Background and purpose
Previous studies suggested that the overall burden of prior infections contributes to cardiovascular diseases and stroke. In the present study, the association between ...infectious burden (IB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) was examined.
Methods
Antibody titers to common infectious pathogens including cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐1), Borrelia burgdorferi, Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori were measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay in 128 AD patients and 135 healthy controls. IB was defined as a composite serological measure of exposure to these common pathogens.
Results
Seropositivities toward zero−two, three and four−five of these pathogens were found in 44%, 40% and 16% of healthy controls but in 20%, 44% and 36% of AD patients, respectively. IB, bacterial burden and viral burden were independently associated with AD after adjusting for age, gender, education, APOE genotype and various comorbidities. Mini‐Mental State Examination scores were negatively correlated with IB in all cases. Serum beta‐amyloid protein (Aβ) levels (i.e. Aβ40, Aβ42 and total Aβ) and inflammatory cytokines (i.e. interferon‐γ, tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin‐1β and interleukin‐6) in individuals exposed to four−five infectious pathogens were significantly higher than those exposed to zero−two or three pathogens.
Conclusions
IB consisting of CMV, HSV‐1, B. burgdorferi, C. pneumoniae and H. pylori is associated with AD. This study supports the role of infection/inflammation in the etiopathogenesis of AD.
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We report the first electronic compressibility measurements of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene. The evolution of the compressibility with carrier density offers insights into the ...interaction-driven ground state that have not been accessible in prior transport and tunneling studies. From capacitance measurements, we determine the chemical potential as a function of carrier density and find the widths of the energy gaps at fractional filling of the moiré lattice. In the electron-doped regime, we observe unexpectedly large gaps at quarter- and half-filling and strong electron-hole asymmetry. Moreover, we measure a ∼35 meV minibandwidth that is much wider than most theoretical estimates. Finally, we explore the field dependence up to the quantum Hall regime and observe significant differences from transport measurements.
Hexagonal boron nitride is the only substrate that has so far allowed graphene devices exhibiting micrometer-scale ballistic transport. Can other atomically flat crystals be used as substrates for ...making quality graphene heterostructures? Here we report on our search for alternative substrates. The devices fabricated by encapsulating graphene with molybdenum or tungsten disulfides and hBN are found to exhibit consistently high carrier mobilities of about 60 000 cm2 V–1 s–1. In contrast, encapsulation with atomically flat layered oxides such as mica, bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide, and vanadium pentoxide results in exceptionally low quality of graphene devices with mobilities of ∼1000 cm2 V–1 s–1. We attribute the difference mainly to self-cleansing that takes place at interfaces between graphene, hBN, and transition metal dichalcogenides. Surface contamination assembles into large pockets allowing the rest of the interface to become atomically clean. The cleansing process does not occur for graphene on atomically flat oxide substrates.
We report on four radio-detected cosmic-ray (CR) or CR-like events observed with the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a NASA-sponsored long-duration balloon payload. Two of the four ...were previously identified as stratospheric CR air showers during the ANITA-I flight. A third stratospheric CR was detected during the ANITA-II flight. Here, we report on characteristics of these three unusual CR events, which develop nearly horizontally, 20-30 km above the surface of Earth. In addition, we report on a fourth steeply upward-pointing ANITA-I CR-like radio event which has characteristics consistent with a primary that emerged from the surface of the ice. This suggests a possible τ-lepton decay as the origin of this event, but such an interpretation would require significant suppression of the standard model τ-neutrino cross section.
Direct atomic-scale observations and measurements on dynamics of amorphous metallic nanoparticles (a-NPs) are challenging owing to the insufficient consciousness to their striking characterizations ...and the difficulties in technological approaches. In this study, we observe coalescence process of the a-NPs at atomic scale. We measure the viscosity of the a-NPs through the particles coalescence by in situ method. We find that the a-NPs have fast dynamics, and the viscosity of the a-NPs exhibits a power law relationship with size of the a-NPs. The a-NPs with sizes smaller than 3 nm are in a supercooled liquid state and exhibit liquid-like behaviours with a decreased viscosity by four orders of magnitude lower than that of bulk glasses. These results reveal the intrinsic flow characteristics of glasses in low demension, and pave a way to understand the liquid-like behaviours of low dimension glass, and are also of key interest to develop size-controlled nanodevices.
Contrary to the formation of complicated polycrystals induced by general crystallization, a modulated superlatticelike nanostructure, which grows layer by layer from the surface to the interior of a ...Pd_{40}Ni_{10}Cu_{30}P_{20} metallic glass, is observed via isothermal annealing below the glass transition temperature. The generation of the modulated nanostructure can be solely controlled by the annealing temperature, and it can be understood based on the fast dynamic and liquidlike behavior of the glass surface. The observations have implications for understanding the glassy surface dynamics and pave a way for the controllable fabrication of a unique and sophisticated nanostructure on a glass surface to realize the properties' modification.
We report a successful observation of pressure-induced superconductivity in a topological compound Bi 2 Te 3 with T c of ∼3 K between 3 to 6 GPa. The combined high-pressure structure investigations ...with synchrotron radiation indicated that the superconductivity occurred at the ambient phase without crystal structure phase transition. The Hall effects measurements indicated the hole-type carrier in the pressure-induced superconducting Bi 2 Te 3 single crystal. Consequently, the first-principles calculations based on the structural data obtained by the Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction patterns at high pressure showed that the electronic structure under pressure remained topologically nontrivial. The results suggested that topological superconductivity can be realized in Bi 2 Te 3 due to the proximity effect between superconducting bulk states and Dirac-type surface states. We also discuss the possibility that the bulk state could be a topological superconductor.
Vitrification from physical vapor deposition is known to be an efficient way for tuning the kinetic and thermodynamic stability of glasses and significantly improve their properties. There is a ...general consensus that preparing stable glasses requires the use of high substrate temperatures close to the glass transition one, T
. Here, we challenge this empirical rule by showing the formation of Zr-based ultrastable metallic glasses (MGs) at room temperature, i.e., with a substrate temperature of only 0.43T
. By carefully controlling the deposition rate, we can improve the stability of the obtained glasses to higher values. In contrast to conventional quenched glasses, the ultrastable MGs exhibit a large increase of T
of ∼60 K, stronger resistance against crystallization, and more homogeneous structure with less order at longer distances. Our study circumvents the limitation of substrate temperature for developing ultrastable glasses, and provides deeper insight into glasses stability and their surface dynamics.
Statistical modeling of experimental and simulation databases has enabled the development of an accurate predictive capability for deuterium-tritium layered cryogenic implosions at the OMEGA laser V. ...Gopalaswamy et al.,Nature 565, 581 (2019). In this letter, a physics-based statistical mapping framework is described and used to uncover the dependencies of the fusion yield. This model is used to identify and quantify the degradation mechanisms of the fusion yield in direct-drive implosions on OMEGA. The yield is found to be reduced by the ratio of laser beam to target radius, the asymmetry in inferred ion temperatures from the ℓ = 1 mode, the time span over which tritium fuel has decayed, and parameters related to the implosion hydrodynamic stability. When adjusted for tritium decay and ℓ = 1 mode, the highest yield in OMEGA cryogenic implosions is predicted to exceed 2 × 1014 fusion reactions.
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