Merons which are topologically equivalent to one-half of skyrmions can exist only in pairs or groups in two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic (FM) systems. The recent discovery of meron lattice in ...chiral magnet Co
Zn
Mn
raises the immediate challenging question that whether a single meron pair, which is the most fundamental topological structure in any 2D meron systems, can be created and stabilized in a continuous FM film? Utilizing winding number conservation, we develop a new method to create and stabilize a single pair of merons in a continuous Py film by local vortex imprinting from a Co disk. By observing the created meron pair directly within a magnetic field, we determine its topological structure unambiguously and explore the topological effect in its creation and annihilation processes. Our work opens a pathway towards developing and controlling topological structures in general magnetic systems without the restriction of perpendicular anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.
The initial cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)-infected pneumonia (NCIP) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019 and January 2020. We analyzed data on the first 425 confirmed ...cases in Wuhan to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of NCIP.
We collected information on demographic characteristics, exposure history, and illness timelines of laboratory-confirmed cases of NCIP that had been reported by January 22, 2020. We described characteristics of the cases and estimated the key epidemiologic time-delay distributions. In the early period of exponential growth, we estimated the epidemic doubling time and the basic reproductive number.
Among the first 425 patients with confirmed NCIP, the median age was 59 years and 56% were male. The majority of cases (55%) with onset before January 1, 2020, were linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, as compared with 8.6% of the subsequent cases. The mean incubation period was 5.2 days (95% confidence interval CI, 4.1 to 7.0), with the 95th percentile of the distribution at 12.5 days. In its early stages, the epidemic doubled in size every 7.4 days. With a mean serial interval of 7.5 days (95% CI, 5.3 to 19), the basic reproductive number was estimated to be 2.2 (95% CI, 1.4 to 3.9).
On the basis of this information, there is evidence that human-to-human transmission has occurred among close contacts since the middle of December 2019. Considerable efforts to reduce transmission will be required to control outbreaks if similar dynamics apply elsewhere. Measures to prevent or reduce transmission should be implemented in populations at risk. (Funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and others.).
OBJECTIVE:The objective was to evaluate the association of body size and fat distribution with the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in Chinese men and women.DESIGN:This was a population-based, ...prospective cohort study.SUBJECTS:The analysis included 134 255 Chinese adults enrolled in the Shanghai Women's Health Study and the Shanghai Men's Health Study, with an average follow-up of 11.0 and 5.5 years, respectively.MEASUREMENTS:Waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were measured by trained interviewers at baseline. Multivariable Cox models were used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for incident CRC.RESULTS:A total of 935 incident CRC cases were identified. Both measures of general adiposity (measured by BMI) and central adiposity (measured by WHR and WC) were significantly associated with an increased risk of colon cancer in men but not in women. Multivariable-adjusted HRs for colon cancer in men in the highest compared with the lowest quintiles were 2.15 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35-3.43; P for trend=0.0006) for BMI, 1.97 (95% CI: 1.19-3.24; P for trend=0.0004) for WHR and 2.00 (95% CI: 1.21-3.29; P for trend=0.0002) for WC. The BMI-associated risk was attenuated in analyses stratified by WHR, whereas the WHR-associated risk remained significant in the high BMI stratum (HR for comparison of extreme tertiles of WHR: 3.38, 95% CI: 1.47-7.75; P for trend =0.0002). None of these anthropometric measures were significantly associated with rectal cancer.CONCLUSION:Obesity, particularly central obesity, was associated with an increased risk of colon cancer in men.
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.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in millions of patients infected worldwide and indirectly affecting even more individuals through disruption of daily living. Long-term ...adverse outcomes have been reported with similar diseases from other coronaviruses, namely Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Emerging evidence suggests that COVID-19 adversely affects different systems in the human body. This review summarizes the current evidence on the short-term adverse health outcomes and assesses the risk of potential long-term adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Major adverse outcomes were found to affect different body systems: immune system (including but not limited to Guillain-Barré syndrome and paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome), respiratory system (lung fibrosis and pulmonary thromboembolism), cardiovascular system (cardiomyopathy and coagulopathy), neurological system (sensory dysfunction and stroke), as well as cutaneous and gastrointestinal manifestations, impaired hepatic and renal function. Mental health in patients with COVID-19 was also found to be adversely affected. The burden of caring for COVID-19 survivors is likely to be huge. Therefore, it is important for policy makers to develop comprehensive strategies in providing resources and capacity in the healthcare system. Future epidemiological studies are needed to further investigate the long-term impact on COVID-19 survivors.
A high performance Cu-Cr-Zr alloy with an ultimate tensile strength of 612 MPa, a uniform elongation of 5% and an electrical conductivity of 84.7% IACS was achieved by the severe rotary swaging and ...two-step peak-aging treatment. A perfect ultrafine grained microstructure with uniformly distributed nano-precipitates was identified to be responsible for the excellent properties of the studied alloy. The proposed method of rotary swaging in combination with the two-step aging treatment shows good potential for producing the high performance Cu-Cr-Zr alloy, which can not only fulfill the industrial requirement of strength and electrical conductivity, but also is suitable for mass production.
•Sensitive parameters to chiller faults are screened out using sensitivity analysis.•Cascade feature cleaning and supplement (CFCS) is proposed for refinement.•Nine out of 64 parameters have been ...screened out with an accuracy of 99.79%.•The feature set has an excellent practicality and generalization performance.•Parameters of lubricating oil are excellent features for fault diagnosis.
For the fault diagnosis of a building chiller, the selection of suitable features/parameters is potentially more critical than the selection of diagnosis methods. This study explores the sensitive parameters for the seven typical faults in chillers by performing global sensitivity analysis (GSA) based on a Random Forest (RF) meta-model, and proposes a novel hybrid feature screening strategy of cascade feature cleaning and supplement (CFCS) based on correlation analysis and experience. Compared with the traditional experience-based selection, the proposed methods can enable an insight from all dimensions; hence reduce the number of sensors significantly while retaining as much useful information as possible. The results show that the fourteen (SPCS-2 set) or nine parameters (SPDM-set) screened out from the original 64 parameters have an excellent indication to the seven faults, with the diagnosis accuracy reaching 99.67% and 99.79%, respectively. The generalization performance and diagnostic reliability of the feature sets has also been verified under different diagnosis methods. Besides, it is demonstrated that the parameters of lubricating oil exhibit an immediate and salient indication to the system status, more significant for fault diagnosis than those of refrigerant. Therefore, sensors for oil parameters are recommended to be installed for an early recognition of faults.
To evaluate the dose–response relationship between cigarette smoking and pancreatic cancer and to examine the effects of temporal variables.
We analyzed data from 12 case–control studies within the ...International Pancreatic Cancer Case–Control Consortium (PanC4), including 6507 pancreatic cases and 12 890 controls. We estimated summary odds ratios (ORs) by pooling study-specific ORs using random-effects models.
Compared with never smokers, the OR was 1.2 (95% confidence interval CI 1.0–1.3) for former smokers and 2.2 (95% CI 1.7–2.8) for current cigarette smokers, with a significant increasing trend in risk with increasing number of cigarettes among current smokers (OR = 3.4 for ≥35 cigarettes per day, P for trend <0.0001). Risk increased in relation to duration of cigarette smoking up to 40 years of smoking (OR = 2.4). No trend in risk was observed for age at starting cigarette smoking, whereas risk decreased with increasing time since cigarette cessation, the OR being 0.98 after 20 years.
This uniquely large pooled analysis confirms that current cigarette smoking is associated with a twofold increased risk of pancreatic cancer and that the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked and duration of smoking. Risk of pancreatic cancer reaches the level of never smokers ∼20 years after quitting.
Summary
Background
Serrated polyps of the colorectum have distinct histological features and malignant potential.
Aim
To assess the association between the presence of serrated polyps and synchronous ...advanced colorectal neoplasia.
Methods
Among 4989 asymptomatic Chinese individuals aged 50–70 years who underwent screening colonoscopy, 281 cases with advanced neoplasia (adenoma ≥1 cm, with tubulovillous/villous histology, with high‐grade dysplasia, or invasive adenocarcinoma) were compared with 4708 controls without advanced neoplasia for age, sex, smoking history, body mass index, family history of colorectal cancer and the presence of serrated polyps. Independent predictors of advanced neoplasia were determined by multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Results
The prevalence of advanced neoplasia and serrated polyps (excluding small distal hyperplastic polyps) was 5.7% and 5.6%, respectively. 3.7% and 0.4% subjects had proximal and large (≥10 mm) serrated polyps, respectively. Independent predictors of synchronous advanced colorectal neoplasia were the presence of sessile serrated adenomas (OR: 4.52; 95% CI: 2.40–8.49), proximal serrated polyps (OR: 2.23, 95% CI: 1.38–3.60), large serrated polyps (OR: 59.25; 95% CI: 18.85–186.21), hyperplastic polyps (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.03–2.67), three or more serrated polyps (OR: 4.86; 95% CI: 1.24–19.15) and one or more non‐advanced tubular adenomas (OR: 3.58, 95% CI: 2.59–4.96).
Conclusion
Detection of proximal, sessile and/or large serrated polyps at screening colonoscopy is independently associated with an increased risk for synchronous advanced neoplasia.
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