Modeling of Ultra Low Capacitance Transient Voltage Suppression Diode for High ESD Protection

To improve key properties such as ultra-low capacitance (ULC) and high-voltage (HV) breakdown, we have performed a simulation work about transient voltage suppression (TVS) diodes. ULC-TVS diode was designed to employ a double deep trench to cut off the various parasitic effects that may degrade the device performance. The electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is the targeting for the best applications in high-frequency and high-speed ICs. In this work, the device could present excellent performance in terms of very responsive ESD properties, high breakdown voltage, low leakage current, and very low capacitance level. The double trenches are aligned to the top electrode contact to restrict field crowding effects by the strong electric field intensity. The performance would be sufficient for the robust ESD nature up to IEC61000-4-2 (30 kV) and compatible with strong surge protection IEC61000-4-5 (10A). Their electrical properties have been evaluated for structure from simulation and the results are obtained at the device parameters. Several process of device design related effects on the electrical capability and can be optimized. Keywords: ULC-TVS diode, simulation (TCAD), characteristics, capacitance, ESD protection

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Uncovering the heterogeneity and temporal complexity of neurodegenerative diseases with Subtype and Stage Inference

The heterogeneity of neurodegenerative diseases is a key confound to disease understanding and treatment development, as study cohorts typically include multiple phenotypes on distinct disease trajectories. Here we introduce a machine-learning technique\u2014Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn)\u2014able to uncover data-driven disease phenotypes with distinct temporal progression patterns, from widely available cross-sectional patient studies. Results from imaging studies in two neurodegenerative diseases reveal subgroups and their distinct trajectories of regional neurodegeneration. In genetic frontotemporal dementia, SuStaIn identifies genotypes from imaging alone, validating its ability to identify subtypes; further the technique reveals within-genotype heterogeneity. In Alzheimer\u2019s disease, SuStaIn uncovers three subtypes, uniquely characterising their temporal complexity. SuStaIn provides fine-grained patient stratification, which substantially enhances the ability to predict conversion between diagnostic categories over standard models that ignore subtype (p = 7.18 7 10 124 ) or temporal stage (p = 3.96 7 10 125 ). SuStaIn offers new promise for enabling disease subtype discovery and precision medicine

Sealing behaviour and hall conductivity of mixed-state hall effect in heavy-ion irradiated YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} crystals

The Hall effect ({rho}{sub xy}) and longitudinal resistivity ({rho}{sub xx}) measured in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} crystals before and after the irradiation of Sn and Xe ions. We found a clear evidence that the strong pinning induced by the columnar defects not only modifies the scaling behavior between the Hall resistivity {rho}{sub xy} and longitudinal resistivity {rho}{sub xx} but also affects the temperature dependence of the Hall conductivity. For the irradiated crystals with columnar defects, the scaling exponent {beta} of {rho}{sub xy} = A{rho}{sub xx}{sup {beta}} was found to be {beta} = 1.55 {+-} 0.1, whereas {beta} of the unirradiated one was larger than 1.8. In case of the Hall conductivity, the pinning strength dependence was also observed. The Hall conductivity after irradiation exhibited a clear deviation from that of the unirradiated crystal at low temperatures. These results are in a good agreement with the work by Wang et al. in which pinning plays an important role

Effect of Herbal-Acupuncture on Repeated Cocaine-induced Behavioral Sensitization in the Rat

Substantial evidence suggests that behavioral and reinforcing effects of cocaine can be mediated by the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. It has been shown that repeated injections of cocaine produce increase in locomotor activity, expression of the immediate-early gene, c-fos in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), which was one of the main dopaminergic terminal areas. Herbal-acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention has been widely used for the treatment of many functional disorders such as drug abuse. Coptidis Rhizoma (CR) and its main component, berberine (BER) were selected as herbal medicine of herbal-acupuncture. Both medicines have been known to have the therapeutic effect on the central nervous system. In order to investigate the effects of CR and BER herbal-acupuncture at shenmen (HT7) point (CR/H and BER/H) on the cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization, the influence of CR/H and BER/H on repeated cocaine-induced locomotor activity, the change of c-Fos expression in the brain by immunohistochemistry were examined. Male SD rats were given CR/H (0.4 mg/kg) and BER/H (0.1 mg/kg) 30 min before daily injections of cocaine hydrochloride (15 mg/kg, i.p.) 10 days. After 3 days withdrawal, rats received a challenge injection of cocaine (15 mg/kg, i.p.). Systemic challenge with cocaine produced much larger increased locomotor activity, accumbal Fos-like immunoreactivity in the NAc. Pretreatment with CR/H and BER/H significantly inhibited cocaine-induced locomotor activity, the change of c-Fos expression in the rats. Our data demonstrated that the inhibitory effects of cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization by CR/H and BER/H were closely associated with the reduction of presynaptic dopamine release in the NAc. These results suggest that CR/H and BER/H can be effectively applied to cocaine addiction