs control patients.

[Shewanella genus bacteria isolated from the Black sea water and molluscs].

Six (6) strains of bacteria isolated from the Black Sea water and mollusks Mytilaster lineatus have been assigned to Shewanella genus on the basis of phenotypical and molecular-genetic study. Partial sequence of 16S rRNA gene revealed 100% similarity of three of these strains to S. baltica, although they had some phenotypical differences. Three more strains were genetically related to S. colwelliana and S. affinis (99-100% of 16S rRNA sequences similarity), but they differed from these species as well as from each other in some phenotypical properties, so the question about their taxonomic status still remains open. In aerobic conditions the Black Sea strains of S. baltica adsorbed significant quantities of Fe III from the media. They reduced it to Fe (II) in anaerobic conditions. Strains isolated from mollusks were not able to reduce Fe (III).

Comment on "Electromagnetic convective cells in a nonuniform dusty plasma".

Recently, Saleem and Haque [Phys. Rev. E 60, 7612 (1999)] concluded that in the presence of a perturbed electron current parallel to an external magnetic field, the dispersion relation of the electrostatic convective cell and the magnetostatic modes is not modified. In the present Comment, the properties of electromagnetic as well as electrostatic waves in a nonuniform dusty magnetoplasma are reexamined, to demonstrate that Eq. (13) of the paper by Saleem and Haque as well as their conclusions are erroneous.