Low Frequency Quasi-periodic Oscillation in MAXI J1820+070: Revealing distinct Compton and Reflection Contributions

X-ray low frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (LFQPOs) of black hole X-ray binaries, especially those type-C LFQPOs, are representative timing signals of black hole low/hard state and intermediate state, which has been suspected as to originate due to Lense-Thirring precession of the accretion flow. Here we report an analysis of one of the \emph{Insight}-HXMT observations of the black hole transient MAXI J1820$+$070 taken near the flux peak of its hard spectral state during which strong type-C LFQPOs were detected in all three instruments up to photon energies above 150 keV. We obtained and analyzed the short-timescale X-ray spectra corresponding to high- and low-intensity phases of the observed LFQPO waveform with a spectral model composed of Comptonization and disk reflection components. We found that the normalization of the spectral model is the primary parameter that varied between the low and high-intensity phases. The variation in the LFQPO flux at the hard X-ray band (> 100 keV) is from the Compton component alone, while the energy-dependent variation in the LFQPO flux at lower energies (< 30 keV) is mainly caused by the reflection component with a large reflection fraction in response to the incident Compton component. The observed X-ray LFQPOs thus should be understood as manifesting the original timing signals or beats in the hard Compton component, which gives rise to additional variability in softer energies due to disk reflection.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The relationship between health belief and sleep quality of Chinese college students: The mediating role of physical activity and moderating effect of mobile phone addiction

BackgroundPoor sleep quality has become a common health problem encountered by college students.MethodsHealth belief scale (HBS), physical activity rating scale (PARS-3), mobile phone addiction tendency scale (MPATS) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) were adopted to analyze the data collected from survey questionnaires, which were filled out by 1,019 college students (including 429 males and 590 females) from five comprehensive colleges and universities from March 2022 to April 2022. The data collected from survey questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS and its macro-program PROCESS.Results(1) Health belief, physical activity, mobile phone addiction and sleep quality are significantly associated with each other (P &lt; 0.01); (2) physical activity plays a mediating role between health belief and sleep quality, and the mediating effects account for 14.77%; (3) mobile phone addiction can significantly moderate the effect size of health belief (β = 0.062, p &lt; 0.05) and physical activity (β = 0.073, P &lt; 0.05) on sleep quality, and significantly moderate the effect size of health belief on physical activity (β = −0.112, p &lt; 0.001).ConclusionThe health belief of college students can significantly improve their sleep quality; college students’ health belief can not only improve their sleep quality directly, but also improve their sleep quality through physical activity; mobile phone addiction can significantly moderate the effect size of health belief on sleep quality, the effect size of health belief on physical activity, and the effect size of physical activity on sleep quality

The impact of empirical Marshall vein ethanol infusion as a first-choice intraoperative strategy on the long-term outcomes in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation undergoing mitral isthmus ablation

BackgroundMarshall vein ethanol infusion (MVEI) as an additional therapy to conventional catheter ablation (CA) has been proved to be efficacious in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (PeAF). However, whether empirical MVEI could be the first-line strategy in mitral isthmus (MI) ablation has seldom been investigated. Here, we aim to compare the efficacy, safety, and long-term outcomes between provisional and empirical MVEI in PeAF patients undergoing the index MI ablation procedure.MethodsWe enrolled 133 patients with PeAF either in the provisional group (n = 38, MVEI was performed when conventional endocardial and/or epicardial ablation procedures were inadequate to achieve bidirectional MI block) or in the empirical group (n = 95, MVEI was performed empirically before MI CA).ResultsAll of the baseline characteristics were comparable. Less spontaneous or inducible atrial tachycardias (ATs) were encountered in the empirical group of patients (P &lt; 0.001). More epicardial ablations were applied (26.3% vs. 9.5%, P = 0.016) and a higher incidence of CA-facilitated restoration of sinus rhythm was recorded (86.8% vs. 11.7%, P &lt; 0.001) in the provisional group of patients. Although more fluoroscopy time (6.4[4.2, 9.3] vs. 9.5[5.9, 11.6] min, P = 0.019) and radiation exposure (69.0[25.3, 160.2] vs. 122.0[62.5, 234.1] mGy, P = 0.010) were documented in the empirical group with comparable procedure time, less time (455.9 ± 192.2 vs. 366.5 ± 161.3 s, P = 0.038) was consumed to achieve bidirectional MI block during endocardial ablation in the provisional group. Incidences of procedure-related complications were similar between the two groups. During a 16.5 ± 4.4-month follow-up, the empirical group of patients showed a significantly higher rate of freedom from AT recurrence (95.8% vs. 81.6%, log-rank P = 0.003), while the rate of freedom from AF or atrial tachyarrhythmias (combining AF and AT) was similar. Both univariate (HR 0.19, 95% CI 0.05–0.64, P = 0.008) and multivariate (HR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07–0.92, P = 0.037) Cox regression analyses indicated that empirical MVEI was independently associated with lower long-term AT recurrence.ConclusionAmong patients with PeAF who underwent the index MI ablation procedure, empirical MVEI could reduce endocardial MI ablation time and provide greater long-term freedom from AT recurrence

Baichuan 2: Open Large-scale Language Models

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable performance on a variety of natural language tasks based on just a few examples of natural language instructions, reducing the need for extensive feature engineering. However, most powerful LLMs are closed-source or limited in their capability for languages other than English. In this technical report, we present Baichuan 2, a series of large-scale multilingual language models containing 7 billion and 13 billion parameters, trained from scratch, on 2.6 trillion tokens. Baichuan 2 matches or outperforms other open-source models of similar size on public benchmarks like MMLU, CMMLU, GSM8K, and HumanEval. Furthermore, Baichuan 2 excels in vertical domains such as medicine and law. We will release all pre-training model checkpoints to benefit the research community in better understanding the training dynamics of Baichuan 2.Comment: Baichuan 2 technical report. Github: https://github.com/baichuan-inc/Baichuan

Deciphering colorectal cancer genetics through multi-omic analysis of 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of European and east Asian ancestries

In the version of this article initially published, the author affiliations incorrectly listed “Candiolo Cancer Institute FPO-IRCCS, Candiolo (TO), Italy” as “Candiolo Cancer Institute, Candiolo, Italy.” The change has been made to the HTML and PDF versions of the article

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Fine-mapping analysis including over 254,000 East Asian and European descendants identifies 136 putative colorectal cancer susceptibility genes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 200 common genetic variants independently associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known CRC risk loci using GWAS data from 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of East Asian and European ancestry. Our stepwise conditional analyses revealed 238 independent association signals of CRC risk, each with a set of credible causal variants (CCVs), of which 28 signals had a single CCV. Our cis-eQTL/mQTL and colocalization analyses using colorectal tissue-specific transcriptome and methylome data separately from 1299 and 321 individuals, along with functional genomic investigation, uncovered 136 putative CRC susceptibility genes, including 56 genes not previously reported. Analyses of single-cell RNA-seq data from colorectal tissues revealed 17 putative CRC susceptibility genes with distinct expression patterns in specific cell types. Analyses of whole exome sequencing data provided additional support for several target genes identified in this study as CRC susceptibility genes. Enrichment analyses of the 136 genes uncover pathways not previously linked to CRC risk. Our study substantially expanded association signals for CRC and provided additional insight into the biological mechanisms underlying CRC development

Linearized Single-Scattering Property Database for Hexagonal Prism Ice Particles

Accurate description of the single scattering properties of atmospheric particles can be an essential factor influencing the remote sensing of atmospheric microphysics. In this paper, a database for the linearized single scattering properties of ice particles was developed in the visible to infrared spectral region of 0.4&ndash;15 &mu;m and for size parameters ranging from 0.5 to 500. The linearized invariant imbedding T-matrix method and linearized physical-geometric optics method were jointly applied. A full set of integral scattering properties including extinction efficiency, single scattering albedo, asymmetry factors, and differential scattering properties, including six phase matrix elements, were the basic scattering parameters in the database. Furthermore, the Jacobians of these regular scattering properties with respect to refractive index (real and imaginary parts) and effective radius were also included and used for sensitivity determinations. The spectral and size-dependent variations and changing rates of the derivative characteristics with actual application values, such as backscattering depolarization ratios, were also discussed

Predictors of Parental Attitudes Towards Inclusion in China

Few studies have investigated predictors of parental attitudes (PA) towards inclusion in China. There was also contradictory evidence on the role of several predictors of PA towards inclusion among studies in the Chinese context and between studies conducted in China and the Western world. This study aimed to identify the strongest predictors of PA towards inclusion in China by investigating and comparing different variables, including parental gender, income, education level, exposure to inclusion and the number of children with special education needs and disabilities in the household. A total of 203 participants completed an online quantitative questionnaire. The results showed that a higher parental education level, more exposure to inclusion and a larger number of children with SEND in the household significantly predicted more positive attitudes towards inclusion. Among them, exposure to inclusion was the strongest predictor. Several limitations of the current study were discussed followed by recommendations for future research. Implications of the current work for policymaking and home-school collaborations were outlined