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1. Why and How do Complex Systems Self-Organize at All? Average Action Efficiency as a Predictor, Measure, Driver, and Mechanism of Self-Organization

Author: Brouillet, Matthew J and Georgiev, Georgi Yordanov
Subjects: Nonlinear Sciences - Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Abstract: Self-organization in complex systems is a process in which randomness is reduced and emergent structures appear that allow the system to function in a more competitive way with other states of the system or with other systems. It occurs only in the presence of energy gradients, facilitating energy transmission through the system and entropy production. Being a dynamic process, self-organization requires a dynamic measure and dynamic principles. The principles of decreasing unit action and increasing total action are two dynamic variational principles that are viable to utilize in a self-organizing system. Based on this, average action efficiency can serve as a quantitative measure of the degree of self-organization. Positive feedback loops connect this measure with all other characteristics of a complex system, providing all of them with a mechanism for exponential growth, and indicating power law relationships between each of them as confirmed by data and simulations. In this study, we apply those principles and the model to agent-based simulations. We find that those principles explain self-organization well and that the results confirm the model. By measuring action efficiency we can have a new answer to the question: "What is complexity and how complex is a system?". This work shows the explanatory and predictive power of those models, which can help understand and design better complex systems.
Published: 2024

2. Electromagnetic moments of the odd-mass nickel isotopes $^{59-67}$Ni

Author: Müller, P., Kaufmann, S., Miyagi, T., Billowes, J., Bissell, M. L., Blaum, K., Cheal, B., Ruiz, R. F. Garcia, Gins, W., Gorges, C., Heylen, H., Kanellakopoulos, A., Malbrunot-Ettenauer, S., Neugart, R., Neyens, G., Nörtershäuser, W., Ratajczyk, T., Rodríguez, L. V., Sánchez, R., Sailer, S., Schwenk, A., Wehner, L., Wraith, C., Xie, L., Xu, Z. Y., Yang, X. F., and Yordanov, D. T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Nuclear Theory
Abstract: The magnetic dipole and the spectroscopic quadrupole moments of the nuclear ground states in the odd-mass nickel isotopes $^{59-67}$Ni have been determined using collinear laser spectroscopy at the CERN-ISOLDE facility. They are compared to ab initio valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group (VS-IMSRG) calculations including contributions of two-body currents as well as to shell-model calculations. The two-body-current contributions significantly improve the agreement with experimental data, reducing the mean-square deviation from the experimental moments by a factor of 3 to 5, depending on the employed interaction. For all interactions, the largest contributions are obtained for the $5/2^-$ ($7/2^-$) isotopes $^{65}$Ni ($^{55}$Ni), which is ascribed to the high angular momentum of the $f$ orbitals. Our results demonstrate that the inclusion of two-body-current contributions to the magnetic moment in an isotopic chain of complex nuclei can be handled by the VS-IMSRG and can outperform phenomenological shell-model calculations using effective $g$-factors in the nickel region., Comment: Published in Physics Letters B, 10 pages, 3 figures
Published: 2024
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3. Analysis of the BraTS 2023 Intracranial Meningioma Segmentation Challenge

Author: LaBella, Dominic, Baid, Ujjwal, Khanna, Omaditya, McBurney-Lin, Shan, McLean, Ryan, Nedelec, Pierre, Rashid, Arif, Tahon, Nourel Hoda, Altes, Talissa, Bhalerao, Radhika, Dhemesh, Yaseen, Godfrey, Devon, Hilal, Fathi, Floyd, Scott, Janas, Anastasia, Kazerooni, Anahita Fathi, Kirkpatrick, John, Kent, Collin, Kofler, Florian, Leu, Kevin, Maleki, Nazanin, Menze, Bjoern, Pajot, Maxence, Reitman, Zachary J., Rudie, Jeffrey D., Saluja, Rachit, Velichko, Yury, Wang, Chunhao, Warman, Pranav, Adewole, Maruf, Albrecht, Jake, Anazodo, Udunna, Anwar, Syed Muhammad, Bergquist, Timothy, Chen, Sully Francis, Chung, Verena, Conte, Gian-Marco, Dako, Farouk, Eddy, James, Ezhov, Ivan, Khalili, Nastaran, Iglesias, Juan Eugenio, Jiang, Zhifan, Johanson, Elaine, Van Leemput, Koen, Li, Hongwei Bran, Linguraru, Marius George, Liu, Xinyang, Mahtabfar, Aria, Meier, Zeke, Moawad, Ahmed W., Mongan, John, Piraud, Marie, Shinohara, Russell Takeshi, Wiggins, Walter F., Abayazeed, Aly H., Akinola, Rachel, Jakab, András, Bilello, Michel, de Verdier, Maria Correia, Crivellaro, Priscila, Davatzikos, Christos, Farahani, Keyvan, Freymann, John, Hess, Christopher, Huang, Raymond, Lohmann, Philipp, Moassefi, Mana, Pease, Matthew W., Vollmuth, Phillipp, Sollmann, Nico, Diffley, David, Nandolia, Khanak K., Warren, Daniel I., Hussain, Ali, Fehringer, Pascal, Bronstein, Yulia, Deptula, Lisa, Stein, Evan G., Taherzadeh, Mahsa, de Oliveira, Eduardo Portela, Haughey, Aoife, Kontzialis, Marinos, Saba, Luca, Turner, Benjamin, Brüßeler, Melanie M. T., Ansari, Shehbaz, Gkampenis, Athanasios, Weiss, David Maximilian, Mansour, Aya, Shawali, Islam H., Yordanov, Nikolay, Stein, Joel M., Hourani, Roula, Moshebah, Mohammed Yahya, Abouelatta, Ahmed Magdy, Rizvi, Tanvir, Willms, Klara, Martin, Dann C., Okar, Abdullah, D'Anna, Gennaro, Taha, Ahmed, Sharifi, Yasaman, Faghani, Shahriar, Kite, Dominic, Pinho, Marco, Haider, Muhammad Ammar, Aristizabal, Alejandro, Karargyris, Alexandros, Kassem, Hasan, Pati, Sarthak, Sheller, Micah, Alonso-Basanta, Michelle, Villanueva-Meyer, Javier, Rauschecker, Andreas M., Nada, Ayman, Aboian, Mariam, Flanders, Adam E., Wiestler, Benedikt, Bakas, Spyridon, and Calabrese, Evan
Subjects: Electrical Engineering and Systems Science - Image and Video Processing, Computer Science - Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Computer Science - Machine Learning
Abstract: We describe the design and results from the BraTS 2023 Intracranial Meningioma Segmentation Challenge. The BraTS Meningioma Challenge differed from prior BraTS Glioma challenges in that it focused on meningiomas, which are typically benign extra-axial tumors with diverse radiologic and anatomical presentation and a propensity for multiplicity. Nine participating teams each developed deep-learning automated segmentation models using image data from the largest multi-institutional systematically expert annotated multilabel multi-sequence meningioma MRI dataset to date, which included 1000 training set cases, 141 validation set cases, and 283 hidden test set cases. Each case included T2, T2/FLAIR, T1, and T1Gd brain MRI sequences with associated tumor compartment labels delineating enhancing tumor, non-enhancing tumor, and surrounding non-enhancing T2/FLAIR hyperintensity. Participant automated segmentation models were evaluated and ranked based on a scoring system evaluating lesion-wise metrics including dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95% Hausdorff Distance. The top ranked team had a lesion-wise median dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.976, 0.976, and 0.964 for enhancing tumor, tumor core, and whole tumor, respectively and a corresponding average DSC of 0.899, 0.904, and 0.871, respectively. These results serve as state-of-the-art benchmarks for future pre-operative meningioma automated segmentation algorithms. Additionally, we found that 1286 of 1424 cases (90.3%) had at least 1 compartment voxel abutting the edge of the skull-stripped image edge, which requires further investigation into optimal pre-processing face anonymization steps., Comment: 16 pages, 11 tables, 10 figures, MICCAI
Published: 2024

4. Complex Stochastic Optimal Control Foundation of Quantum Mechanics

Author: Yordanov, Vasil
Subjects: Quantum Physics, Mathematical Physics
Abstract: Recent studies extend the use of the stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation to include complex variables for deriving quantum mechanical equations. However, these studies often assume that it is valid to apply the HJB equation directly to complex numbers, an approach that overlooks the fundamental problem of comparing complex numbers when finding optimal controls. This paper explores the application of the HJB equation in the context of complex variables. It provides an in-depth investigation of the stochastic movement of quantum particles within the framework of stochastic optimal control theory. We obtain the complex diffusion coefficient in the stochastic equation of motion using the Cauchy-Riemann theorem, considering that the particle's stochastic movement is described by two perfectly correlated real and imaginary stochastic processes. During the development of the covariant form of the HJB equation, we demonstrate that if the temporal stochastic increments of the two processes are perfectly correlated, then the spatial stochastic increments must be perfectly anti-correlated, and vice versa. The diffusion coefficient we derive has a form that enables the linearization of the HJB equation. The method for linearizing the HJB equation, along with the subsequent derivation of the Dirac equation, is developed in our previous work [V. Yordanov, Scientific Reports 14, 6507 (2024)]. These insights deepen our understanding of quantum dynamics and enhance the application of stochastic optimal control theory to quantum mechanics.
Published: 2024

5. Nuclear charge radii of germanium isotopes around $N$ = 40

Author: Wang, S. J., Kanellakopoulos, A., Yang, X. F., Bai, S. W., Billowes, J., Bissell, M. L., Blaum, K., Cheal, B., Devlin, C. S., Ruiz, R. F. Garcia, Han, J. Z., Heylen, H., Kaufmann, S., Konig, K., Koszorus, A., Lechner, S., Malbrunot-Ettenauer, S., Nazarewicz, W., Neugart, R., Neyens, G., Nortershauser, W., Ratajczyk, T., Reinhard, P. -G., Rodrıguez, L. V., Sels, S., Xie, L., Xu, Z. Y., Yordanov, D. T., and Yu, Y. M.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Nuclear Theory
Abstract: Collinear laser spectroscopy measurements were performed on $^{68-74}$Ge isotopes ($Z = 32$) at ISOLDE-CERN, by probing the $4s^2 4p^2 \, ^3\!P_1 \rightarrow 4s^2 4p 5s \, ^3\!P_1^o$ atomic transition (269~nm) of germanium. Nuclear charge radii are determined via the measured isotope shifts, revealing a larger local variation than the neighboring isotopic chains. Nuclear density functional theory with the Fayans functionals Fy($\Delta r$,HFB) and Fy(IVP), and the SV-min Skyrme describes the experimental data for the differential charge radii $\delta\langle r^{2} \rangle$ and charge radii $R_{\rm c}$ within the theoretical uncertainties. The observed large variation in the charge radii of germanium isotopes is better accounted for by theoretical models incorporating ground state quadrupole correlations. This suggests that the polarization effects due to pairing and deformation contribute to the observed large odd-even staggering in the charge radii of the Ge isotopic chain., Comment: 6 pages,5 figures
Published: 2024

6. A multi-institutional meningioma MRI dataset for automated multi-sequence image segmentation.

Author: LaBella, Dominic, Khanna, Omaditya, McBurney-Lin, Shan, Mclean, Ryan, Nedelec, Pierre, Rashid, Arif, Tahon, Nourel, Altes, Talissa, Baid, Ujjwal, Bhalerao, Radhika, Dhemesh, Yaseen, Floyd, Scott, Godfrey, Devon, Hilal, Fathi, Janas, Anastasia, Kazerooni, Anahita, Kent, Collin, Kirkpatrick, John, Kofler, Florian, Leu, Kevin, Maleki, Nazanin, Menze, Bjoern, Pajot, Maxence, Reitman, Zachary, Rudie, Jeffrey, Saluja, Rachit, Velichko, Yury, Wang, Chunhao, Warman, Pranav, Sollmann, Nico, Diffley, David, Nandolia, Khanak, Warren, Daniel, Hussain, Ali, Fehringer, John, Bronstein, Yulia, Deptula, Lisa, Stein, Evan, Taherzadeh, Mahsa, Portela de Oliveira, Eduardo, Haughey, Aoife, Kontzialis, Marinos, Saba, Luca, Turner, Benjamin, Brüßeler, Melanie, Ansari, Shehbaz, Gkampenis, Athanasios, Weiss, David, Mansour, Aya, Shawali, Islam, Yordanov, Nikolay, Stein, Joel, Hourani, Roula, Moshebah, Mohammed, Abouelatta, Ahmed, Rizvi, Tanvir, Willms, Klara, Martin, Dann, Okar, Abdullah, DAnna, Gennaro, Taha, Ahmed, Sharifi, Yasaman, Faghani, Shahriar, Kite, Dominic, Pinho, Marco, Haider, Muhammad, Alonso-Basanta, Michelle, Rauschecker, Andreas, Nada, Ayman, Aboian, Mariam, Flanders, Adam, Bakas, Spyridon, Calabrese, Evan, and Villanueva-Meyer, Javier
Subjects: Meningioma, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Meningeal Neoplasms, Male, Female, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Middle Aged, Aged
Abstract: Meningiomas are the most common primary intracranial tumors and can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Radiologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, and radiation oncologists rely on brain MRI for diagnosis, treatment planning, and longitudinal treatment monitoring. However, automated, objective, and quantitative tools for non-invasive assessment of meningiomas on multi-sequence MR images are not available. Here we present the BraTS Pre-operative Meningioma Dataset, as the largest multi-institutional expert annotated multilabel meningioma multi-sequence MR image dataset to date. This dataset includes 1,141 multi-sequence MR images from six sites, each with four structural MRI sequences (T2-, T2/FLAIR-, pre-contrast T1-, and post-contrast T1-weighted) accompanied by expert manually refined segmentations of three distinct meningioma sub-compartments: enhancing tumor, non-enhancing tumor, and surrounding non-enhancing T2/FLAIR hyperintensity. Basic demographic data are provided including age at time of initial imaging, sex, and CNS WHO grade. The goal of releasing this dataset is to facilitate the development of automated computational methods for meningioma segmentation and expedite their incorporation into clinical practice, ultimately targeting improvement in the care of meningioma patients.
Published: 2024

7. The power of binary pulsars in testing Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Author: Yordanov, Petar Y., Staykov, Kalin V., Yazadjiev, Stoytcho S., and Doneva, Daniela D.
Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract: Binary pulsars are a powerful tool for probing strong gravity that still outperforms direct gravitational wave observations in a number of directions due to the remarkable accuracy of the pulsar timing. They can constrain very precisely the presence of additional charges of the orbiting neutron stars leading to new channels of energy and angular momentum loss, such as the scalar dipole radiation. In the present paper, we explore in detail the possibility of constraining different classes of scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity with binary pulsars. Additionally, the existing constraints related to the observed maximum mass of neutron stars are also updated. Interestingly, depending on the equation of state, the resulting limits on the theory coupling parameters can outperform the constraints coming from binary merger observations by up to a factor of 2 even for the so-called Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity where neutron stars are often underestimated as relevant theory probes. As an additional merit, precise Bayesian methods are compared with approximate approaches with the latter showing very good performance despite their simplicity., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures
Published: 2024
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8. On Iterated Lorenz Curves

Author: Ignatov, Zvetan and Yordanov, Vilimir
Subjects: Mathematics - Probability
Abstract: It is well-known that a Lorenz curve derived from the distribution function of a random variable can be viewed itself as a probability distribution function of a new random variable [3]. We prove the surprising result that a sequence of consecutive iterations of this map leads to a non-corner case convergence independent of the starting random variable. In the primal case, the limiting distribution has a power law, with coefficient equal to the golden section. In the reflected case, the limiting distribution is classical Pareto, with a conjugate coefficient. Possible directions for applications are discussed.
Published: 2024

9. Twenty years of ecosystem services research in Bulgaria: lessons learned and future directions from a geographical perspective

Author: Nedkov, Stoyan, Stoycheva, Vanya, Prodanova, Hristina, Ananiev, Ivaylo, Yordanov, Yordan, and Pensoft Publishers
Subjects: Cultural services, literature review, mapping ES, provisioning services, regulating services
Published: 2024

10. Derivation of the stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation

Author: Yordanov, Vasil
Subjects: Mathematics - Optimization and Control, Mathematics - Probability
Abstract: In the present paper, we provide a detailed derivation of the stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation
Published: 2023

11. Electromagnetic moments of the antimony isotopes $^{112-133}$Sb

Author: Lechner, S., Miyagi, T., Xu, Z. Y., Bissell, M. L., Blaum, K., Cheal, B., Devlin, C. S., Ruiz, R. F. Garcia, Ginges, J. S. M., Heylen, H., Holt, J. D., Imgram, P., Kanellakopoulos, A., Koszorús, Á., Malbrunot-Ettenauer, S., Neugart, R., Neyens, G., Nörtershäuser, W., Plattner, P., Rodríguez, L. V., Sanamyan, G., Stroberg, S. R., Utsuno, Y., Yang, X. F., and Yordanov, D. T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Nuclear Theory
Abstract: Nuclear moments of the antimony isotopes $^{113-133}$Sb are measured by collinear laser spectroscopy and used to benchmark phenomenological shell-model and \textit{ab initio} calculations in the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group (VS-IMSRG). The shell-model calculations reproduce the electromagnetic moments over all Sb isotopes when suitable effective $g$-factors and charges are employed. Good agreement is achieved by VS-IMSRG for magnetic moments on the neutron-deficient side for both odd-even and odd-odd Sb isotopes while its results deviate from experiment on the neutron-rich side. When the same effective $g$-factors are used, VS-IMSRG agrees with experiment nearly as well as the shell model. Hence, the wave functions are very similar in both approaches and missing contributions to the M1 operator are identified as the cause of the discrepancy of VS-IMSRG with experiment. Electric quadrupole moments remain more challenging for VS-IMSRG.
Published: 2023
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12. Nuclear charge radius of $^{26m}$Al and its implication for V$_{ud}$ in the quark-mixing matrix

Author: Plattner, P., Wood, E., Ayoubi, L. Al, Beliuskina, O., Bissell, M. L., Blaum, K., Campbell, P., Cheal, B., de Groote, R. P., Devlin, C. S., Eronen, T., Filippin, L., Ruíz, R. F. García, Ge, Z., Geldhof, S., Gins, W., Godefroid, M., Heylen, H., Hukkanen, M., Imgram, P., Jaries, A., Jokinen, A., Kanellakopoulos, A., Kankainen, A., Kaufmann, S., König, K., Koszorús, Á., Kujanpää, S., Lechner, S., Malbrunot-Ettenauer, S., Müller, P., Mathieson, R., Moore, I., Nörtershäuser, W., Nesterenko, D., Neugart, R., Neyens, G., Ortiz-Cortes, A., Penttilä, H., Pohjalainen, I., Raggio, A., Reponen, M., Rinta-Antila, S., Rodríguez, L. V., Romero, J., Sánchez, R., Sommer, F., Stryjczyk, M., Virtanen, V., Xie, L., Xu, Z. Y., Yang, X. F., and Yordanov, D. T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: Collinear laser spectroscopy was performed on the isomer of the aluminium isotope $^{26m}$Al. The measured isotope shift to $^{27}$Al in the $3s^{2}3p\;^{2}\!P^\circ_{3/2} \rightarrow 3s^{2}4s\;^{2}\!S_{1/2}$ atomic transition enabled the first experimental determination of the nuclear charge radius of $^{26m}$Al, resulting in $R_c$=\qty{3.130\pm.015}{\femto\meter}. This differs by 4.5 standard deviations from the extrapolated value used to calculate the isospin-symmetry breaking corrections in the superallowed $\beta$ decay of $^{26m}$Al. Its corrected $\mathcal{F}t$ value, important for the estimation of $V_{ud}$ in the CKM matrix, is thus shifted by one standard deviation to \qty{3071.4\pm1.0}{\second}., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett
Published: 2023

13. Electromagnetic Properties of Indium Isotopes Elucidate the Doubly Magic Character of 100Sn

Author: Karthein, J., Ricketts, C. M., Ruiz, R. F. Garcia, Billowes, J., Binnersley, C. L., Cocolios, T. E., Dobaczewski, J., Farooq-Smith, G. J., Flanagan, K. T., Georgiev, G., Gins, W., de Groote, R. P., Gustafsson, F. P., Holt, J. D., Kanellakopoulos, A., Koszorús, Á., Leimbach, D., Lynch, K. M., Miyagi, T., Nazarewicz, W., Neyens, G., Reinhard, P. -G., Sahoo, B. K., Vernon, A. R., Wilkins, S. G., Yang, X. F., and Yordanov, D. T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Nuclear Theory, Physics - Atomic Physics
Abstract: Our understanding of nuclear properties in the vicinity of 100Sn, suggested to be the heaviest doubly magic nucleus with equal numbers of protons (Z=50) and neutrons (N=50), has been a long-standing challenge for experimental and theoretical nuclear physics. Contradictory experimental evidence exists on the role of nuclear collectivity in this region of the nuclear chart. Using precision laser spectroscopy, we measured the ground-state electromagnetic moments of indium (Z=49) isotopes approaching the N=50 neutron number down to 101In, and nuclear charge radii of 101-131In spanning almost the complete range between the two major neutron closed-shells at N=50 and N=82. Our results for both nuclear charge radii and quadrupole moments reveal striking parabolic trends as a function of the neutron number, with a clear reduction toward these two neutron closed-shells, thus supporting a doubly magic character of 100Sn. Two complementary nuclear many-body frameworks, density functional theory and ab initio methods, elucidate our findings. A detailed comparison with our experimental results exposes deficiencies of nuclear models, establishing a benchmark for future theoretical developments., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables; data and code availability statements added; reference titles added
Published: 2023

14. Upper Eyelid Blepharoplasty: An Approach for a Simplified, Safe and Effective Procedure

Author: Yordanov Y. P.
Subjects: upper blepharoplasty, eyelid surgery, oculoplastic surgery, patient safety, Medicine
Abstract: Upper blepharoplasty has significantly evolved over the past two decades from the unified routine excision of skin, muscle, and fat to a sophisticated and individualized to the patients’ needs surgical intervention. The contemporary techniques aim to correct age-related changes while preserving or even improving anatomy and function.
Published: 2024
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15. Hereditary and wild type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in Bulgaria in patients suspected for cardiac amyloidosis

Author: S. Stefanov, N. Stoyanov, N. Koleva, D. Mikova, A. Yordanov, Z. Pavlova, E. Kinova, I. Petrova, L. Demirevska, T. Todorov, T. Chamova, M. Garcheva, A. Kundurdjiev, A. Todorova, I. Tournev, Y. Palashev, I. Daskalov, M. Dimova, I. Gruev, Y. Yotov, A. Goudev, V. Velchev, and Mariana Gospodinova
Subjects: amyloidosis, transthyretin cardiomyopathy, red fla, Medicine, Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system, RC666-701
Abstract: Introduction: Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is a severe progressive disease, more common than previously expected. The main objectives were to evaluate hereditary and wild type ATTR-CM frequency and clinical manifestations. Material and methods: One hundred seventy-eight patients at mean age 68 ± 13 years (129 males), referred by cardiologists with suspected cardiac amyloidosis (left ventricular wall thickness ≥ 12 mm and red flags) were evaluated. Pyrophosphate scintigraphy (99mTc-PYP) grade 2-3 myocardial uptake in the absence of monoclonal protein confirmed the diagnosis. Genetic test differentiated variant from wild type ATTR-CM. Endomyocardial biopsy with amyloid typing was performed in two patients. Results: Cardiac amyloidosis was diagnosed in 69 patients: light chain in 24 (13%) and ATTR-CM in 45 patients (25%). Wild type (ATTRwt) was found in 21 (12%) male patients at mean age 81 ± 6 years and variant type (ATTRv) in 24 patients (13%) at mean age 58 ± 7 years (15 males). In all ATTRv-CM patients some degree of peripheral polyneuropathy was found. The most common clinical red flags at diagnosis in both ATTRv and ATTRwt were heart failure in all patients, atrial fibrillation (16; 36%), pacemaker (5; 11%), and carpal tunnel syndrome (8; 18%). Severe aortic stenosis (4; 19%), spinal stenosis (2;10%), biceps tendon rupture (1; 5%) were characteristic for the wild type. At follow up, four patients needed a pacemaker for high degree AV block, six patients developed new onset atrial fibrillation, seventeen patients needed either initiation or an increase of the dose of loop diuretic, another 7 patients were hospitalized for heart failure exacerbation. Eight patients (18%) died, 7 (33%) with ATTRwt-CM and 1 (4%) with ATTRv-CM, all with advanced heart failure, 4 with concomitant severe aortic stenosis. Conclusions: This study provides the first nationwide estimates of the frequency and the clinical manifestations of ATTR-CM. Confirming the severity of the disease and poor prognosis, a low threshold for screening is needed for early diagnosis and timely treatment.
Published: 2024
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16. Reduced temporal muscle thickness predicts shorter survival in patients undergoing chronic subdural haematoma drainage

Author: Tommi K. Korhonen, Otso Arponen, Moritz Steinruecke, Ilaria Pecorella, Harry Mee, Stefan Yordanov, Edoardo Viaroli, Mathew R. Guilfoyle, Angelos Kolias, Ivan Timofeev, Peter Hutchinson, and Adel Helmy
Subjects: Body composition, Chronic subdural haematoma, Computed tomography, Frailty, Sarcopenia, Diseases of the musculoskeletal system, RC925-935, Human anatomy, QM1-695
Abstract: Abstract Background Chronic subdural haematoma (CSDH) drainage is a common neurosurgical procedure. CSDHs cause excess mortality, which is exacerbated by frailty. Sarcopenia contributes to frailty – its key component, low muscle mass, can be assessed using cross‐sectional imaging. We aimed to examine the prognostic role of temporal muscle thickness (TMT) measured from preoperative computed tomography head scans among patients undergoing surgical CSDH drainage. Methods We retrospectively identified all patients who underwent CSDH drainage within 1 year of February 2019. We measured their mean TMT from preoperative computed tomography scans, tested the reliability of these measurements, and evaluated their prognostic value for postoperative survival. Results One hundred and eighty‐eight (122, 65% males) patients (median age 78 years, IQR 70–85 years) were included. Thirty‐four (18%) patients died within 2 years, and 51 (27%) died at a median follow‐up of 39 months (IQR 34–42 months). Intra‐ and inter‐observer reliability of TMT measurements was good‐to‐excellent (ICC 0.85–0.97, P
Published: 2024
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17. A comparative analysis of pricing and reimbursement systems between Italy and Bulgaria

Author: Carmen Cannavale, Assunta De Rosa, Emanuil Yordanov, Iva Parvova, Emil Hristov, and Valentina Petkova
Subjects: Pharmacy and materia medica, RS1-441
Abstract: Pricing and reimbursement in the European Union (EU) are unified by Directive 89/105/EEC/21.12.1988. The directive has a framework nature; it defines deadlines for decision-making, legal protection, publicity of information, tacit consent, etc. The specific mechanisms are subject to national measures, leading to differences in Member States. The aim of the study is a comparative analysis of the regulatory measures for pricing and reimbursement of medicinal products in Bulgaria and Italy. We looked at four main pricing and reimbursement measures: positive drug lists, reference pricing, health technology assessment, and innovative schemes. We used documentary analysis and synthesis, comparative, and statistical methods. The two countries’ pricing and reimbursement systems are fundamentally different. Italy’s system has long traditions and guarantees stability in the availability and affordability of medicinal products for the population. Since 2000, the regulations concerning the pricing and reimbursement system in Bulgaria have been amended more than 42 times, which characterizes the Bulgarian pricing and reimbursement policy as regulatoryly unstable.
Published: 2024
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18. Systemic vasculitis associated with anti neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in Bulgaria – epidemiological, health-demographic and clinical-pharmacological real-world data

Author: Iva Parvova, Tzvetomir Delyiski, Parvoleta Peteva, Lubomir Marinchev, Emil Hristov, Emanuil Yordanov, and Valentina Petkova
Subjects: Pharmacy and materia medica, RS1-441
Abstract: Systemic vasculitides are rare and heterogeneous diseases affecting different organs and systems with varying degrees of severity depending on the type of vessels affected. The etiology and pathogenesis are unclear. Immunе mechanisms play a role in the pathogenesis: deposition of immune complexes, autoantibodies (anti-endothelial and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody, cellular and molecular responses, granulomas, and endothelial cell damage. All vasculitides are “rare diseases”. ANCA- associated vasculitis has an incidence of 20 cases/1 million population. Without treatment, mortality is >90% within up to 5 years. We conducted a two-centre, retrospective, observational, non- interventional, epidemiological, health-demographic, clinical-pharmacological study to evaluate ANCA-associated vasculitis in Bulgaria. From 2018 to 2021, we screened 12 individuals with Wegener’s granulomatosis. The analyzed population is approximately 60% of the patients in Bulgaria. The time from symptom onset to diagnosis is short, but the diagnosis is made at an advanced stage of the disease - the measured BVAS version 3 activity is moderate-severe.
Published: 2024
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19. Neutron stars in Gauss-Bonnet gravity -- nonlinear scalarization and gravitational phase transitions

Author: Doneva, Daniela D., Krüger, Christian J., Staykov, Kalin V., and Yordanov, Petar Y.
Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract: It was recently discovered that scalarized neutron stars in scalar-tensor theories can undergo a gravitational phase transition to a non-scalarized (GR) state. Surprisingly, even though the driving mechanism is totally different, the process resembles closely the first-order matter phase transition from confined nuclear matter to deconfined quark matter in neutron star cores. The studies until now were limited, though, to only one theory of gravity and a limited range of parameters. With the present paper, we aim at demonstrating that gravitational phase transitions are more common than expected. More specifically, we show that the phenomenon of nonlinear scalarization is present for neutron stars in Gauss-Bonnet gravity leading to the possibility of gravitational phase transition. Moreover, it can be observed for a wide range of parameters so no fine-tuning is needed. This solidifies the conjecture that gravitational phase transitions are an important phenomenon for compact objects and their astrophysical implications deserve an in-depth study., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures
Published: 2023

20. The Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS-METS) Challenge 2023: Brain Metastasis Segmentation on Pre-treatment MRI

Author: Moawad, Ahmed W., Janas, Anastasia, Baid, Ujjwal, Ramakrishnan, Divya, Saluja, Rachit, Ashraf, Nader, Jekel, Leon, Amiruddin, Raisa, Adewole, Maruf, Albrecht, Jake, Anazodo, Udunna, Aneja, Sanjay, Anwar, Syed Muhammad, Bergquist, Timothy, Calabrese, Evan, Chiang, Veronica, Chung, Verena, Conte, Gian Marco Marco, Dako, Farouk, Eddy, James, Ezhov, Ivan, Familiar, Ariana, Farahani, Keyvan, Iglesias, Juan Eugenio, Jiang, Zhifan, Johanson, Elaine, Kazerooni, Anahita Fathi, Kofler, Florian, Krantchev, Kiril, LaBella, Dominic, Van Leemput, Koen, Li, Hongwei Bran, Linguraru, Marius George, Link, Katherine E., Liu, Xinyang, Maleki, Nazanin, Meier, Zeke, Menze, Bjoern H, Moy, Harrison, Osenberg, Klara, Piraud, Marie, Reitman, Zachary, Shinohara, Russel Takeshi, Tahon, Nourel hoda, Nada, Ayman, Velichko, Yuri S., Wang, Chunhao, Wiestler, Benedikt, Wiggins, Walter, Shafique, Umber, Willms, Klara, Avesta, Arman, Bousabarah, Khaled, Chakrabarty, Satrajit, Gennaro, Nicolo, Holler, Wolfgang, Kaur, Manpreet, LaMontagne, Pamela, Lin, MingDe, Lost, Jan, Marcus, Daniel S., Maresca, Ryan, Merkaj, Sarah, Nada, Ayaman, Pedersen, Gabriel Cassinelli, von Reppert, Marc, Sotiras, Aristeidis, Teytelboym, Oleg, Tillmans, Niklas, Westerhoff, Malte, Youssef, Ayda, Godfrey, Devon, Floyd, Scott, Rauschecker, Andreas, Villanueva-Meyer, Javier, Pflüger, Irada, Cho, Jaeyoung, Bendszus, Martin, Brugnara, Gianluca, Cramer, Justin, Perez-Carillo, Gloria J. Guzman, Johnson, Derek R., Kam, Anthony, Kwan, Benjamin Yin Ming, Lai, Lillian, Lall, Neil U., Memon, Fatima, Patro, Satya Narayana, Petrovic, Bojan, So, Tiffany Y., Thompson, Gerard, Wu, Lei, Schrickel, E. Brooke, Bansal, Anu, Barkhof, Frederik, Besada, Cristina, Chu, Sammy, Druzgal, Jason, Dusoi, Alexandru, Farage, Luciano, Feltrin, Fabricio, Fong, Amy, Fung, Steve H., Gray, R. Ian, Ikuta, Ichiro, Iv, Michael, Postma, Alida A., Mahajan, Amit, Joyner, David, Krumpelman, Chase, Letourneau-Guillon, Laurent, Lincoln, Christie M., Maros, Mate E., Miller, Elka, Morón, Fanny, Nimchinsky, Esther A., Ozsarlak, Ozkan, Patel, Uresh, Rohatgi, Saurabh, Saha, Atin, Sayah, Anousheh, Schwartz, Eric D., Shih, Robert, Shiroishi, Mark S., Small, Juan E., Tanwar, Manoj, Valerie, Jewels, Weinberg, Brent D., White, Matthew L., Young, Robert, Zohrabian, Vahe M., Azizova, Aynur, Brüßeler, Melanie Maria Theresa, Fehringer, Pascal, Ghonim, Mohanad, Ghonim, Mohamed, Gkampenis, Athanasios, Okar, Abdullah, Pasquini, Luca, Sharifi, Yasaman, Singh, Gagandeep, Sollmann, Nico, Soumala, Theodora, Taherzadeh, Mahsa, Yordanov, Nikolay, Vollmuth, Philipp, Foltyn-Dumitru, Martha, Malhotra, Ajay, Abayazeed, Aly H., Dellepiane, Francesco, Lohmann, Philipp, Pérez-García, Víctor M., Elhalawani, Hesham, Al-Rubaiey, Sanaria, Armindo, Rui Duarte, Ashraf, Kholod, Asla, Moamen M., Badawy, Mohamed, Bisschop, Jeroen, Lomer, Nima Broomand, Bukatz, Jan, Chen, Jim, Cimflova, Petra, Corr, Felix, Crawley, Alexis, Deptula, Lisa, Elakhdar, Tasneem, Shawali, Islam H., Faghani, Shahriar, Frick, Alexandra, Gulati, Vaibhav, Haider, Muhammad Ammar, Hierro, Fátima, Dahl, Rasmus Holmboe, Jacobs, Sarah Maria, Hsieh, Kuang-chun Jim, Kandemirli, Sedat G., Kersting, Katharina, Kida, Laura, Kollia, Sofia, Koukoulithras, Ioannis, Li, Xiao, Abouelatta, Ahmed, Mansour, Aya, Maria-Zamfirescu, Ruxandra-Catrinel, Marsiglia, Marcela, Mateo-Camacho, Yohana Sarahi, McArthur, Mark, McDonnell, Olivia, McHugh, Maire, Moassefi, Mana, Morsi, Samah Mostafa, Muntenu, Alexander, Nandolia, Khanak K., Naqvi, Syed Raza, Nikanpour, Yalda, Alnoury, Mostafa, Nouh, Abdullah Mohamed Aly, Pappafava, Francesca, Patel, Markand D., Petrucci, Samantha, Rawie, Eric, Raymond, Scott, Roohani, Borna, Sabouhi, Sadeq, Sanchez-Garcia, Laura M., Shaked, Zoe, Suthar, Pokhraj P., Altes, Talissa, Isufi, Edvin, Dhermesh, Yaseen, Gass, Jaime, Thacker, Jonathan, Tarabishy, Abdul Rahman, Turner, Benjamin, Vacca, Sebastiano, Vilanilam, George K., Warren, Daniel, Weiss, David, Worede, Fikadu, Yousry, Sara, Lerebo, Wondwossen, Aristizabal, Alejandro, Karargyris, Alexandros, Kassem, Hasan, Pati, Sarthak, Sheller, Micah, Bakas, Spyridon, Rudie, Jeffrey D., and Aboian, Mariam
Subjects: Quantitative Biology - Other Quantitative Biology, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science - Image and Video Processing
Abstract: The translation of AI-generated brain metastases (BM) segmentation into clinical practice relies heavily on diverse, high-quality annotated medical imaging datasets. The BraTS-METS 2023 challenge has gained momentum for testing and benchmarking algorithms using rigorously annotated internationally compiled real-world datasets. This study presents the results of the segmentation challenge and characterizes the challenging cases that impacted the performance of the winning algorithms. Untreated brain metastases on standard anatomic MRI sequences (T1, T2, FLAIR, T1PG) from eight contributed international datasets were annotated in stepwise method: published UNET algorithms, student, neuroradiologist, final approver neuroradiologist. Segmentations were ranked based on lesion-wise Dice and Hausdorff distance (HD95) scores. False positives (FP) and false negatives (FN) were rigorously penalized, receiving a score of 0 for Dice and a fixed penalty of 374 for HD95. Eight datasets comprising 1303 studies were annotated, with 402 studies (3076 lesions) released on Synapse as publicly available datasets to challenge competitors. Additionally, 31 studies (139 lesions) were held out for validation, and 59 studies (218 lesions) were used for testing. Segmentation accuracy was measured as rank across subjects, with the winning team achieving a LesionWise mean score of 7.9. Common errors among the leading teams included false negatives for small lesions and misregistration of masks in space.The BraTS-METS 2023 challenge successfully curated well-annotated, diverse datasets and identified common errors, facilitating the translation of BM segmentation across varied clinical environments and providing personalized volumetric reports to patients undergoing BM treatment.
Published: 2023

21. Crop identification using deep learning on LUCAS crop cover photos

Author: Yordanov, Momchil, d'Andrimont, Raphael, Martinez-Sanchez, Laura, Lemoine, Guido, Fasbender, Dominique, and van der Velde, Marijn
Subjects: Computer Science - Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Abstract: Crop classification via deep learning on ground imagery can deliver timely and accurate crop-specific information to various stakeholders. Dedicated ground-based image acquisition exercises can help to collect data in data scarce regions, improve control on timing of collection, or when study areas are to small to monitor via satellite. Automatic labelling is essential when collecting large volumes of data. One such data collection is the EU's Land Use Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS), and in particular, the recently published LUCAS Cover photos database. The aim of this paper is to select and publish a subset of LUCAS Cover photos for 12 mature major crops across the EU, to deploy, benchmark, and identify the best configuration of Mobile-net for the classification task, to showcase the possibility of using entropy-based metrics for post-processing of results, and finally to show the applications and limitations of the model in a practical and policy relevant context. In particular, the usefulness of automatically identifying crops on geo-tagged photos is illustrated in the context of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. The work has produced a dataset of 169,460 images of mature crops for the 12 classes, out of which 15,876 were manually selected as representing a clean sample without any foreign objects or unfavorable conditions. The best performing model achieved a Macro F1 (M-F1) of 0.75 on an imbalanced test dataset of 8,642 photos. Using metrics from information theory, namely - the Equivalence Reference Probability, resulted in achieving an increase of 6%. The most unfavorable conditions for taking such images, across all crop classes, were found to be too early or late in the season. The proposed methodology shows the possibility for using minimal auxiliary data, outside the images themselves, in order to achieve a M-F1 of 0.817 for labelling between 12 major European crops.
Published: 2023

22. Autoencoder-based prediction of ICU clinical codes

Author: Yordanov, Tsvetan R., Abu-Hanna, Ameen, Ravelli, Anita CJ, and Vagliano, Iacopo
Subjects: Computer Science - Machine Learning, Computer Science - Information Retrieval, 68, J.3
Abstract: Availability of diagnostic codes in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is crucial for patient care as well as reimbursement purposes. However, entering them in the EHR is tedious, and some clinical codes may be overlooked. Given an in-complete list of clinical codes, we investigate the performance of ML methods on predicting the complete ones, and assess the added predictive value of including other clinical patient data in this task. We used the MIMIC-III dataset and frame the task of completing the clinical codes as a recommendation problem. We con-sider various autoencoder approaches plus two strong baselines; item co-occurrence and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). Inputs are 1) a record's known clinical codes, 2) the codes plus variables. The co-occurrence-based ap-proach performed slightly better (F1 score=0.26, Mean Average Precision [MAP]=0.19) than the SVD (F1=0.24, MAP=0.18). However, the adversarial autoencoder achieved the best performance when using the codes plus variables (F1=0.32, MAP=0.25). Adversarial autoencoders performed best in terms of F1 and were equal to vanilla and denoising autoencoders in term of MAP. Using clinical variables in addition to the incomplete codes list, improves the predictive performance of the models., Comment: Extended version of 5-page short paper submitted to AIME23 conference
Published: 2023

23. Derivation of Dirac equation from the stochastic optimal control principles of quantum mechanics

Author: Yordanov, Vasil
Published: 2024
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24. Quantifying the effect of gate errors on variational quantum eigensolvers for quantum chemistry

Author: Dalton, Kieran, Long, Christopher K., Yordanov, Yordan S., Smith, Charles G., Barnes, Crispin H. W., Mertig, Normann, and Arvidsson-Shukur, David R. M.
Published: 2024
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25. Process analysis of the anaerobe Phocaeicola vulgatus in a shake flasks and fermenter reveals pH and product inhibition

Author: Keitel, Laura, Miebach, Katharina, Rummel, Lea, Yordanov, Stanislav, and Büchs, Jochen
Published: 2024
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26. Comparative analysis of comorbidity, surgical complications, pharmacotherapeutic needs, and rehabilitation requirements in transabdominal preperitoneal hernia repair versus conventional operative treatment—current results and benefits

Author: Konstantin Kostov, Vesselin Marinov Marinov, Stefka Аchkova Ivanova, Niya Emilova Semerdzhieva, Mariya Sevdelinova Chaneva, Ventseslava Petrova Atanasova, Petar Yordanov Atanasov, Maria Stamova Vakrilova Becheva, and Valentina Bojanova Petkova
Subjects: Pharmacy and materia medica, RS1-441
Abstract: Background: Laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) inguinal hernia repair is a relatively new method of inguinal hernia surgical repair that, at theory, provides a good view of the inguinal anatomy and sac contents and, as a laparoscopic procedure, is considered less invasive and with fewer complications compared to total extraperitoneal (TEP) inguinal hernia repair. Purpose: This study aims to assess the short-term outcome of laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal inguinal hernia (TAPP) repair. Material and methods: The retrospective clinical data for 138 patients with unilateral and bilateral hernia, operated in the Department of General, Visceral, and Emergency Surgery of the University Emergency Medicine Hospital ‘N. Pirogov’ from 01 January 2022, to 01 January 2023, were included. The risk profile of the patients, the intraoperative and postoperative complications, the duration of hospital stay, the frequency, and the type of analgesics used were analyzed. Results: Forty-one women (29.7%) were included; men comprised 97 (70.29%) of the cohort. Of the selected group, 63 (45.7%) patients had indirect inguinal hernias, 34 (24.6%), and 25 (18.1%) were diagnosed with direct inguinal hernia and accreta inguinal hernia, respectively. A history of repeatedly occurring hernias was found in 16 patients (11.6%). The average hospital stay was 32 hours (or 1.3 days) and ranged from 24 hours (1 day) to 48 hours (2 days). Complications occurred in 11 (7.97%) patients. The need for analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents was reliably reduced compared to the patients undergoing conventional surgical treatment of inguinal hernia. The patients were followed for three months post-discharge for the occurrence of surgical morbidity associated with the TAPP hernia repair. None of the patients used an antimicrobial agent, as indicated by a possible complicating bacterial infection. Rehabilitation was started within the first 12 hours after the operation, thus contributing to a significantly shorter hospital stay compared to patients undergoing conventional surgical repair of an inguinal hernia. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that TAPP inguinal hernia repair is a safe procedure with reduced postoperative pain. It has fewer complications, with no significantly longer operative time and a shorter overall hospital stay.
Published: 2024
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27. SURFACE COLONIZATION OF CANDIDA SPP. IN CONVENTIONAL AND DOUBLE-LAYER COMPLETE DENTURES - A PILOT STUDY

Author: Mariana Yankova, Bozhidar Yordanov, Nikolay Apostolov, Stefan Zlatev, and Mariana Dimova- Gabrovska
Subjects: complete dentures, soft denture liner, resilient liner, candida spp., Dentistry, RK1-715, Medicine (General), R5-920
Abstract: Background: The scientific interest in dominant Candida species colonizing the surface of conventional and double-layer dentures (D-LCDs) is still topical. Numerous studies are comparing fungal colonization in both types of removable dentures. Aim: Performing a comparative analysis of the colonization of Candida spp. on the dentures surfaces of the conventional (CCDs) and the double-layer dentures (soft-lined) complete dentures (D-LCDs) over six months, placing them under the same intraoral in vivo conditions. Methods: For isolating Candida spp., specimens were obtained from inner denture surfaces using two sterile swabs, one for the upper complete denture (n=28) and one for the lower complete denture (n=28). The culture-based Candida detection method with CHROM agar was used to identify Candida species. Results: In the third month after dentures delivery C. Albicans is the predominant Candida spp. found on both types of complete dentures surface and isolated in 46 % of the patients with conventional complete dentures and 43 % with double-layer dentures (p>0.05). In the sixth month of the finished prosthetic treatment, combinations of C. Albicans and non-albicans Candida, predominantly C. Tropicalis, C. Glabrata and C. Parapsilosis, were found in 43 % of D-LCDs and 45 % of CCDs (p>0.05). Conclusion: There was no difference in colonization based on the different materials used for denture fabrication. However, there is a significant proportional change for all studied Candida spp. over the period (3-6 months after delivery), irrespective of the denture material used.
Published: 2024
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28. Non-interventional observational retrospective-prospective study of health-related quality of life (EuroQoL) in patients with vasculitis associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies undergoing treatment with rituximab

Author: Iva Parvova, Tzvetomir Delyiski, Parvoleta Peteva, Valentina Petkova, Еmil Hristov, Emanuil Yordanov, Lubomir Marinchev, Emil Milushev, and Milen Dimitrov
Subjects: Pharmacy and materia medica, RS1-441
Abstract: Working with patients with Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)- associated vasculitis (AAV) requires a clear understanding of their current health status. In the scientific literature, there is not enough data on their quality of life with the different therapeutic regimens. No generic tools have been developed to assess functional indicators and health status. The aim of the study is to measure the health-related quality of life (physical, psychological and social functioning) in a Bulgarian population of patients with systemic vasculitis associated with ANCA undergoing treatment with rituximab using a common tool. Design – retrospective-prospective, observational, non- interventional, controlled study in two periods, in two rheumatology centers in Bulgaria. Treatment with rituximab leads to qualitative and quantitative improvement in all components of physical health, mental and social components. All measured parameters are within the normal range for the general population. Rituximab treatment of AAV is the best therapeutic alternative in current rheumatology practice.
Published: 2024
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29. Application of biological medicinal products and tyrosine kinase inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis and COVID-19: A systematic review of scientific literature

Author: Iva Parvova, Emanuil Yordanov, Emil Hristov, and Valentina Petkova
Subjects: Pharmacy and materia medica, RS1-441
Abstract: We analyzed whether commonly used biological medicinal products and/or tyrosine kinase inhibitors with indications for treatment of rheumatologic diseases can be used in patients with concurrent COVID-19 by systematically reviewing scientific articles. The articles were selected according to PRISMA by keywords in the MEDLINE and Central Medical Library - MU Sofia databases for the period January 2020–December 2023. We found 168 scientific publications, of which 9 met the set criteria. Results were evaluated using descriptive methods and the PICOS tool. We found no evidence that the use of BMPs and TKIs in patients with rheumatologic diseases leads to an increased risk of COVID-19 infection and/or a more severe course of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Several cases of prolonged or atypical COVID-19-induced pneumonia have been identified in patients treated with Rituximab. This suggests the need for caution in the use of this medicinal product in patients with COVID-19. The 2022 EULAR recommendations are in the same spirit.
Published: 2024
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30. 70 Years Value Added Tax

Author: Rumen Yordanov Brussarski
Subjects: consumption taxes, turnover tax, value added tax, Finance, HG1-9999
Abstract: In 2024 the value added tax becomes 70 years old. This “crown of fiscal technique” arose on the basis of the turnover tax, which in turn was a product of the ancient excise tax. Today value added tax is the backbone of the tax system in almost all countries of the world. This paper is dedicated to the prehistory of the tax, the pioneering experience of France (and the European Union) from the middle of the last century and the implementation of the value added tax in Bulgaria.
Published: 2024

31. A multi-institutional meningioma MRI dataset for automated multi-sequence image segmentation

Author: Dominic LaBella, Omaditya Khanna, Shan McBurney-Lin, Ryan Mclean, Pierre Nedelec, Arif S. Rashid, Nourel hoda Tahon, Talissa Altes, Ujjwal Baid, Radhika Bhalerao, Yaseen Dhemesh, Scott Floyd, Devon Godfrey, Fathi Hilal, Anastasia Janas, Anahita Kazerooni, Collin Kent, John Kirkpatrick, Florian Kofler, Kevin Leu, Nazanin Maleki, Bjoern Menze, Maxence Pajot, Zachary J. Reitman, Jeffrey D. Rudie, Rachit Saluja, Yury Velichko, Chunhao Wang, Pranav I. Warman, Nico Sollmann, David Diffley, Khanak K. Nandolia, Daniel I Warren, Ali Hussain, John Pascal Fehringer, Yulia Bronstein, Lisa Deptula, Evan G. Stein, Mahsa Taherzadeh, Eduardo Portela de Oliveira, Aoife Haughey, Marinos Kontzialis, Luca Saba, Benjamin Turner, Melanie M. T. Brüßeler, Shehbaz Ansari, Athanasios Gkampenis, David Maximilian Weiss, Aya Mansour, Islam H. Shawali, Nikolay Yordanov, Joel M. Stein, Roula Hourani, Mohammed Yahya Moshebah, Ahmed Magdy Abouelatta, Tanvir Rizvi, Klara Willms, Dann C. Martin, Abdullah Okar, Gennaro D’Anna, Ahmed Taha, Yasaman Sharifi, Shahriar Faghani, Dominic Kite, Marco Pinho, Muhammad Ammar Haider, Michelle Alonso-Basanta, Javier Villanueva-Meyer, Andreas M. Rauschecker, Ayman Nada, Mariam Aboian, Adam Flanders, Spyridon Bakas, and Evan Calabrese
Subjects: Science
Abstract: Abstract Meningiomas are the most common primary intracranial tumors and can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Radiologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, and radiation oncologists rely on brain MRI for diagnosis, treatment planning, and longitudinal treatment monitoring. However, automated, objective, and quantitative tools for non-invasive assessment of meningiomas on multi-sequence MR images are not available. Here we present the BraTS Pre-operative Meningioma Dataset, as the largest multi-institutional expert annotated multilabel meningioma multi-sequence MR image dataset to date. This dataset includes 1,141 multi-sequence MR images from six sites, each with four structural MRI sequences (T2-, T2/FLAIR-, pre-contrast T1-, and post-contrast T1-weighted) accompanied by expert manually refined segmentations of three distinct meningioma sub-compartments: enhancing tumor, non-enhancing tumor, and surrounding non-enhancing T2/FLAIR hyperintensity. Basic demographic data are provided including age at time of initial imaging, sex, and CNS WHO grade. The goal of releasing this dataset is to facilitate the development of automated computational methods for meningioma segmentation and expedite their incorporation into clinical practice, ultimately targeting improvement in the care of meningioma patients.
Published: 2024
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32. A Stable, Fast, and Fully Automatic Learning Algorithm for Predictive Coding Networks

Author: Salvatori, Tommaso, Song, Yuhang, Yordanov, Yordan, Millidge, Beren, Xu, Zhenghua, Sha, Lei, Emde, Cornelius, Bogacz, Rafal, and Lukasiewicz, Thomas
Subjects: Computer Science - Neural and Evolutionary Computing, Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science - Machine Learning
Abstract: Predictive coding networks are neuroscience-inspired models with roots in both Bayesian statistics and neuroscience. Training such models, however, is quite inefficient and unstable. In this work, we show how by simply changing the temporal scheduling of the update rule for the synaptic weights leads to an algorithm that is much more efficient and stable than the original one, and has theoretical guarantees in terms of convergence. The proposed algorithm, that we call incremental predictive coding (iPC) is also more biologically plausible than the original one, as it it fully automatic. In an extensive set of experiments, we show that iPC constantly performs better than the original formulation on a large number of benchmarks for image classification, as well as for the training of both conditional and masked language models, in terms of test accuracy, efficiency, and convergence with respect to a large set of hyperparameters., Comment: Change of title and abstract, that now reflect the version accepted for publication. One co-author also added, that performed the additional experiments
Published: 2022

33. Quantifying the effect of gate errors on variational quantum eigensolvers for quantum chemistry

Author: Dalton, Kieran, Long, Christopher K., Yordanov, Yordan S., Smith, Charles G., Barnes, Crispin H. W., Mertig, Normann, and Arvidsson-Shukur, David R. M.
Subjects: Quantum Physics
Abstract: Variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) are leading candidates to demonstrate near-term quantum advantage. Here, we conduct density-matrix simulations of leading gate-based VQEs for a range of molecules. We numerically quantify their level of tolerable depolarizing gate-errors. We find that: (i) The best-performing VQEs require gate-error probabilities between $10^{-6}$ and $10^{-4}$ ( $10^{-4}$ and $10^{-2}$ with error mitigation) to predict, within chemical accuracy, ground-state energies of small molecules with $4-14$ orbitals. (ii) ADAPT-VQEs that construct ansatz circuits iteratively outperform fixed-circuit VQEs. (iii) ADAPT-VQEs perform better with circuits constructed from gate-efficient rather than physically-motivated elements. (iv) The maximally-allowed gate-error probability, $p_c$, for any VQE to achieve chemical accuracy decreases with the number $\ncx$ of noisy two-qubit gates as $p_c\approxprop\ncx^{-1}$. Additionally, $p_c$ decreases with system size, even with error mitigation, implying that larger molecules require even lower gate-errors. Thus, quantum advantage via gate-based VQEs is unlikely unless gate-error probabilities are decreased by orders of magnitude., Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures
Published: 2022
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34. Predictive Coding beyond Gaussian Distributions

Author: Pinchetti, Luca, Salvatori, Tommaso, Yordanov, Yordan, Millidge, Beren, Song, Yuhang, and Lukasiewicz, Thomas
Subjects: Computer Science - Machine Learning, Computer Science - Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Abstract: A large amount of recent research has the far-reaching goal of finding training methods for deep neural networks that can serve as alternatives to backpropagation (BP). A prominent example is predictive coding (PC), which is a neuroscience-inspired method that performs inference on hierarchical Gaussian generative models. These methods, however, fail to keep up with modern neural networks, as they are unable to replicate the dynamics of complex layers and activation functions. In this work, we solve this problem by generalizing PC to arbitrary probability distributions, enabling the training of architectures, such as transformers, that are hard to approximate with only Gaussian assumptions. We perform three experimental analyses. First, we study the gap between our method and the standard formulation of PC on multiple toy examples. Second, we test the reconstruction quality on variational autoencoders, where our method reaches the same reconstruction quality as BP. Third, we show that our method allows us to train transformer networks and achieve a performance comparable with BP on conditional language models. More broadly, this method allows neuroscience-inspired learning to be applied to multiple domains, since the internal distributions can be flexibly adapted to the data, tasks, and architectures used.
Published: 2022

35. Bird-Eye Transformers for Text Generation Models

Author: Sha, Lei, Song, Yuhang, Yordanov, Yordan, Salvatori, Tommaso, and Lukasiewicz, Thomas
Subjects: Computer Science - Computation and Language
Abstract: Transformers have become an indispensable module for text generation models since their great success in machine translation. Previous works attribute the~success of transformers to the query-key-value dot-product attention, which provides a robust inductive bias by the fully connected token graphs. However, we found that self-attention has a severe limitation. When predicting the (i+1)-th token, self-attention only takes the i-th token as an information collector, and it tends to give a high attention weight to those tokens similar to itself. Therefore, most of the historical information that occurred before the i-th token is not taken into consideration. Based on this observation, in this paper, we propose a new architecture, called bird-eye transformer(BET), which goes one step further to improve the performance of transformers by reweighting self-attention to encourage it to focus more on important historical information. We have conducted experiments on multiple text generation tasks, including machine translation (2 datasets) and language models (3 datasets). These experimental~results show that our proposed model achieves a better performance than the baseline transformer architectures on~all~datasets. The code is released at: \url{https://sites.google.com/view/bet-transformer/home}.
Published: 2022

36. Nuclear charge radii of germanium isotopes around N = 40

Author: S.J. Wang, A. Kanellakopoulos, X.F. Yang, S.W. Bai, J. Billowes, M.L. Bissell, K. Blaum, B. Cheal, C.S. Devlin, R.F. Garcia Ruiz, J.Z. Han, H. Heylen, S. Kaufmann, K. König, Á. Koszorús, S. Lechner, S. Malbrunot-Ettenauer, W. Nazarewicz, R. Neugart, G. Neyens, W. Nörtershäuser, T. Ratajczyk, P.-G. Reinhard, L.V. Rodríguez, S. Sels, L. Xie, Z.Y. Xu, D.T. Yordanov, and Y.M. Yu
Subjects: Collinear laser spectroscopy, Nuclear charge radii, Nuclear density functional theory, Ground state correlation, Physics, QC1-999
Abstract: Collinear laser spectroscopy measurements were performed on 68−74Ge isotopes (Z=32) at ISOLDE-CERN, by probing the 4s24p2P13→4s24p5sP1o3 atomic transition (269 nm) of germanium. Nuclear charge radii are determined via the measured isotope shifts, revealing a larger local variation than the neighboring isotopic chains. Nuclear density functional theory with the Fayans functionals Fy(Δr,HFB) and Fy(IVP), and the SV-min Skyrme describes the experimental data for the differential charge radii δ〈r2〉 and charge radii Rc within the theoretical uncertainties. The observed large variation in the charge radii of germanium isotopes is better accounted for by theoretical models incorporating ground state quadrupole correlations. This suggests that the polarization effects due to pairing and deformation contribute to the observed large odd-even staggering in the charge radii of the Ge isotopic chain.
Published: 2024
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37. Multimorbidity in emergency departments: urgent need for integrated care

Author: Youri Yordanov, Pierre-Clément Thiebaud, Emilia Harding, and Agathe Beauvais
Subjects: Medicine
Published: 2024
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38. Performance of federated learning-based models in the Dutch TAVI population was comparable to central strategies and outperformed local strategies

Author: Tsvetan R. Yordanov, Anita C. J. Ravelli, Saba Amiri, Marije Vis, Saskia Houterman, Sebastian R. Van der Voort, and Ameen Abu-Hanna
Subjects: federated learning, multicenter, prediction models, TAVI, distributed machine learning, privacy-preserving algorithms, Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system, RC666-701
Abstract: BackgroundFederated learning (FL) is a technique for learning prediction models without sharing records between hospitals. Compared to centralized training approaches, the adoption of FL could negatively impact model performance.AimThis study aimed to evaluate four types of multicenter model development strategies for predicting 30-day mortality for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI): (1) central, learning one model from a centralized dataset of all hospitals; (2) local, learning one model per hospital; (3) federated averaging (FedAvg), averaging of local model coefficients; and (4) ensemble, aggregating local model predictions.MethodsData from all 16 Dutch TAVI hospitals from 2013 to 2021 in the Netherlands Heart Registration (NHR) were used. All approaches were internally validated. For the central and federated approaches, external geographic validation was also performed. Predictive performance in terms of discrimination [the area under the ROC curve (AUC-ROC, hereafter referred to as AUC)] and calibration (intercept and slope, and calibration graph) was measured.ResultsThe dataset comprised 16,661 TAVI records with a 30-day mortality rate of 3.4%. In internal validation the AUCs of central, local, FedAvg, and ensemble models were 0.68, 0.65, 0.67, and 0.67, respectively. The central and local models were miscalibrated by slope, while the FedAvg and ensemble models were miscalibrated by intercept. During external geographic validation, central, FedAvg, and ensemble all achieved a mean AUC of 0.68. Miscalibration was observed for the central, FedAvg, and ensemble models in 44%, 44%, and 38% of the hospitals, respectively.ConclusionCompared to centralized training approaches, FL techniques such as FedAvg and ensemble demonstrated comparable AUC and calibration. The use of FL techniques should be considered a viable option for clinical prediction model development.
Published: 2024
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39. Lack of association between classical HLA genes and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection

Author: Astrid Marchal, Elizabeth T. Cirulli, Iva Neveux, Evangelos Bellos, Ryan S. Thwaites, Kelly M. Schiabor Barrett, Yu Zhang, Ivana Nemes-Bokun, Mariya Kalinova, Andrew Catchpole, Stuart G. Tangye, András N. Spaan, Justin B. Lack, Jade Ghosn, Charles Burdet, Guy Gorochov, Florence Tubach, Pierre Hausfater, Clifton L. Dalgard, Shen-Ying Zhang, Qian Zhang, Christopher Chiu, Jacques Fellay, Joseph J. Grzymski, Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu, Laurent Abel, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Aurélie Cobat, Alexandre Bolze, Alessandro Aiuti, Saleh Al-Muhsen, Fahd Al-Mulla, Ali Amara, Mark S. Anderson, Evangelos Andreakos, Andrés A. Arias, Lisa M. Arkin, Hagit Baris Feldman, Paul Bastard, Alexandre Belot, Catherine M. Biggs, Dusan Bogunovic, Anastasiia Bondarenko, Alessandro Borghesi, Ahmed A. Bousfiha, Petter Brodin, Yenan Bryceson, Manish J. Butte, Giorgio Casari, John Christodoulou, Roger Colobran, Antonio Condino-Neto, Stefan N. Constantinescu, Megan A. Cooper, Murkesh Desai, Beth A. Drolet, Xavier Duval, Jamila El Baghdadi, Philippine Eloy, Sara Espinosa-Padilla, Carlos Flores, José Luis Franco, Antoine Froidure, Peter K. Gregersen, Bodo Grimbacher, Filomeen Haerynck, David Hagin, Rabih Halwani, Lennart Hammarström, James R. Heath, Elena W.Y. Hsieh, Eystein Husebye, Kohsuke Imai, Yuval Itan, Emmanuelle Jouanguy, Elżbieta Kaja, Timokratis Karamitros, Kai Kisand, Cheng-Lung Ku, Yu-Lung Lau, Yun Ling, Carrie L. Lucas, Tom Maniatis, Davood Mansouri, László Maródi, France Mentré, Isabelle Meyts, Joshua D. Milner, Kristina Mironska, Trine H. Mogensen, Tomohiro Morio, Lisa F.P. Ng, Luigi D. Notarangelo, Antonio Novelli, Giuseppe Novelli, Cliona O'Farrelly, Satoshi Okada, Keisuke Okamoto, Tayfun Ozcelik, Qiang Pan-Hammarström, Jean W. Pape, Rebeca Perez de Diego, Jordi Perez-Tur, David S. Perlin, Graziano Pesole, Anna M. Planas, Carolina Prando, Aurora Pujol, Anne Puel, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Sathishkumar Ramaswamy, Laurent Renia, Igor Resnick, Carlos Rodríguez-Gallego, Anna Sediva, Mikko R.J. Seppänen, Mohammad Shahrooei, Anna Shcherbina, Ondrej Slaby, Andrew L. Snow, Pere Soler-Palacín, Vassili Soumelis, Ivan Tancevski, Ahmad Abou Tayoun, Şehime Gülsün Temel, Christian Thorball, Pierre Tiberghien, Sophie Trouillet-Assant, Stuart E. Turvey, K. M. Furkan Uddin, Mohammed J. Uddin, Diederik van de Beek, Donald C. Vinh, Horst von Bernuth, Joost Wauters, Mayana Zatz, Pawel Zawadzki, Serge Bureau, Yannick Vacher, Anne Gysembergh-Houal, Lauren Demerville, Abla Benleulmi-Chaachoua, Sebastien Abad, Radhiya Abassi, Abdelrafie Abdellaoui, Abdelkrim Abdelmalek, Hendy Abdoul, Helene Abergel, Fariza Abeud, Sophie Abgrall, Noemie Abisror, Marylise Adechian, Nordine Aderdour, Hakeem Farid Admane, Frederic Adnet, Sara Afritt, Helene Agostini, Claire Aguilar, Sophie Agut, Tommaso Francesco Aiello, Marc Ait Kaci, Hafid Ait Oufella, Gokula Ajeenthiravasan, Virginie Alauzy, Fanny Alby-Laurent, Lucie Allard, Marie-Alexandra Alyanakian, Blanca Amador Borrero, Sabrina Amam, Lucile Amrouche, Marc Andronikof, Dany Anglicheau, Nadia Anguel, Djillali Annane, Mohammed Aounzou, Caroline Aparicio, Gladys Aratus, Jean-Benoit Arlet, Jeremy Arzoine, Elisabeth Aslangul, Mona Assefi, Adeline Aubry, Laetitia Audiffred, Etienne Audureau, Christelle Nathalie Auger, Jean-Charles Auregan, Celine Awotar, Sonia Ayllon Milla, Delphine Azan, Laurene Azemar, Billal Azzouguen, Marwa Bachir Elrufaai, Aïda Badsi, Prissile Bakouboula, Coline Balcerowiak, Fanta Balde, Elodie Baldivia, Eliane-Flore Bangamingo, Amandine Baptiste, Fanny Baran-Marszak, Caroline Barau, Nathalie Barget, Flore Baronnet, Romain Barthelemy, Jean-Luc Baudel, Camille Baudry, Elodie Baudry, Laurent Beaugerie, Adel Belamri, Nicolas Belaube, Rhida Belilita, Pierre Bellassen, Rawan Belmokhtar, Isabel Beltran, Ruben Benainous, Mourad Benallaoua, Robert Benamouzig, Amélie Benbara, Jaouad Benhida, Anis Benkhelouf, Jihene Benlagha, Chahinez Benmostafa, Skander Benothmane, Miassa Bentifraouine, Laurence Berard, Quentin Bernier, Enora Berti, Astrid Bertier, Laure Berton, Simon Bessis, Alexandra Beurton, Celine Bianco, Clara Bianquis, Frank Bidar, Philippe Blanche, Clarisse Blayau, Alexandre Bleibtreu, Emmanuelle Blin, Coralie Bloch-Queyrat, Marie-Christophe Boissier, Diane Bollens, Marion Bolzoni, Rudy pierre Bompard, Nicolas Bonnet, Justine Bonnouvrier, Shirmonecrystal Botha, Wissam Boucenna, Fatiha Bouchama, Olivier Bouchaud, Hanane Bouchghoul, Taoueslylia Boudjebla, Noel Boudjema, Catherine Bouffard, Adrien Bougle, Meriem Bouguerra, Leila Bouras, Agnes Bourcier, Anne Bourgarit Durand, Anne Bourrier, Fabrice Bouscarat, Diane Bouvry, Nesrine Bouziri, Ons Bouzrara, Sarah Bribier, Delphine Brugier, Melanie Brunel, Eida Bui, Anne Buisson, Iryna Bukreyeva, Côme Bureau, Jacques Cadranel, Johann Cailhol, Ruxandra Calin, Clara Campos Vega, Pauline Canavaggio, Marta Cancella, Delphine Cantin, Albert Cao, Lionel Carbillon, Nicolas Carlier, Clementine Cassard, Guylaine Castor, Marion Cauchy, Olivier Cha, Benjamin Chaigne, Salima Challal, Karine Champion, Patrick Chariot, Julie Chas, Simon Chauveau, Anthony Chauvin, Clement Chauvin, Nathalie Chavarot, Kamélia Chebbout, Mustapha Cherai, Ilaria Cherubini, Amelie Chevalier, Thibault Chiarabini, Thierry Chinet, Richard Chocron, Pascaline Choinier, Juliette Chommeloux, Christophe Choquet, Laure Choupeaux, Benjamin Chousterman, Dragosmarius Ciocan, Ada Clarke, Gaëlle Clavere, Florian Clavier, Karine Clement, Sebastien Clerc, Yves Cohen, Fleur Cohen, Adrien Cohen, Audrey Coilly, Hester Colboc, Pauline Colin, Magalie Collet, Chloé Comarmond, Emeline Combacon, Alain Combes, Celine Comparon, Jean-Michel Constantin, Hugues Cordel, Anne-Gael Cordier, Adrien Costantini, Nathalie Costedoat Chalumeau, Camille Couffignal, Doriane Coupeau, Alain Creange, Yannie Cuvillier Lamarre, Charlène Da Silveira, Sandrine Dautheville Guibal El Kayani, Nathalie De Castro, Yann De Rycke, Lucie Del Pozo, Quentin Delannoy, Mathieu Delay, Robin Deleris, Juliette Delforge, Laëtitia Delphine, Noemie Demare, Sophie Demeret, Alexandre Demoule, Aurore Deniau, François Depret, Sophie Derolez, Ouda Derradji, Nawal Derridj, Vincent Descamps, Lydia Deschamps, Celine Desconclois, Cyrielle Desnos, Karine Desongins, Robin Dhote, Benjamin Diallo, Morgane Didier, Myriam Diemer, Stephane Diez, Juliette Djadi-Prat, 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Aude Gibelin, Linda Gimeno, Benoit Girard, Bénédicte Giroux Leprieur, Doryan Gomes, Elisabete Gomes-Pires, Anne Gouge, Amel Gouja, Helene Goulet, Sylvain Goupil, Jeanne Goupil De Bouille, Julien Gras, Segolene Greffe, Lamiae Grimaldi, Paul Guedeney, Bertrand Guidet, Matthias Guillo, Mariechristelle Gulczynski, Tassadit Hadjam, Didier Haguenauer, Soumeya Hammal, Nadjib Hammoudi, Olivier Hanon, Anarole Harrois, Coraline Hautem, Guillaume Hekimian, Nicholas Heming, Olivier Hermine, Sylvie Ho, Marie Houllier, Benjamin Huot, Tessa Huscenot, Wafa Ibn Saied, Ghilas Ikherbane, Meriem Imarazene, Patrick Ingiliz, Lina Iratni, Stephane Jaureguiberry, Jean-Francois Jean-Marc, Deleena Jeyarajasingham, Pauline Jouany, Veronique Jouis, Clement Jourdaine, Ouifiya Kafif, Rim Kallala, Sandrine Katsahian, Lilit Kelesyan, Vixra Keo, Flora Ketz, Warda Khamis, Enfel Khelili, Mehdi Khellaf, Christy Gaëlla Kotokpo Youkou, Ilias Kounis, Gaelle Kpalma, Jessica Krause, Vincent Labbe, Karine Lacombe, Jean-Marc Lacorte, Anne Gaelle Lafont, Emmanuel Lafont, Lynda Lagha, Lionel Lamhaut, Aymeric Lancelot, Cecilia Landman, Fanny Lanternier, Cecile Larcheveque, Caroline Lascoux Combe, Ludovic Lassel, Benjamin Laverdant, Christophe Lavergne, Jean-Rémi Lavillegrand, Pompilia Lazureanu, Loïc Le Guennec, Lamia Leberre, Claire Leblanc, Marion Leboyer, Francois Lecomte, Marine Lecorre, Romain Leenhardt, Marylou Lefebvre, Bénédicte Lefebvre, Paul Legendre, Anne Leger, Laurence Legros, Justyna Legrosse, Sébastien Lehuunghia, Julien Lemarec, Jeremie Leporrier-Ext, Manon Lesein, Hubert Lesur, Vincent Levy, Albert Levy, Edwige Lopes, Amanda Lopes, Vanessa Lopez, Julien Lopinto, Olivier Lortholary, Badr Louadah, Bénédicte Loze, Marie-Laure Lucas, Axelle Lucasamichi, Liem Binh Luong, Arouna Magazimama-Ext, David Maingret, Lakhdar Mameri, Philippe Manivet, Cylia Mansouri, Estelle Marcault, Jonathan Marey, Nathalie Marin, Clémence Marois, Olivier Martin, Lou Martineau, Cannelle Martinez-Lopez, Pierre Martyniuck, 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Johanna Oziel, Thomas Padilla, Elena Paillaud, Solenne Paiva, Beatrice Parfait, Perrine Parize, Christophe Parizot, Antoine Parrot, Arthur Pavot, Laetitia Peaudecerf, Frédéric Pene, Marion Pepin, Julie Pernet, Claire Pernin, Mylène Petit, Olivier Peyrony, Marie-Pierre Pietri, Olivia Pietri, Marc Pineton De Chambrun, Michelle Pinson, Claire Pintado, Valentine Piquard, Christine Pires, Benjamin Planquette, Sandrine Poirier, Anne-Laure Pomel, Stéphanie Pons, Diane Ponscarme, Annegaelle Pourcelot, Valérie Pourcher, Anne Pouvaret, Florian Prever, Miresta Previlon, Margot Prevost, Marie-Julie Provoost, Cyril Quemeneur, Cédric Rafat, Agathe Rami, Brigitte Ranque, Maurice Raphael, Jean Herle Raphalen, Anna Rastoin, Mathieu Raux, Amani Rebai, Michael Reby, Alexis Regent, Asma Regrag, Matthieu Resche-Rigon, Quentin Ressaire, Christian Richard, Mariecaroline Richard, Maxence Robert, Benjamin Rohaut, Camille Rolland-Debord, Jacques Ropers, Anne-Marie Roque-Afonso, Charlotte Rosso, Mélanie Rousseaux, Nabila Rousseaux, Swasti Roux, Lorène Roux, Claire Rouzaud, Antoine Rozes, Emma Rubenstein, Jean-Marc Sabate, Sheila Sabet, Sophie-Caroline Sacleux, Nathalie Saidenberg Kermanach, Faouzi Saliba, Dominique Salmon, Laurent Savale, Guillaume Savary, Rebecca Sberro, Anne Scemla, Frederic Schlemmer, Mathieu Schwartz, Saïd Sedfi, Samia Sefir-Kribel, Philippe Seksik, Pierre Sellier, Agathe Selves, Nicole Sembach, Luca Semerano, Marie-Victoire Senat, Damien Sene, Alexandra Serris, Lucile Sese, Naima Sghiouar, Johanna Sigaux, Martin Siguier, Johanne Silvain, Noémie Simon, Tabassome Simon, Lina Innes Skandri, Miassa Slimani, Aurélie Snauwaert, Harry Sokol, Heithem Soliman, Nisrine Soltani, Benjamin Soyer, Gabriel Steg, Lydia Suarez, Tali-Anne Szwebel, Kossi Taffame, Yacine Tandjaoui-Lambiotte, Claire Tantet, Mariagrazia Tateo, Igor Theodose, Pierre clement Thiebaud, Caroline Thomas, Kelly Tiercelet, Julie Tisserand, Carole Tomczak, Krystel Torelino, Fatima Touam-Ext, Lilia Toumi, 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Sabelline Bouchez, Maude Bouscambert, Minerva Cervantes-Gonzalez, Anissa Chair, Catherine Chirouze, Alexandra Coelho, Sandrine Couffin-Cadiergues, Eric d’Ortenzio, Marie-Pierre Debray, Laurene Deconinck, Dominique Deplanque, Diane Descamps, Mathilde Desvallée, Alpha Diallo, Alphonsine Diouf, Céline Dorival, François Dubos, Brigitte Elharrar, Vincent Enouf, Hélène Esperou, Marina Esposito-Farese, Manuel Etienne, Eglantine Ferrand Devouge, Nathalie Gault, Alexandre Gaymard, Tristan Gigante, Morgane Gilg, Jérémie Guedj, Alexandre Hoctin, Isabelle Hoffmann, Ikram Houas, Jean-Sébastien Hulot, Salma Jaafoura, Florentia Kaguelidou, Sabrina Kali, Antoine Khalil, Coralie Khan, Cédric Laouénan, Samira Laribi, Minh Le, Quentin Le Hingrat, Soizic Le Mestre, Hervé Le Nagard, François-Xavier Lescure, Sophie Letrou, Yves Levy, Bruno Lina, Guillaume Lingas, Jean-Christophe Lucet, Denis Malvy, Marina Mambert, Amina Meziane, Hugo Mouquet, Jimmy Mullaert, Nadège Neant, Duc Nguyen, Marion Noret, Saad Nseir, Aurélie Papadopoulos, Christelle Paul, Nathan Peiffer-Smadja, Thomas Perpoint, Ventzislava Petrov-Sanchez, Gilles Peytavin, Huong Pham, Olivier Picone, Oriane Puéchal, Christian Rabaud, Manuel Rosa-Calatrava, Bénédicte Rossignol, Patrick Rossignol, Carine Roy, Marion Schneider, Richa Su, Coralie Tardivon, Marie-Capucine Tellier, François Téoulé, Olivier Terrier, Jean-François Timsit, Christelle Tual, Sylvie Van Der Werf, Noémie Vanel, Aurélie Veislinger, Benoit Visseaux, Aurélie Wiedemann, Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Loubna Alavoine, Charlotte Charpentier, Aline Dechanet, Jean-Luc Ecobichon, Wahiba Frezouls, Nadhira Houhou, Jonathan Lehacaut, Pauline Manchon, Mariama Nouroudine, Caroline Quintin, Michael Thy, Sylvie van der Werf, Valérie Vignali, Abir Chahine, Nawal Waucquier, Maria-Claire Migaud, Félix Djossou, Mayka Mergeay-Fabre, Aude Lucarelli, Magalie Demar, Léa Bruneau, Patrick Gérardin, Adrien Maillot, Christine Payet, Bruno Laviolle, Fabrice Laine, Christophe Paris, Mireille Desille-Dugast, Julie Fouchard, Thierry Pistone, Pauline Perreau, Valérie Gissot, Carole L.E. Goas, Samatha Montagne, Lucie Richard, Kévin Bouiller, Maxime Desmarets, Alexandre Meunier, Marilou Bourgeon, Benjamin Lefévre, Hélène Jeulin, Karine Legrand, Sandra Lomazzi, Bernard Tardy, Amandine Gagneux-Brunon, Frédérique Bertholon, Elisabeth Botelho-Nevers, Christelle Kouakam, Leturque Nicolas, Layidé Roufai, Karine Amat, Hélène Espérou, Samia Hendou, Giuseppe Foti, Giuseppe Citerio, Ernesto Contro, Alberto Pesci, Maria Grazia Valsecchi, Marina Cazzaniga, Giacomo Bellani, Jorge Abad, Giulia Accordino, Micol Angelini, Sergio Aguilera-Albesa, Aina Aguiló-Cucurull, Esra Akyüz Özkan, Ilad Alavi Darazam, Jonathan Antonio Roblero Albisures, Juan C. Aldave, Miquel Alfonso Ramos, Taj Ali Khan, Anna Aliberti, Seyed Alireza Nadji, Gulsum Alkan, Suzan A. AlKhater, Jerome Allardet-Servent, Luis M. Allende, Rebeca Alonso-Arias, Mohammed S. 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Castro, Emilie Catherinot, Jale Bengi Celik, Alessandro Ceschi, Martin Chalumeau, Bruno Charbit, Cécile Boulanger, Père Clavé, Bonaventura Clotet, Anna Codina, Cloé Comarmond, Patrizia Comoli, Angelo G. Corsico, Taner Coşkuner, Aleksandar Cvetkovski, Cyril Cyrus, David Dalmau, François Danion, David Ross Darley, Vincent Das, Nicolas Dauby, Stéphane Dauger, Paul De Munte, Loic de Pontual, Amin Dehban, Geoffroy Delplancq, Isabelle Desguerre, Antonio Di Sabatino, Jean-Luc Diehl, Stephanie Dobbelaere, Elena Domínguez-Garrido, Clément Dubost, Olov Ekwall, Şefika Elmas Bozdemir, Marwa H. Elnagdy, Melike Emiroglu, Akifumi Endo, Emine Hafize Erdeniz, Selma Erol Aytekin, Maria Pilar Etxart Lasa, Romain Euvrard, Giovanna Fabio, Laurence Faivre, Antonin Falck, Muriel Fartoukh, Morgane Faure, Miguel Fernandez Arquero, Ricard Ferrer, Jose Ferreres, Bruno Francois, Victoria Fumadó, Kitty S.C. Fung, Francesca Fusco, Alenka Gagro, Blanca Garcia Solis, Pierre Garçon, Pascale Gaussem, Zeynep Gayretli, Juana Gil-Herrera, Laurent Gilardin, Audrey Giraud Gatineau, Mònica Girona-Alarcón, Karen Alejandra Cifuentes Godínez, Jean-Christophe Goffard, Nacho Gonzales, Luis I. Gonzalez-Granado, Rafaela González-Montelongo, Antoine Guerder, Belgin Gülhan, Victor Daniel Gumucio, Leif Gunnar Hanitsch, Jan Gunst, Marta Gut, Jérôme Hadjadj, Selda Hancerli, Tetyana Hariyan, Nevin Hatipoglu, Deniz Heppekcan, Elisa Hernandez-Brito, Po-ki Ho, María Soledad Holanda-Peña, Juan P. Horcajada, Sami Hraiech, Linda Humbert, Ivan F.N. Hung, Alejandro D. Iglesias, Antonio Íñigo-Campos, Matthieu Jamme, María Jesús Arranz, Marie-Thérèse Jimeno, Iolanda Jordan, Saliha Kanık-Yüksek, Yalcin Kara, Aydın Karahan, Adem Karbuz, Kadriye Kart Yasar, Ozgur Kasapcopur, Kenichi Kashimada, Sevgi Keles, Yasemin Kendir Demirkol, Yasutoshi Kido, Can Kizil, Ahmet Osman Kılıç, Adam Klocperk, Antonia Koutsoukou, Zbigniew J. Król, Hatem Ksouri, Paul Kuentz, Arthur M.C. Kwan, Yat Wah M. Kwan, Janette S.Y. Kwok, Jean-Christophe Lagier, David S.Y. Lam, Vicky Lampropoulou, Fleur Le Bourgeois, Yee-Sin Leo, Rafael Leon Lopez, Daniel Leung, Michael Levin, Michael Levy, Romain Lévy, Zhi Li, Daniele Lilleri, Edson Jose Adrian Bolanos Lima, Agnes Linglart, Eduardo López-Collazo, José M. Lorenzo-Salazar, Céline Louapre, Catherine Lubetzki, Kwok-Cheung Lung, Charles-Edouard Luyt, David C. Lye, Cinthia Magnone, Enrico Marchioni, Carola Marioli, Majid Marjani, Laura Marques, Jesus Marquez Pereira, Andrea Martín-Nalda, David Martínez Pueyo, Javier Martinez-Picado, Iciar Marzana, Carmen Mata-Martínez, Alexis Mathian, Larissa R.B. Matos, Gail V. Matthews, Julien Mayaux, Raquel McLaughlin-Garcia, Philippe Meersseman, Jean-Louis Mège, Armand Mekontso-Dessap, Isabelle Melki, Federica Meloni, Jean-François Meritet, Paolo Merlani, Özge Metin Akcan, Mehdi Mezidi, Isabelle Migeotte, Maude Millereux, Matthieu Million, Tristan Mirault, Clotilde Mircher, Mehdi Mirsaeidi, Yoko Mizoguchi, Bhavi P. Modi, Francesco Mojoli, Elsa Moncomble, Abián Montesdeoca Melián, Antonio Morales Martinez, Francisco Morandeira, Pierre-Emmanuel Morange, Clémence Mordacq, Guillaume Morelle, Stéphane J. Mouly, Adrián Muñoz-Barrera, Cyril Nafati, Shintaro Nagashima, Yu Nakagama, Bénédicte Neven, João Farela Neves, Yuk-Yung Ng, Hubert Nielly, Yeray Novoa Medina, Esmeralda Nuñez Cuadros, Semsi Nur Karabela, J. Gonzalo Ocejo-Vinyals, Mehdi Oualha, Amani Ouedrani, Tayfun Özçelik, Aslinur Ozkaya-Parlakay, Michele Pagani, Maria Papadaki, Philippe Parola, Tiffany Pascreau, Stéphane Paul, Estela Paz-Artal, Sigifredo Pedraza, Nancy Carolina González Pellecer, Silvia Pellegrini, Rebeca Pérez de Diego, Xosé Luis Pérez-Fernández, Aurélien Philippe, Quentin Philippot, Adrien Picod, Marc Pineton de Chambrun, Antonio Piralla, Laura Planas-Serra, Dominique Ploin, Julien Poissy, Géraldine Poncelet, Garyphallia Poulakou, Marie S. Pouletty, Persia Pourshahnazari, Jia Li Qiu-Chen, Paul Quentric, Thomas Rambaud, Didier Raoult, Violette Raoult, Anne-Sophie Rebillat, Claire Redin, Léa Resmini, Pilar Ricart, Jean-Christophe Richard, Raúl Rigo-Bonnin, Nadia Rivet, Jacques G. Rivière, Gemma Rocamora-Blanch, Mathieu P. Rodero, Carlos Rodrigo, Luis Antonio Rodriguez, Carlos Rodriguez-Gallego, Agustí Rodriguez-Palmero, Carolina Soledad Romero, Anya Rothenbuhler, Damien Roux, Nikoletta Rovina, Flore Rozenberg, Yvon Ruch, Montse Ruiz, Maria Yolanda Ruiz del Prado, Juan Carlos Ruiz-Rodriguez, Joan Sabater-Riera, Kai Saks, Maria Salagianni, Oliver Sanchez, Adrián Sánchez-Montalvá, Silvia Sánchez-Ramón, Laire Schidlowski, Agatha Schluter, Julien Schmidt, Matthieu Schmidt, Catharina Schuetz, Cyril E. Schweitzer, Francesco Scolari, Luis Seijo, Analia Gisela Seminario, Piseth Seng, Sevtap Senoglu, Mikko Seppänen, Alex Serra Llovich, Virginie Siguret, Eleni Siouti, David M. Smadja, Nikaia Smith, Ali Sobh, Xavier Solanich, Jordi Solé-Violán, Catherine Soler, Betül Sözeri, Giulia Maria Stella, Yuriy Stepanovskiy, Annabelle Stoclin, Fabio Taccone, Jean-Luc Taupin, Simon J. Tavernier, Loreto Vidaur Tello, Benjamin Terrier, Guillaume Thiery, Karolina Thorn, Caroline Thumerelle, Imran Tipu, Martin Tolstrup, Gabriele Tomasoni, Julie Toubiana, Josep Trenado Alvarez, Vasiliki Triantafyllia, Jesús Troya, Owen T.Y. Tsang, Liina Tserel, Eugene Y.K. Tso, Alessandra Tucci, Şadiye Kübra Tüter Öz, Matilde Valeria Ursini, Takanori Utsumi, Pierre Vabres, Juan Valencia-Ramos, Ana Maria Van Den Rym, Isabelle Vandernoot, Valentina Velez-Santamaria, Silvia Patricia Zuniga Veliz, Mateus C. Vidigal, Sébastien Viel, Cédric Villain, Marie E. Vilaire-Meunier, Judit Villar-García, Audrey Vincent, Dimitri Van der Linden, Alla Volokha, Fanny Vuotto, Els Wauters, Alan K.L. Wu, Tak-Chiu Wu, Aysun Yahşi, Osman Yesilbas, Mehmet Yildiz, Barnaby E. Young, Ufuk Yükselmiş, Marco Zecca, Valentina Zuccaro, Jens Van Praet, Bart N. Lambrecht, Eva Van Braeckel, Cédric Bosteels, Levi Hoste, Eric Hoste, Fré Bauters, Jozefien De Clercq, Catherine Heijmans, Hans Slabbynck, Leslie Naesens, Benoit Florkin, Mary-Anne Young, Amanda Willis, Paloma Lapuente-Suanzes, Ana de Andrés-Martín, Matilda Berkell, Valerio Carelli, Alessia Fiorentino, Surbhi Malhotra, Alessandro Mattiaccio, Tommaso Pippucci, Marco Seri, Evelina Tacconelli, Michiel van Agtmael, Anne Geke Algera, Brent Appelman, Frank van Baarle, Diane Bax, Martijn Beudel, Harm Jan Bogaard, Marije Bomers, Peter Bonta, Lieuwe Bos, Michela Botta, Justin de Brabander, Godelieve de Bree, Sanne de Bruin, David T.P. Buis, Marianna Bugiani, Esther Bulle, Osoul Chouchane, Alex Cloherty, Mirjam Dijkstra, Dave A. Dongelmans, Romein W.G. Dujardin, Paul Elbers, Lucas Fleuren, Suzanne Geerlings, Theo Geijtenbeek, Armand Girbes, Bram Goorhuis, Martin P. Grobusch, Florianne Hafkamp, Laura Hagens, Jorg Hamann, Vanessa Harris, Robert Hemke, Sabine M. Hermans, Leo Heunks, Markus Hollmann, Janneke Horn, Joppe W. Hovius, Menno D. de Jong, Rutger Koning, Endry H.T. Lim, Niels van Mourik, Jeaninne Nellen, Esther J. Nossent, Frederique Paulus, Edgar Peters, Dan A.I. Pina-Fuentes, Tom van der Poll, Bennedikt Preckel, Jan M. Prins, Jorinde Raasveld, Tom Reijnders, Maurits C.F. J. de Rotte, Michiel Schinkel, Marcus J. Schultz, Femke A.P. Schrauwen, Alex Schuurmans, Jaap Schuurmans, Kim Sigaloff, Marleen A. Slim, Patrick Smeele, Marry Smit, Cornelis S. Stijnis, Willemke Stilma, Charlotte Teunissen, Patrick Thoral, Anissa M. Tsonas, Pieter R. Tuinman, Marc van der Valk, Denise P. Veelo, Carolien Volleman, Heder de Vries, Lonneke A. Vught, Michèle van Vugt, Dorien Wouters, A.H. Zwinderman, Matthijs C. Brouwer, W. Joost Wiersinga, Alexander P.J. Vlaar, Miranda F. Tompkins, Camille Alba, Daniel N. Hupalo, John Rosenberger, Gauthaman Sukumar, Matthew D. Wilkerson, Xijun Zhang, Justin Lack, Andrew J. Oler, Kerry Dobbs, Ottavia M. Delmonte, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Andrea Biondi, Laura Rachele Bettini, Mariella D’Angiò, Ilaria Beretta, Luisa Imberti, Alessandra Sottini, Virginia Quaresima, Eugenia Quiros-Roldan, Camillo Rossi, Riccardo Castagnoli, Daniela Montagna, Amelia Licari, and Gian Luigi Marseglia
Subjects: HLA, association, asymptomatic infection, COVID-19, population stratification, Genetics, QH426-470
Abstract: Summary: Human genetic studies of critical COVID-19 pneumonia have revealed the essential role of type I interferon-dependent innate immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conversely, an association between the HLA-B∗15:01 allele and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated individuals was recently reported, suggesting a contribution of pre-existing T cell-dependent adaptive immunity. We report a lack of association of classical HLA alleles, including HLA-B∗15:01, with pre-omicron asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated participants in a prospective population-based study in the United States (191 asymptomatic vs. 945 symptomatic COVID-19 cases). Moreover, we found no such association in the international COVID Human Genetic Effort cohort (206 asymptomatic vs. 574 mild or moderate COVID-19 cases and 1,625 severe or critical COVID-19 cases). Finally, in the Human Challenge Characterisation study, the three HLA-B∗15:01 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 developed symptoms. As with other acute primary infections studied, no classical HLA alleles favoring an asymptomatic course of SARS-CoV-2 infection were identified.
Published: 2024
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40. Electromagnetic moments of the odd-mass nickel isotopes 59−67Ni

Author: P. Müller, S. Kaufmann, T. Miyagi, J. Billowes, M.L. Bissell, K. Blaum, B. Cheal, R.F. Garcia Ruiz, W. Gins, C. Gorges, H. Heylen, A. Kanellakopoulos, S. Malbrunot-Ettenauer, R. Neugart, G. Neyens, W. Nörtershäuser, T. Ratajczyk, L.V. Rodríguez, R. Sánchez, S. Sailer, A. Schwenk, L. Wehner, C. Wraith, L. Xie, Z.Y. Xu, X.F. Yang, and D.T. Yordanov
Subjects: Collinear laser spectroscopy, Electromagnetic moments, Nickel isotopes, Ab initio calculation, Valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group, Nuclear shell model, Physics, QC1-999
Abstract: The magnetic dipole and the spectroscopic quadrupole moments of the nuclear ground states in the odd-mass nickel isotopes 59−67Ni have been determined using collinear laser spectroscopy at the CERN-ISOLDE facility. They are compared to ab initio valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group (VS-IMSRG) calculations including contributions of two-body currents as well as to shell-model calculations. The two-body-current contributions significantly improve the agreement with experimental data, reducing the mean-square deviation from the experimental moments by a factor of 3 to 5, depending on the employed interaction. For all interactions, the largest contributions are obtained for the 52− (72−) isotopes 65Ni (55Ni), which is ascribed to the high angular momentum of the f orbitals. Our results demonstrate that the inclusion of two-body-current contributions to the magnetic moment in an isotopic chain of complex nuclei can be handled by the VS-IMSRG and can outperform phenomenological shell-model calculations using effective g-factors in the nickel region.
Published: 2024
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41. Intense terahertz radiation via the transverse thermoelectric effect

Author: Yordanov, Petar, Priessnitz, Tim, Kim, Min-Jae, Cristiani, Georg, Logvenov, Gennady, Keimer, Bernhard, and Kaiser, Stefan
Subjects: Condensed Matter - Materials Science, Physics - Optics
Abstract: Terahertz (THz) radiation is a powerful tool with widespread applications ranging from imaging, sensing, and broadband communications to spectroscopy and nonlinear control of materials. Future progress in THz technology depends on the development of efficient, structurally simple THz emitters that can be implemented in advanced miniaturized devices. Here we show how the natural electronic anisotropy of layered conducting transition metal oxides enables the generation of intense terahertz radiation via the transverse thermoelectric effect. In thin films grown on offcut substrates, femtosecond laser pulses generate ultrafast out-of-plane temperature gradients, which in turn launch in-plane thermoelectric currents, thus allowing efficient emission of the resulting THz field out of the film structure. We demonstrate this scheme in experiments on thin films of the layered metals PdCoO2 and La1.84Sr0.16CuO4, and present model calculations that elucidate the influence of the material parameters on the intensity and spectral characteristics of the emitted THz field. Due to its simplicity, the method opens up a promising avenue for the development of highly versatile THz sources and integrable emitter elements., Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures
Published: 2022

42. Mobile impurities interacting with a few one-dimensional lattice bosons

Author: Yordanov, Vasil R. and Isaule, Felipe
Subjects: Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases, Quantum Physics
Abstract: We report a comprehensive study of the ground-state properties of one and two bosonic impurities immersed in small one-dimensional optical lattices loaded with a few interacting bosons. We model the system with a two-component Bose-Hubbard model and solve the problem numerically by means of the exact diagonalization (ED) method. We report binding energies of one and two impurities across the superfluid (SF) to Mott-insulator (MI) transition and confirm the formation of two-body bound states of impurities induced by repulsive interactions. In particular, we found that an insulator bath induces tightly bound di-impurity dimers, whereas a superfluid bath induces shallower bound states., Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures. Accepted version
Published: 2022
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43. Evaluation of cleaved caspase-3 and Ki-67 index on diagnostic biopsy in response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the context of post-treatment tumour ypT stage, ypN stage, grade, and molecular subtype

Author: Vasil Nanev, Hristo Milev, Desislava Dimitrova, Silvia Naneva, Strahil Asenov Strashilov, Angel Yordanov, Miroslava Mihailova, Simoneta Ivanova, Milena Karcheva, and Ivan Ivanov
Subjects: breast cancer, ki-67, cleaved caspase-3, prognostic biomarkers, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, diagnostic biopsy of breast cancer., Medicine
Published: 2024
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44. Utility of expression of 4-hydroxynonenal tested by immunohistochemistry for cervical cancer

Author: Eva Tsoneva, Polina Dimitrova, Metodi Metodiev, Velizar Shivarov, Mariela Vasileva-Slaveva, Angel Yordanov, and Stoyan Kostov
Subjects: 4-hne, cervical cancer, ros, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress., Medicine
Published: 2024
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45. GASTRODUODENAL ARTERY ANEURYSM - A CLINICAL CASE REPORT, BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW

Author: Iv. Tenev, Hr. Atanasov, N. Kovachev, J. Yordanov, and D. Petkov
Subjects: gastroduodenal artery aneurysm, visceral aneurysms, endovascular treatment, coil embolization, endoaneurysmorrhaphy, Science (General), Q1-390
Abstract: The aneurysm of the gastroduodenal artery (AGDA) is a rare, but potentially fatal vascular disease. Chronic pancreatitis is considered to be the leading etiological cause. The most common complication is rupture, which is accompanied by extremely high mortality, due to the rapidly occurring massive blood loss. In such situations, a high index of clinical suspicion, followed by urgent imaging diagnosis and active treatment strategy in case of emergency can prevent a potentially fatal outcome. In the following paper, we present a case of a successfully treated ruptured aneurysm of the gastroduodenal artery(AGDA), that started with minor gastrointestinal bleeding. Endoscopic hemostasis was attempted, followed by an episode of massive recurrent bleeding, requiring emergency operation. A brief literature review, related to the diagnosis and treatment of this rare, but fatal complication of AGDA, is also presented.
Published: 2024
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46. Derivation of Dirac equation from the stochastic optimal control principles of quantum mechanics

Author: Vasil Yordanov
Subjects: Medicine, Science
Abstract: Abstract In this paper, we present a stochastic approach to relativistic quantum mechanics. We formulate the three fundamental principles of this theory and derive the Dirac equations based on them. This approach enables us to bring more insight into the nature of Dirac’s spinors. Furthermore, we provide a physical interpretation of the stochastic optimal control theory of quantum mechanics.
Published: 2024
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47. Bilayer Technique for Alveolar Ridge Augmentation in Pre-Prosthetic Implant Surgery: Indications and Problems

Author: Deliverska E., Yordanov B., and Kirilova J.
Subjects: guided bone regeneration, bone substitute materials, dental implants, bilayer technique, Medicine
Abstract: Prosthetic rehabilitation of missing teeth with dental implant-supported restorations has recently become a predictable treatment option in contemporary dentistry with a highly successful rate. Due to different factors, vertical and horizontal bone loss could present, and the available alveolar bone may not be sufficient for optimum implant position. Ridge augmentation procedures could be applied to increase the volume of the deficient sites for accurate prosthetic implant placement, which assures functional and esthetic stability of tissues around the implants, essential for long-term success.
Published: 2024
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48. GLABELLAR FLAP RECONSTRUCTION FOR DEFECTS BELOW MEDIAL CANTHUS

Author: Georgi Balchev, Georgi Yordanov, and Snezhana Murgova
Subjects: glabellar flap, oculoplastic surgery, lower eyelid, basal cell carcinoma, surgical reconstruction, Dentistry, RK1-715, Medicine (General), R5-920
Abstract: Background: Glabellar plastic is a method used for reconstructing the medial defects that use the available surrounding tissue, and in particular, that of the glabellar region. Most authors are of the opinion that this plastic is suitable for defects that reach the medial canthal area and do not pass down to the lower eyelid. Aim: To present the glabellar flap technique as an option for the reconstruction of defects that extend below the medial canthus, which is an application outside the recommended indications of this technique. Results: The postoperative outcome was good in all patients. Positional anomalies are within the limits of functional comfort. None of the patients requested postoperative cosmetic correction of the surgical defect. Conclusion: We demonstrated the possibility of using this technique below the level of the medial canthus. It carries risks for the appearance of positional abnormalities of the eyelids after surgery, but if the influence of laxity, skin texture and shape of the operative defect is properly taken into account, this technique provides a good alternative to combined surgery.
Published: 2024
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49. Quantifying the effect of gate errors on variational quantum eigensolvers for quantum chemistry

Author: Kieran Dalton, Christopher K. Long, Yordan S. Yordanov, Charles G. Smith, Crispin H. W. Barnes, Normann Mertig, and David R. M. Arvidsson-Shukur
Subjects: Physics, QC1-999, Electronic computers. Computer science, QA75.5-76.95
Abstract: Abstract Variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) are leading candidates to demonstrate near-term quantum advantage. Here, we conduct density-matrix simulations of leading gate-based VQEs for a range of molecules. We numerically quantify their level of tolerable depolarizing gate-errors. We find that: (i) The best-performing VQEs require gate-error probabilities between 10−6 and 10−4 (10−4 and 10−2 with error mitigation) to predict, within chemical accuracy, ground-state energies of small molecules with 4 − 14 orbitals. (ii) ADAPT-VQEs that construct ansatz circuits iteratively outperform fixed-circuit VQEs. (iii) ADAPT-VQEs perform better with circuits constructed from gate-efficient rather than physically-motivated elements. (iv) The maximally-allowed gate-error probability, p c , for any VQE to achieve chemical accuracy decreases with the number N II of noisy two-qubit gates as $${p}_{c}\mathop{\propto }\limits_{\displaystyle{ \sim }}{N}_{{{{\rm{II}}}}}^{-1}$$ p c ∝ ~ N II − 1 . Additionally, p c decreases with system size, even with error mitigation, implying that larger molecules require even lower gate-errors. Thus, quantum advantage via gate-based VQEs is unlikely unless gate-error probabilities are decreased by orders of magnitude.
Published: 2024
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50. Process analysis of the anaerobe Phocaeicola vulgatus in a shake flasks and fermenter reveals pH and product inhibition

Author: Laura Keitel, Katharina Miebach, Lea Rummel, Stanislav Yordanov, and Jochen Büchs
Subjects: Anaerobic gut bacteria, Phocaeicola (Bacteroides) vulgatus, Cultivation medium restrictions, Product inhibition, Organic acids, AnaRAMOS, Microbiology, QR1-502
Abstract: Abstract Purpose The anaerobic gut bacterium Phocaeicola vulgatus (formerly Bacteroides vulgatus) has a significant role in the human gut microbiome. It can produce bioactive compounds with antimicrobial properties and industrially relevant organic acids like succinate. However, there is a knowledge gap in understanding the metabolism of P. vulgatus, as cultivation of anaerobic gut bacteria is challenging and usually conducted with enriched microbiota cultures. We aim to close this gap by characterizing this anaerobe bacterium in different cultivation conditions and scales. Methods In this work, axenic cultures were studied in a shake flask and 2 L fermenter scale to characterize the influence of initial pH, buffer concentration, osmolality, and product inhibition on growth and organic acid production by P. vulgatus. Both cultivation systems had online gas measurements for total gas and CO2 production. HPLC analysis generated closed carbon balances, accounting for all produced acids. Results Total gas transfer rates and CO2 transfer rates revealed that 65% of produced gas was attributed to H2, while just 35% was connected to CO2 production. A minimum buffer concentration of 50 mM MOPS and an initial pH of 7.3 were identified to mitigate pH inhibition in P. vulgatus cultivations with a defined minimal medium and glucose as substrate. The initial addition of lactate showed an inhibitory effect, starting at a concentration of 1 g L−1. On the contrary, initial acetate addition was beneficial for organic acid production. A comparison of a pH-buffered and a pH-controlled 2 L fermentation demonstrated a switch in acid production toward succinate under pH control. Conclusion The study provides insight into improved cultivation conditions for the gut bacterium P. vulgatus and demonstrates a successful scale-up from the shake flask to the 2 L bioreactor. By applying pH control in the bioreactor, growth was increased, and the organic acid production was switched from lactate to succinate. Even though P. vulgatus could serve as a production organism for interesting bioactive compounds and organic acids, further characterization and improvement are necessary to improve titers.
Published: 2024
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