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Abstract We investigate the low-temperature complex impedance of disordered insulating thin TiN and NbTiN films in the frequency region 400 Hz–1 MHz in close proximity to the superconductor–insulator transition (SIT). The frequency, temperature, and magnetic field dependencies of the real and imaginary parts of the impedance indicate that in full accord with the theoretical predictions and earlier observations, the films acquire self-induced electronic granularity and become effectively random arrays of superconducting granules coupled via Josephson links. Accordingly, the inductive component of the response is due to superconducting droplets, while the capacitive component results from the effective Josephson junctions capacitances. The impedance crosses over from capacitive to inductive behavior as films go across the transition.

Identification of stable regularities in the distribution of heavy metals and radionuclides in soil profiles of the East European Plain is an important scientific and practical task. Heavy metals are easily included in the biological cycle, getting into the human body, are accumulated in the bones, tissues, causing incurable disease, which may subsequently proceed unnoticed. The peculiarity of radioactive pollutants is that they usually do not change the level of soil fertility, but accumulate in crops. Therefore, maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) of radionuclides have been established for human food and animal feed. When analyzing the results of the study, it was revealed that soil horizons are well traced by the content of heavy metals, which makes it possible to get an idea of the soil profile structure by the content of heavy metals in them. The content of natural radionuclides in carbonate yellow-brown clays was established for the first time. According to the obtained correlation data of radionuclides and gross content of heavy metals and a number of oxides of heavy metals with a sufficient degree of reliability we can determine the content of this or that radionuclide, being aware of the percentage content of the element or oxide in the soil.

Abstract A reentrant temperature dependence of the normal state resistance often referred to as the N-shaped temperature dependence, is omnipresent in disordered superconductors – ranging from high-temperature cuprates to ultrathin superconducting films – that experience superconductor-to-insulator transition. Yet, despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon its origin still remains a subject of debate. Here we investigate strongly disordered superconducting TiN films and demonstrate universality of the reentrant behavior. We offer a quantitative description of the N-shaped resistance curve. We show that upon cooling down the resistance first decreases linearly with temperature and then passes through the minimum that marks the 3D–2D crossover in the system. In the 2D temperature range the resistance first grows with decreasing temperature due to quantum contributions and eventually drops to zero as the system falls into a superconducting state. Our findings demonstrate the prime importance of disorder in dimensional crossover effects.

We study electronic densities of states (DOS) of strongly disordered superconducting thin films of TiN. We find through scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements that the DOS decreases towards the Fermi level in the normal phase obtained by applying magnetic fields. The DOS shows spatial fluctuations whose length scale is related to the energy-dependent decrease in the DOS close to the Fermi level and is similar in normal and superconducting phases. This shows that Coulomb interaction in disordered metals strongly influences the normal DOS and suggests that reduced Coulomb screening leads to spatial variations in the superconducting DOS.

Objectives To identify clinical factors associated with cancer risk in the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) and to systematically review the existing evidence related to cancer screening. Methods A systematic literature search was carried out on Medline, Embase and Scopus. Cancer risk within the IIM population (i.e. not compared with the general population) was expressed as risk ratios (RR) for binary variables and weighted mean differences (WMD) for continuous variables. Evidence relating to cancer screening practices in the IIMs were synthesized via narrative review. Results Sixty-nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. DM subtype (RR 2.21), older age (WMD 11.19), male sex (RR 1.53), dysphagia (RR 2.09), cutaneous ulceration (RR 2.73) and anti-transcriptional intermediary factor-1 gamma positivity (RR 4.66) were identified as being associated with significantly increased risk of cancer. PM (RR 0.49) and clinically amyopathic DM (RR 0.44) subtypes, Raynaud's phenomenon (RR 0.61), interstitial lung disease (RR 0.49), very high serum creatine kinase (WMD −1189.96) or lactate dehydrogenase (WMD −336.52) levels, and anti-Jo1 (RR 0.45) or anti-EJ (RR 0.17) positivity were identified as being associated with significantly reduced risk of cancer. Nine studies relating to IIM-specific cancer screening were included. CT scanning of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis appeared to be effective in identifying underlying asymptomatic cancers. Conclusion Cancer risk factors should be evaluated in patients with IIM for risk stratification. Screening evidence is limited but CT scanning could be useful. Prospective studies and consensus guidelines are needed to establish cancer screening strategies in IIM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a challenging case of a 58-year-old Vietnamese-American woman who presented to her new primary care provider with an 8-year history of slowly progressive dysphagia, hoarseness, muscle weakness with associated frequent falls, and weight loss. She eventually reported dry eyes and dry mouth, and she was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome. Subsequently, she was additionally diagnosed with inclusion body myositis and gastric light-chain (AL) amyloidosis. Although inclusion body myositis has been previously associated with Sjogren's syndrome, inclusion body myositis is rare in non-Caucasians, and the trio of Sjogren's syndrome, inclusion body myositis, and AL amyloidosis has not been previously reported. Sjogren's syndrome is a systemic autoimmune condition characterized by ocular and oral dryness. It is one of the most common rheumatologic disorders in the USA and worldwide. Early diagnosis of Sjogren's is particularly important given the frequency and variety of associated autoimmune diseases and extraglandular manifestations. Furthermore, although inclusion body myositis has a low prevalence, it is the most common inflammatory myopathy in older adults and is unfortunately associated with long delays in diagnosis, so knowledge of this disorder is also crucial for practicing internists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental results indicating a direct disorder-induced superconductor–insulator transition in NbTiN thin films have been reported. It has been shown that an increase in the resistance per square in the normal state is accompanied by the suppression of the critical temperature of the superconducting transition according to the fermion mechanism of suppression of superconductivity by disorder. At the same time, the temperature of the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition is completely suppressed at a nonzero critical temperature and, then, the ground state changes to insulating, which is characteristic of the boson model of suppression of superconductivity by disorder. It has been shown that the temperature dependences of the resistance of insulating films follow the Arrhenius activation law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "A systematic Review and Meta-analysis to Inform Cancer Screening Guidelines in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies" by Alexander G. S. Oldroyd et al is presented.

• The intervening Bose metal (BM) state is the bosonic topological insulator. • In the bulk vortices and Cooper pairs are frozen by Aharonov-Bohm interactions. • Transport in the Bose metal is mediated by topologically protected edge modes. • Transitions BM–superinsulator and BM–superconductor are quantum BKT transitions. A low-temperature intervening metallic regime arising in the two-dimensional superconductor-insulator transition challenges our understanding of electronic fluids. Here we develop a gauge theory revealing that this emergent anomalous metal is a bosonic topological insulator where bulk transport is suppressed by mutual statistics interactions between out-of-condensate Cooper pairs and vortices and the longitudinal conductivity is mediated by symmetry-protected gapless edge modes. We explore the magnetic-field-driven superconductor-insulator transition in a niobium titanium nitride device and find marked signatures of a bosonic topological insulator behavior of the intervening regime with the saturating resistance. The observed superconductor-anomalous metal and insulator-anomalous metal dual phase transitions exhibit quantum Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless criticality in accord with the gauge theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed novel techniques to fabricate atomically thin Bi2.1Sr1.9CaCu2.0O8+δ van der Waals heterostructures down to two unit cells while maintaining a transition temperature Tc close to the bulk, and carry out magnetotransport measurements on these van der Waals devices. We find a double sign change of the Hall resistance Rxy as in the bulk system, spanning both below and above Tc. Further, we observe a drastic enlargement of the region of sign reversal in the temperature-magnetic field phase diagram with decreasing thickness of the device. We obtain quantitative agreement between experimental Rxy(T,B) and the predictions of the vortex dynamics-based description of Hall effect in high-temperature superconductors both above and below Tc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a challenging case of a 58-year-old Vietnamese-American woman who presented to her new primary care provider with an 8-year history of slowly progressive dysphagia, hoarseness, muscle weakness with associated frequent falls, and weight loss. She eventually reported dry eyes and dry mouth, and she was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome. Subsequently, she was additionally diagnosed with inclusion body myositis and gastric light-chain (AL) amyloidosis. Although inclusion body myositis has been previously associated with Sjogren's syndrome, inclusion body myositis is rare in non-Caucasians, and the trio of Sjogren's syndrome, inclusion body myositis, and AL amyloidosis has not been previously reported. Sjogren's syndrome is a systemic autoimmune condition characterized by ocular and oral dryness. It is one of the most common rheumatologic disorders in the USA and worldwide. Early diagnosis of Sjogren's is particularly important given the frequency and variety of associated autoimmune diseases and extraglandular manifestations. Furthermore, although inclusion body myositis has a low prevalence, it is the most common inflammatory myopathy in older adults and is unfortunately associated with long delays in diagnosis, so knowledge of this disorder is also crucial for practicing internists.

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) involve inflammation of the muscles and are classified by the patterns of presentation and immunohistopathologic features on skin and muscle biopsy into 4 categories: dermatomyositis, polymyositis, inclusion body myositis, and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy. Systemic corticosteroid (CS) treatment is the standard of care for IIM with muscle and organ involvement. The extracutaneous features of systemic sclerosis are frequently treated with CS; however, high doses have been associated with scleroderma renal crisis in high-risk patients. Although CS can be effective first-line agents, their significant side effect profile encourages concomitant treatment with other immunosuppressive medications to enable timely tapering., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

This article reviews the literature regarding the impact of cosmetic surgery on health-related quality of life (QOL). Studies were identified through PubMed/Medline and PsycINFO searches from January 1960 to December 2011. Twenty-eight studies were included in this review, according to specific selection criteria. The procedures and tools employed in cosmetic surgery research studies were remarkably diverse, thus yielding difficulties with data analysis. However, data indicate that individuals undergoing cosmetic surgery began with lower values on aspects of QOL than control subjects, and experienced significant QOL improvement post-procedurally, an effect that appeared to plateau with time. Despite the complexity of measuring QOL in cosmetic surgery patients, most studies showed an improvement in QOL after cosmetic surgery procedures. However, this finding was clouded by measurement precision as well as heterogeneity of procedures and study populations. Future research needs to focus on refining measurement techniques, including developing cosmetic surgery-specific QOL measures.