Estimation of Breast Cancer Incident Cases and Medical Care Costs Attributable to Alcohol Consumption Among Insured Women Aged <45 Years in the U.S.

This study estimated the percentage of breast cancer cases, total number of incident cases, and total annual medical care costs attributable to alcohol consumption among insured younger women (aged 18–44 years) by type of insurance and stage at diagnosis

CTF3 Design Report: Preliminary Phase

The design of CLIC is based on a two-beam scheme, where the short pulses of high power 30 GHz RF are extracted from a drive beam running parallel to the main beam. The 3rd generation CLIC Test Facility (CTF3) will demonstrate the generation of the drive beam with the appropriate time structure, the extraction of 30 GHz RF power from this beam, as well as acceleration of a probe beam with 30 GHz RF cavities. The project makes maximum use of existing equipment and infrastructure of the LPI complex, which became available after the closure of LEP. In the first stage of the project, the "Preliminary Phase", the existing LIL linac and the EPA ring, both modified to suit the new requirements, are used to investigate the technique of frequency multiplication by means of interleaving bunches from subsequent trains. This report describes the design of this phase

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all &gt;0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council

Electronics Applications of Resonance Imaging

Non-metallic materials are important in a wide variety of applications in the manufacture of semiconductor components and packages. The nondestructive evaluation of flaws and defects in non-metallic materials including polymers, semiconductors and ceramics used in this industry is a high priority for scientists and engineers involved in the manufacture of microoelectronic circuits. Magnetic resonance imaging techniques are potentially quite powerful tools for this application; however, progress in this area has been slowed significantly by the strong magnetic interactions present in solid materials. Techniques that have been developed for resonance imaging focus on solving the problem of poor resolution caused by intrinsically broad resonance lines in solids through modifications of NMR techniques that artificially narrow the resonance line, or by the use of paramagnetic resonance to investigate signals created only by damage sites together with data reduction methods permitting deconvolution of narrow spectral features from wide lines. These imaging techniques have potential application to such packaging problem areas as the curing phenomena in polymeric materials, adhesion and delamination in composites and sintering of ceramic materials. Promising applications in the semiconductor manufacture process include quantifying the number and location of impurities in wafers, determining the damage levels and degree of annealing needed in the ion implantation process, and ascertaining damage in a semiconductor subjected to such processes as reactive ion etching.</p

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy for Morphological Characterization of InN Thin Films

InN is a promising semiconductor material because of its wide energy band gap (~ 2 eV). This characteristic makes the material, in concert with analogous group III metal nitrides, suitable for the production of electromagnetic sources and detectors tuned to cover the visible part of the optical spectrum. In order to make the appropriate electronic devices thin films of InN of good quality material have to be produced. This is so far the issue preventing the utilization of this material for device applications. Several techniques of film deposition have been and continue to be investigated in order to obtain device quality material. Among them, reactive magnetron sputtering offers to be a promising deposition technique. Crystalline films produced by reactive magnetron sputtering and other deposition techniques exhibit columnar microstructure. The structure consists of a network of low density material or voids that surrounds an array of parallel rod-shaped columnar regions of higher density. The formation of those columns are known to depend on the deposition parameters. Among them are the nature of the substrate [1], the rate of deposition [2], the pressure and composition of the gas phase [3], the film thickness and the ratio between the substrate temperature Ts and the film material melting point Tm [4,5]. The presence of microscopic voids within the grains contributes to the degradation of the surface flatness and to the formation of surface porosity [6].</p

Sub-Bandgap Laser Probing of GaAs Devices and Circuits

Standard methods for measuring solid-state device and circuit performance are inadequate at GHz speeds because they introduce parasitic inductances and capacitances that change circuit operation and characteristics. One promising noninvasive procedure that avoids these problems uses electro-optic probing to yield information on device packaging techniques; and on device and circuit performance characteristics such as voltage waveforms, timing, and propagation delays in both analog and digital circuits.</p