4,308 research outputs found
Effectiveness of influenza vaccination in patients with end-stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis: a population-based study.
BackgroundLittle is known on the effectiveness of influenza vaccine in ESRD patients. This study compared the incidence of hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) between cohorts with and without influenza vaccination.MethodsWe used the insurance claims data from 1998 to 2009 in Taiwan to determine the incidence of these events within one year after influenza vaccination in the vaccine (N = 831) and the non-vaccine (N = 3187) cohorts. The vaccine cohort to the non-vaccine cohort incidence rate ratio and hazard ratio (HR) of morbidities and mortality were measured.ResultsThe age-specific analysis showed that the elderly in the vaccine cohort had lower hospitalization rate (100.8 vs. 133.9 per 100 person-years), contributing to an overall HR of 0.81 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.72-0.90). The vaccine cohort also had an adjusted HR of 0.85 [95% CI 0.75-0.96] for heart disease. The corresponding incidence of pneumonia and influenza was 22.4 versus 17.2 per 100 person-years, but with an adjusted HR of 0.80 (95% CI 0.64-1.02). The vaccine cohort had lowered risks than the non-vaccine cohort for intensive care unit (ICU) admission (adjusted HR 0.20, 95% CI 0.12-0.33) and mortality (adjusted HR 0.50, 95% CI 0.41-0.60). The time-dependent Cox model revealed an overall adjusted HR for mortality of 0.30 (95% CI 0.26-0.35) after counting vaccination for multi-years.ConclusionsESRD patients with HD receiving the influenza vaccination could have reduced risks of pneumonia/influenza and other morbidities, ICU stay, hospitalization and death, particularly for the elderly
Non-Negative Local Sparse Coding for Subspace Clustering
Subspace sparse coding (SSC) algorithms have proven to be beneficial to
clustering problems. They provide an alternative data representation in which
the underlying structure of the clusters can be better captured. However, most
of the research in this area is mainly focused on enhancing the sparse coding
part of the problem. In contrast, we introduce a novel objective term in our
proposed SSC framework which focuses on the separability of data points in the
coding space. We also provide mathematical insights into how this
local-separability term improves the clustering result of the SSC framework.
Our proposed non-linear local SSC algorithm (NLSSC) also benefits from the
efficient choice of its sparsity terms and constraints. The NLSSC algorithm is
also formulated in the kernel-based framework (NLKSSC) which can represent the
nonlinear structure of data. In addition, we address the possibility of having
redundancies in sparse coding results and its negative effect on graph-based
clustering problems. We introduce the link-restore post-processing step to
improve the representation graph of non-negative SSC algorithms such as ours.
Empirical evaluations on well-known clustering benchmarks show that our
proposed NLSSC framework results in better clusterings compared to the
state-of-the-art baselines and demonstrate the effectiveness of the
link-restore post-processing in improving the clustering accuracy via
correcting the broken links of the representation graph.Comment: 15 pages, IDA 2018 conferenc
Optimization of a high work function solution processed vanadium oxide hole-extracting layer for small molecule and polymer organic photovoltaic cells
We report a method of fabricating a high work function, solution processable vanadium oxide (V2Ox(sol)) hole-extracting layer. The atmospheric processing conditions of film preparation have a critical influence on the electronic structure and stoichiometry of the V2Ox(sol), with a direct impact on organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell performance. Combined Kelvin probe (KP) and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) measurements reveal a high work function, n-type character for the thin films, analogous to previously reported thermally evaporated transition metal oxides. Additional states within the band gap of V2Ox(sol) are observed in the UPS spectra and are demonstrated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to be due to the substoichiometric nature of V2Ox(sol). The optimized V2Ox(sol) layer performance is compared directly to bare indium–tin oxide (ITO), poly(ethyleneoxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), and thermally evaporated molybdenum oxide (MoOx) interfaces in both small molecule/fullerene and polymer/fullerene structures. OPV cells incorporating V2Ox(sol) are reported to achieve favorable initial cell performance and cell stability attributes
Neuromagnetic Index of Hemispheric Asymmetry Prognosticating the Outcome of Sudden Hearing Loss
The longitudinal relationship between central plastic changes and clinical presentations of peripheral hearing impairment remains unknown. Previously, we reported a unique plastic pattern of “healthy-side dominance” in acute unilateral idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). This study aimed to explore whether such hemispheric asymmetry bears any prognostic relevance to ISSNHL along the disease course. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), inter-hemispheric differences in peak dipole amplitude and latency of N100m to monaural tones were evaluated in 21 controls and 21 ISSNHL patients at two stages: initial and fixed stage (1 month later). Dynamics/Prognostication of hemispheric asymmetry were assessed by the interplay between hearing level/hearing gain and ipsilateral/contralateral ratio (I/C) of N100m latency and amplitude. Healthy-side dominance of N100m amplitude was observed in ISSNHL initially. The pattern changed with disease process. There is a strong correlation between the hearing level at the fixed stage and initial I/Camplitude on affected-ear stimulation in ISSNHL. The optimal cut-off value with the best prognostication effect for the hearing improvement at the fixed stage was an initial I/Clatency on affected-ear stimulation of 1.34 (between subgroups of complete and partial recovery) and an initial I/Clatency on healthy-ear stimulation of 0.76 (between subgroups of partial and no recovery), respectively. This study suggested that a dynamic process of central auditory plasticity can be induced by peripheral lesions. The hemispheric asymmetry at the initial stage bears an excellent prognostic potential for the treatment outcomes and hearing level at the fixed stage in ISSNHL. Our study demonstrated that such brain signature of central auditory plasticity in terms of both N100m latency and amplitude at defined time can serve as a prognostication predictor for ISSNHL. Further studies are needed to explore the long-term temporal scenario of auditory hemispheric asymmetry and to get better psychoacoustic correlates of pathological hemispheric asymmetry in ISSNHL
Imaging Electronic Correlations in Twisted Bilayer Graphene near the Magic Angle
Twisted bilayer graphene with a twist angle of around 1.1{\deg} features a
pair of isolated flat electronic bands and forms a strongly correlated
electronic platform. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to probe local
properties of highly tunable twisted bilayer graphene devices and show that the
flat bands strongly deform when aligned with the Fermi level. At half filling
of the bands, we observe the development of gaps originating from correlated
insulating states. Near charge neutrality, we find a previously unidentified
correlated regime featuring a substantially enhanced flat band splitting that
we describe within a microscopic model predicting a strong tendency towards
nematic ordering. Our results provide insights into symmetry breaking
correlation effects and highlight the importance of electronic interactions for
all filling factors in twisted bilayer graphene.Comment: Main text 9 pages, 4 figures; Supplementary Information 25 page
Demon-like Algorithmic Quantum Cooling and its Realization with Quantum Optics
The simulation of low-temperature properties of many-body systems remains one
of the major challenges in theoretical and experimental quantum information
science. We present, and demonstrate experimentally, a universal cooling method
which is applicable to any physical system that can be simulated by a quantum
computer. This method allows us to distill and eliminate hot components of
quantum states, i.e., a quantum Maxwell's demon. The experimental
implementation is realized with a quantum-optical network, and the results are
in full agreement with theoretical predictions (with fidelity higher than
0.978). These results open a new path for simulating low-temperature properties
of physical and chemical systems that are intractable with classical methods.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, plus supplementarity material
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