Effect of coil and chamber structure on plasma radial uniformity in radio frequency inductively coupled plasma

Enhancing plasma uniformity can be achieved by modifying coil and chamber structures in radio frequency inductively coupled plasma(ICP)to meet the demand for large-area and uniformly distributed plasma in industrial manufacturing.This study utilized a two-dimensional self-consistent fluid model to investigate how different coil configurations and chamber aspect ratios affect the radial uniformity of plasma in radio frequency ICP.The findings indicate that optimizing the radial spacing of the coil enhances plasma uniformity but with a reduction in electron density.Furthermore,optimizing the coil within the ICP reactor,using the interior point method in the Interior Point Optimizer significantly enhances plasma uniformity,elevating it from 56%to 96%within the range of the model sizes.Additionally,when the chamber aspect ratio k changes from 2.8 to 4.7,the plasma distribution changes from a center-high to a saddleshaped distribution.Moreover,the plasma uniformity becomes worse.Finally,adjusting process parameters,such as increasing source power and gas pressure,can enhance plasma uniformity.These findings contribute to optimizing the etching process by improving plasma radial uniformity.

Study of Epoxy Bonding

Bonding is used widely when the optical glasses are connected with metal structures. It plays a very important role in the design of space telescope. Improper bonding may induce great surface figure error for optics in telescope. Milbond and EC2216 are the most popular epoxies that are used in optics. Bubbles usually exist in the epoxy when two components are mixed or translated to syringe. In this paper, the methods and experiments of adhesive mixture and injection in vacuum environment were explained to reduce the bonding surface figure of the mirror. The results show that adhesive mixture and injection in vacuum environment can dramatically decrease the bubble in the epoxy and greatly reduce the bonding surface figure error.

Nicotinamide mononucleotide supplementation improves the quality of porcine oocytes under heat stress

Background:Elevated ambient temperature-caused heat stress is a major concern for livestock production due to its negative impact on animal feed intake,growth,reproduction,and health.Particularly,the germ cells are extremely sensitive to the heat stress.However,the effective approach and strategy regarding how to protect mammalian oocytes from heat stress-induced defects have not been determined.Methods:Germinal vesicle(GV)porcine oocytes were cultured at 41.5℃ for 24 h to induce heat stress,and then cultured at 38.5℃ to the specific developmental stage for subsequent analysis.Nicotinamide mononucleotide(NMN)was dissolved in water to 1 mol/L for a stock solution and further diluted with the maturation medium to the final concentrations of 10μmol/L,20μmol/L,50μmol/L or 100μmol/L,respectively,during heat stress.Immunostaining and fluorescence intensity quantification were applied to assess the effects of heat stress and NMN supplementation on the key processes during the oocyte meiotic maturation.Results:Here,we report that NMN supplementation improves the quality of porcine oocytes under heat stress.Specifically,we found that heat stress resulted in oocyte maturation failure by disturbing the dynamics of meiotic organelles,including the cytoskeleton assembly,cortical granule distribution and mitochondrial function.In addition,heat stress induced the production of excessive reactive oxygen species(ROS)and DNA damage,leading to the occurrence of apoptosis in oocytes and subsequent embryonic development arrest.More importantly,we validated that supplementation of NMN during heat stress restored the meiotic defects during porcine oocyte maturation.Conclusions:Taken together,our study documents that NMN supplementation is an effective approach to improve the quality of oocytes under heat stress by promoting both nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation.

Resveratrol prevents interleukin-1 β-induced dysfunction of pancreatic β-cells

Objective：Interleukin-1β（IL-1β）plays an important role in the development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.Resveratrol,a polyphenol,is known to have a wide range of pharmacological properties in vitro.In this research,we examined the effects of resveratrol on IL-1β-inducedβ-cell dysfunction.Methods：We first evaluated the effect of resveratrol on nitric oxide（NO）formation in RINm5F cells stimulated with IL-1βusing the Griess method.Next,we performed transient transfection and reporter assays to measure the transcriptional activity of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ（PPAR-γ）.We also used Western blotting analysis to assess the effect of resveratrol on inducible nitric oxide synthase（iNOS）expression and nuclear factor-κB（NF-κB）translocation to the nuclei in cells treated with IL-1β.In addition,we assessed the transcriptional activity of NF-κB using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay（EMSA）.Finally,we evaluated the effect of resveratrol on IL-1β-induced inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in freshly isolated rat pancreatic islets.Results：Resveratrol significantly suppressed IL-1β-induced NO production,a finding that correlated well with reduced levels of iNOS mRNA and protein.The molecular mechanism by which resveratrol inhibited iNOS gene expression appeared to involve increased PPAR-γactivity,which resulted in the inhibition of NF-κB activation.Further analysis showed that resveratrol could prevent IL-1β-induced inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in rat islets.Conclusion：In this study,we demonstrated that resveratrol could protect against pancreaticβ-cell dysfunction caused by IL-1β.

Associations Between Active,Passive Smoking and the Risk of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)is the most common chronic liver disease with an estimated worldwide prevalence of 32.4%.1 The multisystem condition is related to an increased risk of liver-related and cardiovascular extrahepatic diseases.2 Smoking is the leading preventable risk factor for premature disability and mortality.As NAFLD and smoking are both associated with the development of metabolic features,there has been increasing interest in testing the relationship between smoking and NAFLD.The causal relevance of smoking to NAFLD incidence have been implicated in crosssectional and prospective cohort studies.3,4 However,previous studies mainly focused on the effect of active smoking,discussion on the influence of passive smoking on NAFLD will facilitate illustrating the association between smoking and NAFLD.We conducted a national two-center cross-section study of active,passive smoking and NAFLD risk in Chinese and European population.This design allowed us to(1)test for associations between active,passive smoking and NAFLD risk by sex and consolidate evidence for causality by estimating dose-response relationship,(2)identify mediated factors,and(3)resolve their possible interaction with smoking.

腹腔镜完全腹膜外疝修补术在基层医院的应用

目的探讨腹腔镜完全腹膜外疝修补术(TEP)在基层医院治疗腹股沟疝的优势,并绘制TEP手术的学习曲线。方法选取2018年1月至2020年6月期间,在广州市增城区人民医院(现广州医科大学附属第四医院)普通外科接受治疗的85例腹股沟疝患者,根据手术方式的不同分为2组,其中40例接受TEP术治疗,45例接受开放式疝修补术治疗,观察2组的临床治疗效果及安全性。40例接受TEP术的患者按照先后顺序分为A、B、C、D组,每组10例,比较其手术操作情况。结果TEP术治疗腹股沟疝优于开放式疝修补术,主要表现为术中出血量、住院时间、恢复正常活动时间和并发症发生率低(P<0.05),但住院费用高和手术时间长(P<0.05)。对A、B、C、D组分析发现,医师操作20例TEP术后,技术逐渐成熟,术中出血、层次错误、腹膜破裂等现象明显减少。结论基层医院临床治疗腹股沟疝可选取TEP术,其并发症发生率低,术后恢复较快;初学者在完成20例TEP术后,能明显缩短手术时间,并逐渐掌握这一技术。

Translational analysis of data science and causal learning in real-world clinical evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine

Real-world clinical evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine(RWCE-TCM)is a method for comprehensively evaluating the clinical effects of TCM,with the aim of delving into the causality between TCM intervention and clinical outcomes.The study explored data science and causal learning methods to transform RWD into reliable real-world evidence,aiming to provide an innovative approach for RWCE-TCM.This study proposes a 10-step data science methodology to address the challenges posed by diverse and complex data in RWCE-TCM.The methodology involves several key steps,including data integration and warehouse building,high-dimensional feature selection,the use of interpretable statistical machine learning algorithms,complex networks,and graph network analysis,knowledge mining techniques such as natural language processing and machine learning,observational study design,and the application of artificial intelligence tools to build an intelligent engine for translational analysis.The goal is to establish a method for clinical positioning,applicable population screening,and mining the structural association of TCM characteristic therapies.In addition,the study adopts the principle of real-world research and a causal learning method for TCM clinical data.We constructed a multidimensional clinical knowledge map of“disease-syndrome-symptom-prescription-medicine”to enhance our understanding of the diagnosis and treatment laws of TCM,clarify the unique therapies,and explore information conducive to individualized treatment.The causal inference process of observational data can address confounding bias and reduce individual heterogeneity,promoting the transformation of TCM RWD into reliable clinical evidence.Intelligent data science improves efficiency and accuracy for implementing RWCE-TCM.The proposed data science methodology for TCM can handle complex data,ensure high-quality RWD acquisition and analysis,and provide in-depth insights into clinical benefits of TCM.This method supports the intelligent translation and demonstration of RWD in TCM,leads the data-driven translational analysis of causal learning,and innovates the path of RWCE-TCM.

带终止事件纵向数据半参数部分线性单指标模型

在纵向研究中,我们常常会对一些非终止事件感兴趣,例如,与健康相关的生存质量.然而,死亡事件可能会在我们观测到这些感兴趣的变量之前发生,这种情况称之为截断数据.此外,每个个体的观察时间可能是不规律的,而且协变量对于感兴趣事件的影响也可能很复杂.本文提出了一个新的用于拟合被死亡截断的数据的半参数部分线性单指标模型,并用局部线性核方法近似非参数的连接函数,构造了参数部分的估计方程.本文证明了连接函数的局部线性核估计具有一致相合性,但收敛速度低于n^(1/2).为了消除这一低速收敛的影响,本文提出了一种数据分割的方法,证明了参数部分估计量的渐近正态性.本文通过一些数值模拟检验所提方法在有限样本下的表现,并分析了一组老年痴呆症的数据.

On Coexistence with COVID-19:Estimations and Perspectives

Given the harsh reality faced by the global effort to contain coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)and the virtual impossibility of its worldwide eradication in the foreseeable future,global human coexistence with fast mutating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)may have to occur,for the time being,irrespective of the wishes and aspirations of our people.Therefore,for China,the risk associated with small to medium scale outbreaks induced by imported cases and the corresponding need to continuously and promptly suppress domestic infections would persist for a certain period of time.

Comparison of Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of MAFLD and NAFLD in Chinese Health Examination Populations

Background and Aims:The recently proposed concept of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD)has remained controversial.We aimed to describe the features and associated outcomes to examine the diagnostic ability of MAFLD for identifying high-risk individuals.Methods:In this retrospective cohort study,we enrolled 72,392 Chinese participants between 2014 and 2015.Participants were classified as MAFLD,nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD),non-MAFLD-NAFLD,and a normal control group.The primary outcomes were liver-related and cardiovascular disease(CVD)events.Person-years of follow-up were calculated from enrolment to the diagnosis of the event,or the last date of data(June,2020).Results:Of the 72,392 participants,31.54%(22,835)and 28.33%(20,507)qualified the criteria for NAFLD or MAFLD,respectively.Compared with NAFLD,MAFLD patients were more likely to be male,overweight,and have higher biochemical indices including liver enzyme levels.Lean MAFLD diagnosed with≥2 or≥3 metabolic abnormalities presented similar clinical manifestations.During the median follow-up of 5.22 years,919 incident cases of severe liver disease and 2,073 CVD cases were recorded.Compared with the normal control group,the NAFLD and MAFLD groups had a higher cumulative risk of liver failure and cardiac-cerebral vascular diseases.There were no significant differences in risk between the non-MAFLD-NAFLD and normal group.Diabetes-MAFLD group had the highest incidence of liver-related and cardiac-cerebral vascular diseases,lean MAFLD came second,and obese-MAFLD had the lowest incidence.Conclusions:This real-world study provided evidence for rationally assessing the benefit and practicability of the change in terminology from NAFLD to MAFLD.MAFLD may be better than NAFLD in identifying fatty liver with worse clinical features and risk profile.

The Incoming Influenza Season—China,the United Kingdom,and the United States,2021–2022

Introduction:Seasonal influenza activity has declined globally since the widespread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)transmission.There has been scarce information to understand the future dynamics of influenza—and under different hypothesis on relaxation of nonpharmaceutical interventions(NPIs)in particular—after the disruptions to seasonal patterns.Methods:We collected data from public sources in China,the United Kingdom,and the United States,and forecasted the influenza dynamics in the incoming 2021–2022 season under different NPIs.We considered Northern China and Southern China separately,due to the sharp difference in the patterns of seasonal influenza.For the United Kingdom,data were collected for England only.Results:Compared to the epidemics in 2017–2019,longer and blunter influenza outbreaks could occur should NPIs be fully lifted,with percent positivity varying from 10.5 to 18.6 in the studying regions.The rebounds would be smaller if the maskwearing intervention continued or the international mobility stayed low,but sharper if the mask-wearing intervention was lifted in the middle of influenza season.Further,influenza activity could stay low under a much less stringent mask-wearing intervention coordinated with influenza vaccination.Conclusions:The results added to our understandings of future influenza dynamics after the global decline during the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic.In light of the uncertainty on the incoming circulation strains and the relatively low negative impacts of mask wearing on society,our findings suggested that wearing mask could be considered as an accompanying mitigation measure in influenza prevention and control,especially for seasons after long periods of low-exposure to influenza viruses.Seasonal influenza activity declines globally during the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic(1–4).For instance,in China,influenza activity,as measured by percentage of submitted specimens testing positive,dropped from 11.8%to 2.0%in 2020–2021 influenza season,compared to the past 5 years(5).The long-period of low-exposure to influenza viruses adds great uncertainty on preparedness for the incoming 2021–2022 influenza season.Influenza vaccination is one of the most effective measures in seasonal influenza prevention and control,but with only a few influenza viruses circulating,it could be difficult to determine the targeted strains for vaccination.In this context,it is of primary importance to identify alternative mitigation measures for the incoming 2021–2022 influenza season,the first season after long periods of virtually no influenza outbreaks worldwide.Using data from China,the United Kingdom,and the United States,we forecasted the influenza activity in the incoming 2021–2022 influenza season under hypothetical scenarios without non-pharmaceutical interventions(NPIs)and with different assumptions on mask-wearing and mobility levels.

Lack of evolutionary changes identified in SARS-CoV-2 for the re-emerging outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing,China

Although significant achievements have shown that the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID‐19)resurgence in Beijing,China,was initiated by contaminated frozen products and transported via cold chain transportation,international travelers with asymptomatic symptoms or false‐negative nucleic acid may have another possible transmission mode that spread the virus to Beijing.One of the key differences between these two assumptions was whether the virus actively replicated since,so far,no reports showed viruses could stop evolution in alive hosts.We studied severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS‐CoV‐2)sequences in this outbreak by a modified leaf‐dating method with the Bayes factor.The numbers of single nucleotide variants(SNVs)found in SARS‐CoV‐2 sequences were significantly lower than those called from B.1.1 records collected at the matching time worldwide(P=0.047).In addition,results of the leaf‐dating method showed ages of viruses sampled from this outbreak were earlier than their recorded dates of collection(Bayes factors>10),while control sequences(selected randomly with ten replicates)showed no differences in their collection dates(Bayes factors<10).Our results which indicated that the re‐emergence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in Beijing in June 2020 was caused by a virus that exhibited a lack of evolutionary changes compared to viruses collected at the corresponding time,provided evolutionary evidence to the contaminated imported frozen food should be responsible for the reappearance of COVID‐19 cases in Beijing.The method developed here might also be helpful to provide the very first clues for potential sources of COVID‐19 cases in the future.

Long-term survival benefit of anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma

Anti-programmed cell death-1(anti-PD-1)therapies have shown a favorable efficacy and good tolerance for relapsed or refractory(r/r)classical Hodgkin lymphoma(cHL).However,there are limited data on long-term outcomes among patients with r/r cHL who achieve an objective response to anti-PD-1 therapies.A total of 260 responders from four,phase 2 clinical trials were included in this study.The median age was 32 years with a male/female ratio of 1.3:1.After a median follow-up period of 31.1 months,116(44.6%)responders experienced disease progression and 18(6.9%)died.

Determining the Covertness of COVID-19-Wuhan,China,2020

Introduction:The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has been going on for over a year and has reemerged in several regions.Therefore,understanding the covertness of COVID-19 is critical to more precisely estimating the pandemic size,especially the population of hidden carriers(those with very mild or no symptoms).Methods:A stochastic dynamic model was proposed to capture the transmission mechanism of COVID-19 and to depict the covertness of COVID-19.The proposed model captured unique features of COVID-19,changes in the diagnosis criteria,and escalating containment measures.Results:The model estimated that,for the epidemic in Wuhan,79.8%(76.7%-82.7%)of the spread was caused by hidden carriers.The overall lab-confirmation rate in Wuhan up until March 8,2020 was 0.17(0.15-0.19).The diagnostic rate among patients with significant symptoms went up to 0.82 on March 8,2020 from 0.43 on January 1,2020 with escalating containment measures and nationwide medical supports.The probability of resurgence could be as high as 0.72 if containment measures were lifted after zero new reported(lab-confirmed or clinically confirmed)cases in a consecutive period of 14 days.This probability went down to 0.18 and 0.01 for measures lifted after 30 and 60 days,respectively.Discussion:Consistent with the cases detected in Wuhan in mid-May,2020,this study suggests that much of the COVID-19 pandemic is underreported and highly covert,which suggests that strict measures must be enforced continuously to contain the spread of the pandemic.

机械平面手性轮烷研究进展

作为一类经典的机械互锁分子,轮烷可在其骨架中不含有经典手性元素的情况下仍能表现出手性特征,也就是轮烷的机械平面手性.与传统的手性轮烷相比,机械平面手性为轮烷的手性增加了新的维度.相较于经典的手性,轮烷独特的空间结构和运动特性将会进一步丰富其手性内涵,使得其在手性传感和不对称催化等领域具有广阔的应用潜力,因此近年来机械平面手性轮烷引起了越来越多的关注.本文从机械平面手性轮烷的手性特性、制备策略和应用这三个角度出发综述了近年来机械平面手性轮烷的研究进展,并分析了当前所面临的挑战,并展望了该领域未来的发展机遇.