Additional file 1 of A nationwide cohort study suggests clarithromycin-based therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication is safe in patients with stable coronary heart disease and subsequent peptic ulcer disease

Additional file 1. Supplemental Table 1. Risk of study outcomes including arrhythmia events comparing clarithormycin users vs. nonusers

Data_Sheet_1_No dose-response relationship of clarithromycin utilization on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with stable coronary heart disease: Analysis of Taiwan’s national health insurance claims data.pdf

BackgroundClarithromycin is widely used to treat various bacterial infections and has been reported to have potential cardiovascular risk. However, it is uncertain whether this association was dose dependent and confounded by indication bias in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD).MethodsThis cohort study retrospectively analyzed a national health insurance claims data from Taiwan’s 2005 Longitudinal Generation Tracking Database. We used a new-user design and 1:1 propensity score matching. A total of 9,631 eligible clarithromycin users and 9,631 non-users in 2004–2015 were subject to final analysis. All patients were followed-up after receiving clarithromycin or on the matched corresponding date until occurrence of cardiovascular morbidity in the presence of competing mortality, all-cause and cause-specific mortality, or through the end of 2015. The effect of cumulative dose, exposure duration, and indications of clarithromycin on cardiovascular outcomes were also addressed.ResultsClarithromycin use, compared with non-use, was associated with higher risk for all-cause [adjusted hazard ratios (aHR), 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.29–1.58], cardiovascular (1.35; 1.09–1.67), and non-cardiovascular (1.45; 1.29–1.63) mortality, but not for overall cardiovascular morbidity. Further analysis of individual cardiovascular morbidity demonstrated major risk for heart events (1.25; 1.04–1.51) in clarithromycin users than non-users. However, there was no relationship of cumulative dose, exposure duration, and indications of clarithromycin on cardiovascular outcomes. Analyses of the effects over time showed that clarithromycin increased cardiovascular morbidity (1.21; 1.01–1.45), especially heart events (1.39; 1.10–1.45), all-cause (1.57; 1.38–1.80), cardiovascular (1.58; 1.20–2.08), and non-cardiovascular (1.57; 1.35–1.83) mortality during the first 3 years. Thereafter, clarithromycin effect on all outcomes almost dissipated.ConclusionClarithromycin use was associated with increased risk for short-term cardiovascular morbidity (especially, heart events) and mortality without a dose-response relationship in patients with stable CHD, which was not dose dependent and confounded by indications. Hence, patients with stable CHD while receiving clarithromycin should watch for these short-term potential risks.</p

High Triplet Energy Polymer as Host for Electrophosphorescence with High Efficiency

We report the conjugated polymer P(tBu-CBP) as a host with high triplet energy (ET 2.53 eV) and suitable HOMO (5.3 eV) and LUMO (2.04 eV) energy levels. Upon doping with green and red emission Ir-complexes, it gives devices with high luminous and external quantum efficiencies for green emission (23.7 cd/A, 6.57%) and for red emission (5.1 cd/A, 4.23%), respectively, and low turn-on voltage (3 V). For both devices, the efficiencies are higher than those of the corresponding devices with the same backbone P(3,6-Cz) as a host by a factor of 4, even though the latter has an ET (2.6 eV) slightly higher than that of the former. The results reflect that, in phosphorescent devices, the difference in ET between the host and guest is not the only factor that determines the device efficiency, and the present side group modification via the 9 position of carbazole also plays an important role, which allows a tuning of HOMO and LUMO levels to provide more balance in electron and hole fluxes and provides prevention from formation of excimer

The predictive probability of GSD^§ in male vegetarians and female vegetarians without alcohol consumption.

<p>A: female vegetarians without alcohol consumption; B: male vegetarians. ^§ GSD = gallstone disease ^* BMI = body mass index; TBL = serum total bilirubin level.</p

Read coverage and mis-assemblies on the <i>S.aureus</i> genome.

<p>Read coverage (blue curves) and mis-assemblies (colored regions in the bottom bar) in a region of <i>S. aureus</i> genome at a strong negative (A), zero (B), and strong positive (C) GC bias. Different colors represent different types of mis-assemblies: tandem repeat error (green), translocation error (purple), unaligned reference sequence (red). The colors are projected to the curve of read coverage. The down-triangles in the coverage curves denote single-base insertions.</p

Distribution of GC contents and read coverage of the five species under study.

<p>The red curves stand for GC contents (scale in top axis). The blue and yellow curves represent read coverage at a strong positive and strong negative GC bias, respectively (scale in bottom axis). We used the data at 100X coverage for the five species.</p

Completeness of assemblies of three bacterial genomes by eight assemblers, each treating nine data sets.

<p>The nine data sets at various degrees of GC bias (shown in different colors) are simulated from the genomes of three bacteria: <i>E. coli</i> (A), <i>S. aureus</i> (B), and <i>M. tuberculosis</i> (C). Assembly completeness is measured by the N50 length of the contigs after error corrections. The left and right columns show the results of assembly using simulated data of a 50X and 100X coverage, respectively. Note that the Velvet-SC assembly of the genome <i>M. tuberculosis</i> failed without a clear reason. At a 50X coverage, strong GC bias leads to more fragmented assembly in all cases. Such performance drops can be rescued via increasing the amount of data to a 100X coverage.</p

Demographic characteristics of subjects.

<p>*Data shown as number (%) or mean ± SD.</p>‡<p>BMI  =  body mass index; CAD  =  coronary artery disease; CVA  =  cerebral vascular accident; CRF  =  chronic renal failure; HBV  =  hepatitis b virus; HCV  =  hepatitis c virus; TCH  =  total cholesterol; TG  =  triglyceride; HDL-C  =  high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C  =  low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TBL  =  total bilirubin level.</p><p>Demographic characteristics of subjects.</p

Stepwise logistic regression with respect to GSD^§ in vegetarians.

§<p>GSD = gallstone disease.</p><p>*BMI = body mass index.</p>‡<p>Dependent variable: GSD; independent variables: age, BMI, total bilirubin level, and alcohol consumption.</p><p>Stepwise logistic regression with respect to GSD^{<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0115145#nt113" target="_blank">§</a>} in vegetarians.</p

Distributed Bragg Reflectors as Broadband and Large-Area Platforms for Light-Coupling Enhancement in 2D Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, particularly the direct-gap monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), are currently being developed for various atomically thin optoelectronic devices. However, practical applications are hindered by their low quantum efficiencies in light emissions and absorptions. While photonic cavities and metallic plasmonic structures can significantly enhance the light–matter interactions in TMDs, the narrow spectral resonance and the local hot spots considerably limit the applications when broadband and large area are required. Here, we demonstrate that a properly designed distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) can be an ideal platform for light-coupling enhancement in 2D TMDs. The main idea is based on engineering the amplitude and phase of optical reflection from the DBR to produce optimal substrate-induced interference. We show that the photoluminescence, Raman, and second harmonic generation signals of monolayer WSe₂ can be enhanced by a factor of 26, 34, and 58, respectively. The proposed DBR substrates pave the way for developing a range of 2D optoelectronic devices for broadband and large-area applications