Etiologic subtype predicts outcome in mild stroke: prospective data from a hospital stroke registry

BACKGROUND: Few studies on whether etiologic subtype can predict outcome in mild stroke are available. The study aim to explore the effect of different etiologic subtype on prognosis of these patients. METHODS: We prospectively registered consecutive cases of acute ischemic stroke from September. 01, 2009 to August. 31, 2011. Patients with National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) ≦3 and within 30 days of symptom onset were included. All cause death or disability (defined as modified Rankin Scale >2) were followed up at 3 months. The multivariate logistical regression model was used to analyse relationship between etiologic subtype and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: We included 680 cases, which accounted for 41.1% (680/1655) of the total registered cases. Mean age were 62.54 ± 13.51 years, and males were 65.4%. The median time of symptoms onset to admission was 72 hours. 3.8% (26/680) of cases admitted within 3 hours and 4.7% (32/680) admitted within 4.5 hours. However, no patient received intravenous thrombolysis. Of included patients, 21.5% large-artery atherosclerosis, 40.6% small-vessel disease, 7.5% cardioembolisms, 2.2% other causes and 28.2% undetermined causes. The rate of case fatality and death/disability was 2.2% and 10.1% respectively at 3 months. After adjustment of potential confounders, such as age, sex, NIHSS on admission and vascular risk factors et al., cardioembolism (RR = 3.395;95%CI 1.257 ~ 9.170) was the predictor of death or disability at 3 months and small vessel occlusion (RR = 0.412;95%CI 0.202 ~ 0.842) was the protective factor of death or disability at 3 months. CONCLUSION: Different etiologic subtype can predict the outcome in patients with mild stroke and it can help to stratify these patients for individual decision-making

Verification of the standard theory of plasma emission with particle-in-cell simulations

The standard theory of plasma emission is based on kinetic couplings between a single beam of energetic electrons and unmagnetized thermal plasmas, involving multi-step nonlinear wave-particle and wave-wave interactions. The theory has not yet been completely verified with fully-kinetic electromagnetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Earlier studies, greatly limited by available computational resources, are controversial regarding whether the fundamental emission can be generated according to the standard theory. To resolve the controversy, we conducted PIC simulations with a large domain of simulation and a large number of macroparticles, among the largest ones of similar studies. We found significant fundamental emission if the relative beam density is small enough (say, $\le$ 0.01), in line with earlier study with a much-smaller domain; the relative intensity (normalized by the total initial beam energy) of all modes, except the mode associated with the beam-electromagnetic Weibel instability, decreases with increasing relative density of the beam. We also found significant transverse magnetic component associated with the superluminal Langmuir turbulence, which has been mistakenly regarded as evidence of the F emission in earlier study. Further investigations are required to reveal their origin

LMDX: Language Model-based Document Information Extraction and Localization

Large Language Models (LLM) have revolutionized Natural Language Processing (NLP), improving state-of-the-art on many existing tasks and exhibiting emergent capabilities. However, LLMs have not yet been successfully applied on semi-structured document information extraction, which is at the core of many document processing workflows and consists of extracting key entities from a visually rich document (VRD) given a predefined target schema. The main obstacles to LLM adoption in that task have been the absence of layout encoding within LLMs, critical for a high quality extraction, and the lack of a grounding mechanism ensuring the answer is not hallucinated. In this paper, we introduce Language Model-based Document Information Extraction and Localization (LMDX), a methodology to adapt arbitrary LLMs for document information extraction. LMDX can do extraction of singular, repeated, and hierarchical entities, both with and without training data, while providing grounding guarantees and localizing the entities within the document. In particular, we apply LMDX to the PaLM 2-S LLM and evaluate it on VRDU and CORD benchmarks, setting a new state-of-the-art and showing how LMDX enables the creation of high quality, data-efficient parsers

Vascular risk factors for idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveIdiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a treatable cause of dementia; however, its etiology and pathogenesis remain poorly understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and impact of vascular risk factors in patients with iNPH compared to a control cohort to better understand the potential mechanisms and preventive measures.MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library (from inception to December 20, 2022) for studies reporting vascular risk factors for the development of iNPH. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using random-effects models.ResultsAfter screening 1,462 articles, 11 case-control studies comprising 1,048 patients with iNPH and 79,668 cognitively unimpaired controls were included in the meta-analysis. Our data showed that hypertension (N = 991, OR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.64 to 3.23, I2= 64.0%), diabetes mellitus (DM) (N = 985, OR = 3.12, 95% CI 2.29 to 4.27, I2= 44.0%), coronary heart disease (CHD; N = 880, OR = 2.34, 95% CI 1.33 to 4.12, I2= 83.1%), and peripheral vascular disease (N = 172, OR = 2.77, 95% CI 1.50 to 5.13, I2= 0.0%) increased the risk for iNPH, while overweight was a possible factor (N = 225, OR = 2.01, 95% CI 1.34 to 3.04, I2= 0.0%) based on the sensitivity analysis. Smoking and alcohol consumption were not associated with iNPH.ConclusionsOur study suggested that hypertension, DM, CHD, peripheral vascular disease, and overweight were associated with iNPH. These factors might be involved in the pathophysiological mechanisms promoting iNPH. These findings require further investigation in future studies.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, CRD42022383004

Light-driven C-H bond activation mediated by 2D transition metal dichalcogenides

C-H bond activation enables the facile synthesis of new chemicals. While C-H activation in short-chain alkanes has been widely investigated, it remains largely unexplored for long-chain organic molecules. Here, we report light-driven C-H activation in complex organic materials mediated by 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and the resultant solid-state synthesis of luminescent carbon dots in a spatially-resolved fashion. We unravel the efficient H adsorption and a lowered energy barrier of C-C coupling mediated by 2D TMDCs to promote C-H activation. Our results shed light on 2D materials for C-H activation in organic compounds for applications in organic chemistry, environmental remediation, and photonic materials

ATTENUATION EFFECT OF HOLLOW-SQUARE-STEEL BLOCKING MASS ON PLANE BENDING WAVE

Wave approach was used to analyze the vibration-isolating performance of approximate equal-mass hollow beam and solid blocking mass,and the effects of thickness and length on the transmission loss of hollow blocking mass were discussed.By designing the simplified model experiment of a flat plate construction with blocking mass,the tested results and theoretical values of transmission loss were compared. As a result,both trends were consistent with each other. The results also showed that the section size had an significant influence on the vibration-isolating performance of hollow-square steel blocking mass within mid and high frequency domain,and approximate equal-mass hollow blocking mass had a more obvious vibration-isolating performance than solid blocking mass within mid and high frequency domain

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for improving function after stroke

BACKGROUND: It had been assumed that suppressing the undamaged contralesional motor cortex by repetitive low-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) or increasing the excitability of the damaged hemisphere cortex by high-frequency rTMS will promote function recovery after stroke. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of rTMS for improving function in people with stroke. METHODS: AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence does not support the routine use of rTMS for the treatment of stroke. Further trials with larger sample sizes are needed to determine a suitable rTMS protocol and the long-term functional outcome

High-harmonic Plasma Emission Induced by Electron Beams in Weakly Magnetized Plasmas

Electromagnetic radiation at higher harmonics of the plasma frequency ( ω ∼ n ω _pe , n > 2) has been occasionally observed in type II and type III solar radio bursts, yet the underlying mechanism remains undetermined. Here we present two-dimensional fully kinetic electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations with high spectral resolution to investigate the beam-driven plasma emission process in weakly magnetized plasmas of typical coronal conditions. We focused on the generation mechanisms of high-harmonic emission. We found that a larger beam velocity ( u _d ) favors the generation of the higher-harmonic emission. The emissions grow later for higher harmonics and decrease in intensity by ∼2 orders of magnitude for each jump of the harmonic number. The second and third harmonic (H _2 and H _3 ) emissions get closer in intensity with larger u _d . We also show that (1) the H _3 emission is mainly generated via the coalescence of the H _2 emission with the Langmuir waves, i.e., H _2 + L → H _3 , wherein the coalescence with the forward-propagating beam-Langmuir wave leads to the forward-propagating H _3 , and coalescence with the backward-propagating Langmuir wave leads to the backward-propagating H _3 ; and (2) the H _4 emission mainly arises from the coalescence of the H _3 emission with the forward- (backward-)propagating Langmuir wave, in terms of H _3 + L → H _4

Probability Analysis and Control of River Runoff–sediment Characteristics based on Pair-Copula Functions: The Case of the Weihe River and Jinghe River

Analyzing the encounter frequency of high–low runoff and sediment yield is important for the appropriate dispatching of runoff–sediment resources, as well as river regulation. However, there have been no reports on the utilization of the pair-copula function in analyzing the runoff–sediment characteristics from a probabilistic perspective and conducting probability control on the runoff–sediment yields of different hydrologic stations. This paper builds marginal distribution functions on the basis of kernel distribution theory. In addition, this paper builds the joint distribution functions through pair-copula functions in order to analyze the encounter probability and the compensation characteristics of high–low runoff and sediment at different stations on the Weihe River in China, as well as the origins of runoff–sediment, to conduct probability control of river runoff–sediment resource allocation. The results show that, in different periods, the synchronous probability of high–low runoff of the Weihe River’s Xianyang and Huaxian Stations, and the Jinghe River’s Zhangjiashan Station differ, while that of high–low sediment at the three stations changes little—remaining at around 54%. Therefore, the sediment and runoff of the Weihe River apparently have different origins. In years of high and low runoff, if the runoffs of the Xianyang and Zhangjiashan Stations can be kept within a certain range, then the runoff of the Huaxian Station will be in a particular range, at a certain probability. Sediment at the Huaxian Station can be controlled, in a similar way. These results are of great significance for the water and sediment management department of the Weihe river, in order to reasonably allocate water and sediment resources