Weyl semimetals are crystalline solids that host emergent relativistic Weyl fermions and have characteristic surface Fermi-arcs in their electronic structure. Weyl semimetals with broken time ...reversal symmetry are difficult to identify unambiguously. In this work, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we visualized the electronic structure of the ferromagnetic crystal Co
Sn
S
and discovered its characteristic surface Fermi-arcs and linear bulk band dispersions across the Weyl points. These results establish Co
Sn
S
as a magnetic Weyl semimetal that may serve as a platform for realizing phenomena such as chiral magnetic effects, unusually large anomalous Hall effect and quantum anomalous Hall effect.
By combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and quantum oscillation measurements, we performed a comprehensive investigation on the electronic structure of LaSb, which exhibits ...near-quadratic extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR) without any sign of saturation at magnetic fields as high as 40 T. We clearly resolve one spherical and one intersecting-ellipsoidal hole Fermi surfaces (FSs) at the Brillouin zone (BZ) center Γ and one ellipsoidal electron FS at the BZ boundary X. The hole and electron carriers calculated from the enclosed FS volumes are perfectly compensated, and the carrier compensation is unaffected by temperature. We further reveal that LaSb is topologically trivial but shares many similarities with the Weyl semimetal TaAs family in the bulk electronic structure. Based on these results, we have examined the mechanisms that have been proposed so far to explain the near-quadratic XMR in semimetals.
Background
This phase 3 trial is the first to evaluate the efficacy and safety of treatment with the systemic TNF‐α inhibitor, adalimumab, for Chinese patients with moderate‐to‐severe plaque ...psoriasis.
Methods
In the 12‐week, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled Period A, patients were randomized 4 : 1 to receive adalimumab 40 mg every‐other‐week (following a single 80 mg dose), or placebo every‐other‐week. In the subsequent 12‐week, open‐label, Period B, all patients received adalimumab 40 mg every‐other‐week starting at week 13, following a single, blinded dose at week 12 of adalimumab 80 mg or matching placebo (for patients receiving placebo or adalimumab in Period A respectively). In Period A, efficacy was analysed for all randomized patients and safety for all patients receiving ≥1 dose of the study drug.
Results
For the 425 patients in this study (87 placebo; 338 adalimumab), a higher percentage randomized to adalimumab achieved the primary endpoint of ≥75% improvement from baseline in PASI score (PASI 75) at week 12: placebo 11.5% (10/87); adalimumab 77.8% (263/338; P < 0.001). Physician's Global Assessment of clear to minimal was achieved at week 12 by 14.9% placebo (13/87) and 80.5% adalimumab (272/338; P < 0.001). For patients who received adalimumab at any time during the study (All‐adalimumab Population), treatment‐emergent adverse events (AEs) were reported by 63.4%; the most common was upper respiratory infection (16.1%). Serious AEs were reported by 3.5% of the All‐adalimumab Population, and serious infectious AEs by 1.2%, which include lung infection, pneumonia and tuberculosis 2 (0.5%) patients each. There was one death (chronic heart failure).
Conclusion
In these Chinese patients with moderate‐to‐severe psoriasis, a significantly greater percentage treated with adalimumab compared with placebo achieved efficacy endpoints at week 12 and efficacy was sustained to week 24. Safety results were consistent with the known adalimumab safety profile; no new safety signals were identified in the 24 weeks of treatment.
By using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with first-principles calculations, we reveal that the topmost unit cell of ZrSnTe crystal hosts two-dimensional (2D) electronic bands of ...the topological insulator (TI) state, although such a TI state is defined with a curved Fermi level instead of a global band gap. Furthermore, we find that by modifying the dangling bonds on the surface through hydrogenation, this 2D band structure can be manipulated so that the expected global energy gap is most likely to be realized. This facilitates the practical applications of 2D TI in heterostructural devices and those with surface decoration and coverage. Since ZrSnTe belongs to a large family of compounds having the similar crystal and band structures, our findings shed light on identifying more 2D TI candidates and superconductor-TI heterojunctions supporting topological superconductors.
Cavitation erosion-corrosion (CE-C) behaviour of various copper alloys for ship propellers were investigated in sulphide-containing 3.5% NaCl solutions. Results indicate that the CE-C resistance ...remarkably decreases with increase in sulphide concentration for cast and friction stir processed nickel-aluminum bronzes. CE increases the current density by approximately two orders of magnitude and causes a positive potential shift when the sulphide concentration exceeds 50 ppm. The synergistic effect between CE and corrosion contributes greatly to CE-C degradation in sulphide solutions. However, the CE-C behaviour is insensitive to sulphide concentration for manganese-aluminum bronze and manganese brass. In all solutions, CE causes a positive potential shift and increases the current density by less than one order of magnitude. Mechanical attack dominates the CE-C damage.
•CE-C behaviours of various copper alloys were studied in seawater with sulphide.•The sulphide has different effects on CE behaviour of different copper alloys.•The effect of CE on the electrochemical behaviour was analysed.•The synergistic effect between corrosion and CE was discussed.
Purpose
Though type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an important and independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) in the general population, the impact of T2DM on CAD in patients with ...familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is less understood. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the features of FH patients with T2DM and explore the effects of T2DM on CAD in FH.
Methods
A total of 289 clinical heterozygous FH (HeFH) patients diagnosed with Dutch Lipid Clinic Criteria were consecutively recruited and divided into a T2DM group (
n
= 58) and non-T2DM group (
n
= 231). Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings were compared between the two groups. Target exome sequencing was used for gene mutation analysis.
Results
HeFH patients with T2DM had significantly higher levels of triglycerides, body mass index and free fatty acids than did non-T2DM patients; moreover, patients with T2DM more frequently exhibited hypertension. However, the spectrum of FH-causing mutations was not significantly different (
p
= 0.061). Notably, patients with T2DM had higher prevalence of CAD (
p
= 0.012) and higher Gensini Score (
p
= 0.002). The regression analysis confirmed that HbA1c was an independent risk factor for both the presence and severity of CAD OR 2.321 (1.098–4.904),
p
= 0.027; OR 1.349 (1.032–1.762),
p
= 0.028, respectively in patients with HeFH.
Conclusions
Although there were not many differences in the clinical, lipid and genetic aspects of HeFH patients with and without T2DM, T2DM and HbA1c were associated with worse coronary lesions, suggesting that diabetes and the degree of blood glucose control are also important determinants of cardiovascular disease in these patients.
Reactive intermediates frequently play significant roles in the biosynthesis of numerous classes of natural products although the direct observation of these biosynthetically relevant species is ...rare. We present here direct evidence for the existence of complex, thermally unstable, tricyclic oxonium ions that have been postulated as key reactive intermediates in the biosynthesis of numerous halogenated natural products from Laurencia species. Evidence for their existence comes from full characterization of these oxonium ions by low-temperature NMR spectroscopy supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, coupled with the direct generation of 10 natural products on exposure of the oxonium ions to various nucleophiles.
By employing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with first-principles calculations, we performed a systematic investigation on the electronic structure of LaBi, which exhibits ...extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR), and is theoretically predicted to possess band anticrossing with nontrivial topological properties. Here, the observations of the Fermi-surface topology and band dispersions are similar to previous studies on LaSb L.-K. Zeng, R. Lou, D.-S. Wu, Q. N. Xu, P.-J. Guo, L.-Y. Kong, Y.-G. Zhong, J.-Z. Ma, B.-B. Fu, P. Richard, P. Wang, G. T. Liu, L. Lu, Y.-B. Huang, C. Fang, S.-S. Sun, Q. Wang, L. Wang, Y.-G. Shi, H. M. Weng, H.-C. Lei, K. Liu, S.-C. Wang, T. Qian, J.-L. Luo, and H. Ding, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 127204 (2016), a topologically trivial XMR semimetal, except the existence of a band inversion along the Γ−X direction, with one massless and one gapped Dirac-like surface state at the X and Γ points, respectively. The odd number of massless Dirac cones suggests that LaBi is analogous to the time-reversal Z2 nontrivial topological insulator. These findings open up a new series for exploring novel topological states and investigating their evolution from the perspective of topological phase transition within the family of rare-earth monopnictides.
Abstract
Changes in the meridional position of the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (SSTAs) associated with the interannual component (PC1-I) of the principal component 1 (PC1) of the first ...leading mode of the North Pacific SST (referred to here as
PC1-I-related SSTAs
) are investigated using reanalysis products and climate model output. It is found that the PC1-I-related SSTAs (or PC1-I anomalies) significantly shift southward at a rate of 1.04° latitude per decade and have moved southward by 4.4° since the 1960s. Our further analysis indicates that the southward shift of the PC1-I-related SSTAs is due to changes in ENSO teleconnections. Compared to the 1950–75 period (PRE era), the meridional width of the ENSO-induced tropical positive geopotential height (GH) anomaly is narrower during the 1991–2016 period (POST era), inducing a southward shift of the subtropical westerly anomaly over the North Pacific through geostrophic wind relations. This southward shift of the westerly anomaly favors the southward shift of the ENSO-induced negative GH anomaly (cyclonic circulation anomaly) over the North Pacific by positive vorticity forcing of the zonal wind shear. The southward-shifting GH anomaly associated with ENSO further forces the PC1-I anomaly to shift southward. Furthermore, the contraction of the ENSO-induced tropical positive GH anomaly is related to the contraction of the meridional width of ENSO. The modeling results support that the decrease in the ENSO meridional width favors the contraction of the ENSO-induced tropical positive GH anomaly and the southward shift of ENSO teleconnections over the North Pacific, contributing to the southward shift of the PC1-I anomaly.
Ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1) is the main source of extracellular pyrophosphate. Along with tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP), ENPP1 plays an important role ...in balancing bone mineralisation. Although well established in pre-osteoblasts, the regulating mechanisms of ENPP1 in osteoblasts and osteocytes remain largely unknown. Using bioinformatic methods, osterix (Osx), an essential transcription factor in osteoblast differentiation and osteocyte function, was found to have five predicted binding sites on the ENPP1 promoter. ENPP1 and Osx showed a similar expression profile both in vitro and in vivo. Over-expression of Osx in MC3T3-E1 and MLO-Y4 cells significantly up-regulated the expression of ENPP1 (p < 0.05). The consensus Sp1 sequences, located in the proximal ENPP1 promoter, were identified as Osx-regulating sites using promoter truncation experiments and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays. The p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway was demonstrated to be responsible for ENPP1 promoter activation by Osx. Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) was confirmed to have synergistic effects with Osx in activating ENPP1 promoter. Taken together, these results provided evidence of the regulating mechanisms of ENPP1 transcription in osteoblasts and osteocytes.
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