Background Tofacitinib is an orally active, small-molecule Janus kinase inhibitor, recently approved for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC) refractory to corticosteroid. However, currently, there is inadequate evidence for efficacy of Tofacitinib in UC patients. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tofacitinib for inducing and maintaining remission in UC patients. Methods In a single-centre retrospective setting, 71 consecutive patients with UC who had failed to respond to corticosteroid or biologics were included. All patients had received 10mg Tofacitinib orally twice daily for at least 8 weeks as remission induction therapy and then, the responders received 5mg twice daily as maintenance therapy for up to 26 weeks. The clinical response and adverse events were evaluated at weeks 8 (induction) and 26 (maintenance). UC activity was assessed by the partial Mayo score. Clinical remission was defined as p-Mayo score ≤1 and the bleeding subscore = 0. Clinical response was defined as p-Mayo score ≤4 and a decrease of ≥3 points relative to baseline. Furthermore, the cumulative remission rates up to 26 weeks were determined by the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Results At week 8, 24 of 71 patients (33.8%) achieved clinical remission and 20 (28.2%) achieved response level. The mean p-Mayo score fell from 5.8 ± 1.1 at entry to 3.5 ± 2.3 at week 2 (p < 0.01) and 2.3 ± 1.9 at week 8 (P<0.01). The average total cholesterol increased from 180.8 ± 36.0 mg/dl at entry to 206.8±39.3 mg/dl (p < 0.01). In anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α or vedolizumab (VDZ) naïve subgroup (n = 14), 8 patients (57.1%) achieved response level, while in biologic failure subgroup (n = 57), 36 patients (63.2%) achieved response level. In single biologic failure subgroup (n = 27), 19 patients (70.4%), in double biologics failure subgroup, 14 of 24 patients (58.3%), and in 3 biologics failure subgroup, 3 of 6 patients (50.0%) achieved response level, showing a decrease in the efficacy of Tofacitinib in patients who had failed more than one biologic. Furthermore, of the 25 patients followed for 26 weeks, 23 (92.0%) sustained remission at week 16 and 19 (76.0%) at week 26. Herpes virus infection occurred in 4 patients. The increase in total cholesterol was observed in 68.8% of the patients. Conclusion Our retrospective efficacy assessment indicated that Tofacitinib was effective and safe for inducing and maintaining remission in corticosteroid refractory UC patients, regardless of biologic naïve or failure background. The efficacy of 10mg twice daily was rapid and observed within 2 weeks of starting the treatment.

We investigate the gravitational wave production induced by the primordial magnetic fields in a parity-violating magnetogenesis model. It is shown that the gravitational waves detectable by LISA, DECIGO or BBO and the magnetic fields strong enough to explain the blazar observation can be simultaneously produced. The magnetic fields and the gravitational waves have the same chirality and their amplitudes are related, which may also be tested by future observations.

Objectives: Knowledge gaps exist in the use of biologics for pregnant patients with Crohn's disease (CD), especially the usage of ustekinumab (UST) and infliximab (IFX) infusion during the late gestation period. In this case series, we investigated perinatal and neonatal outcomes and pharmacokinetics of these biologics in pregnant CD patients. Methods: Pregnant CD patients under treatment with IFX or UST during January 2017 to December 2019 were monitored. Growth and development of their babies were followed up to six months. Drug concentrations were measured in maternal peripheral and cord blood at delivery and infants' blood at six months of age. Results: Four cases were kept IFX treatment until late gestation (median last dose: 31.2 weeks). One case received UST until 23 weeks of gestation. All cases were in clinical remission but moderately undernourished. Babies were delivered by cesarean section at full term without any complications or congenital abnormalities. No growth or developmental defects and no susceptibility to infections were observed by six months. However, two babies whose mothers received IFX after 30 weeks of gestation were detected IFX in their blood at six months of age (0.94 and 0.24 pg/ml). Concentrations of UST in maternal and cord blood were 267.7 and 756.5 ng/ml, respectively. UST was not detected in the infant at six months of age. Conclusions: Administration of UST or IFX to pregnant patients with CD is safe, particularly IFX to be given in the late gestation period. Understanding of the pharmacokinetics of biologics in maternal-infant interactions may improve the management of pregnant CD patients.

A complementarity relation is shown between the visibility of interference and bipartite entanglement in a two qubit interferometric system when the parameters of the quantum operation change for a given input state. The entanglement measure is a decreasing function of the visibility of interference. The implications for quantum computation are briefly discussed.