Here’s a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial.

From a promising route to reducing brain injury risk in stent surgery, to a new way to probe the mysteries of quantum entanglement, here is some quick-read news from across Imperial.

Sedative supports stent surgery

Researchers have discovered a promising approach for reducing brain injury risk in patients undergoing carotid artery stenting (CAS). CAS is a procedure commonly performed in elderly patients with blockages in the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain.

It carries the risk of cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome, a serious complication where sudden blood flow to the brain leads to injury or even death.

The study assessed the effect of the sedative dexmedetomidine (Dex) on patients undergoing CAS. It found that only 11% of patients receiving Dex developed cerebral hyperperfusion, compared to 38% in a placebo group. Only 3% of patients went on to develop the cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome, compared to 14% in the placebo group.

These findings highlight Dex’s potential as a protective treatment for CAS patients, particularly those at high risk of stroke. Professor Daqing Ma, from Imperial’s Department of Surgery and Cancer, commented: “This could be a significant breakthrough for stent surgery in elderly patients.”

Read the MED paper.

Quantum entanglement test

Imperial researchers proposed a new way to directly probe quantum entanglement, the effect that led to the puzzling concept of ‘spooky action at a distance’, where previously grouped particles’ quantum states cannot be described independently of each other.

The Bell test seeks to demonstrate that no ‘hidden variables’ are involved in quantum entanglement, but has so far only been done for pairs of entangled photons, leading to the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The team from the Department of Physics, comprising Dr Marco Ruberti, Professor Vitali Averbukh and Professor Florian Mintert, has come up with a way to use the Bell test for the process of photoionisation, where a photon causes an electron to be ejected from an atom, leaving the electron and resulting ion quantum entangled.

Using advanced many-body theory, the Imperial team, funded by UKRI EPSRC, succeeded in showing that this could be done by simultaneous measurement of the spin of the photoelectron and the photon emission of the remaining ion.

Read the full study in Physical Review X.

Diwali celebrations

Dr Deesha Chadha OBE, Senior Teaching Fellow with the Department of Chemical Engineering, was invited to attend the 2024 Diwali event hosted by UK Prime Minister.

Dr Chadha also sits on the National Executive Committee of the Hindu Forum of Britain and currently co-chairs both the Faiths Forum for London and the Faith and Belief Sector Panel of the London Resilience Board.

Invited to attend a celebratory evening with the UK Prime Minister (PM) Keir Starmer at Number 10 Downing Street in this capacity, the event included prayers and a speech by the PM. 

On the significance of attending, Dr Chadha said: “The Prime Minister acknowledged the importance and necessity of our diverse community. For me, personally, the significance of attending cannot be underestimated.

"As a practicing Hindu, Diwali is our most auspicious and sacred festival, and for the Prime Minister to openly and warmly welcome individuals from the Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities to his home, and celebrate alongside us, feels very special.”

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