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Absorptive polarizers are pivotal components for realizing a low ambient reflection in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Different types of absorptive polarizers have been proposed. Nevertheless, the realization of compact and efficient absorptive polarizers remains challenging. Wire grid polarizers (WGPs) are a promising solution because of their high durability and relatively thin thickness. In this paper, two structures of absorptive-WGPs have been proposed and optimized at the target wavelength of 532 nm: one is based on a patterned

Objective: To understand the mental health status and its influencing factors of the elderly in the disaster area 5 years after the Lushan earthquake. Methods: A total of 2,579 cases of Ya’an residents aged 60 years or above were selected by using cluster sampling method. From January to May 2019, self-compiled questionnaire for basic information of affected residents and 12 General Health Questionnaire were used to assess the mental health status of the elderly. Results: 2,561 (99.3%) valid samples were collected. The positive rate of mental health was 220 (8.6%) cases. The binary logistic regression analysis showed that in the city, no chronic diseases, no body pain, and self-rated health status good in last one month was the protective factor for mental health of the elderly. Age group 60 years and above was the risk factor. Conclusions: Five years after the Lushan earthquake, there is a certain degree of mental health problems in the elderly in the disaster area, and corresponding intervention measures should be formulated. In particular, the researchers should pay more attention to the mental health of the rural elderly who were with low income, young age, and chronic diseases (or pain).

Quantum Approximate Optimization algorithm (QAOA) aims to search for approximate solutions to discrete optimization problems with near-term quantum computers. As there are no algorithmic guarantee possible for QAOA to outperform classical computers, without a proof that $BQP\neq NP$, it is necessary to investigate the empirical advantages of QAOA. We identify a computational phase transition of QAOA when solving hard problems such as SAT -- random instances are most difficult to train at a critical problem density. We connect the transition to the controllability and the complexity of QAOA circuits. Moreover, we find that the critical problem density in general deviates from the SAT-UNSAT phase transition, where the hardest instances for classical algorithm lies. Then, we show that the high problem density region, which limits QAOA's performance in hard optimization problems ({\it reachability deficits}), is actually a good place to utilize QAOA: its approximation ratio has a much slower decay with the problem density, compared to classical approximate algorithms. Indeed, it is exactly in this region that quantum advantages of QAOA over classical approximate algorithms can be identified., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures

This paper reports the manipulation of elastic instability of the viscoelastic fluid in a rhombus cross microchannel (RCM) structure. The bistable instability and unsteady instability of the flow is firstly demonstrated in a standard cross microchannel (SCM) for reference. We then keep the bi-stable instability over a much wider injection rate range in the RCM, which is attributed to the stabilizing effect of the rhombus structure. A semi-bistable instability was also established in the RCM at a high enough injection rate. In addition, the unsteady elastic instability is realized in the RCM through an asymmetric injection rate condition.

We propose a precision measurement method of laser linewidth based on short-delay self-homodyne, using the second peak-valley difference (SPVD) feature of the coherent power spectrum to fit laser linewidth. The SPVD model of the self-homodyne coherent envelope spectrum was established. One-to-one correspondence among the values of SPVD, the delay length, and the laser linewidth was determined theoretically and through simulations, while the reliability and stability of the method was verified experimentally. By comparing the detected results, it is found that the fitted laser linewidth obtained by the self-homodyne system is closer to its true value than that obtained by the self-heterodyne system. Hence, the simpler structure of the short-delay self-homodyne coherent envelope laser linewidth measurement method proposed is expected to substitute the previous laser linewidth measurement method, including complex short-delay self-heterodyne coherent envelope laser linewidth measurement method and traditional self-homodyne/heterodyne laser linewidth measurement method, to achieve more precise laser linewidth value.

Background Dupilumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody, blocks the shared receptor component for interleukin-4 and interleukin-13, key drivers of type 2 inflammation. In the phase 3 LIBERTY ASTHMA QUEST trial (NCT02414854) in patients with uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe asthma, add-on dupilumab 200 mg or 300 mg every 2 weeks reduced exacerbations and improved forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and quality of life over 52 weeks. This analysis evaluates dupilimab's effect on lung function in the overall population, and subgroups with baseline elevated type 2 inflammatory biomarkers. Methods Patients were randomised to 52 weeks of subcutaneous dupilumab 200 mg every 2 weeks, 300 mg every 2 weeks, or matched-volume placebos. Lung function outcomes were analysed in the overall population, in patients with ≥150 eosinophils·µL−1, ≥300 eosinophils·µL−1, ≥25 ppb fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), and both ≥150 eosinophils·µL−1 and ≥25 ppb FeNO, at baseline. Results Dupilumab treatment (200 mg and 300 mg every 2 weeks) resulted in significant improvements versus placebo after 52 weeks in pre-bronchodilator FEV1 (0.20 and 0.13 L, respectively, versus placebo) and post-bronchodilator FEV1 (0.19 and 0.13 L, respectively), forced vital capacity (FVC) (0.20 and 0.14 L, respectively), forced expiratory flow (0.19 and 0.13 L·s−1, respectively) and pre-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio (1.75% and 1.61%, respectively) in the overall population (p, Dupilumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody that blocks the shared receptor component for interleukin-4 and interleukin-13, key drivers of type 2 inflammation, improving lung function outcomes in patients with uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe asthma http://bit.ly/2OhKMpi

We study the dynamics of vector beams (VBs) propagating in nonlocal nonlinear media with -symmetric azimuthal potentials. It is found that there is an apparent clockwise/counterclockwise symmetry (similar to left/right symmetry) breaking for the sub-beam with the opposite value of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the VB. This symmetry breaking leads to the obvious asymmetric evolution of OAM, which results in net OAM generation. We numerically confirm that this phenomenon is induced by the -symmetric azimuthal potential.

In this work, two structures of wire grid reflecting polarizers have been proposed and optimized through simulation at the target wavelength of 121.6 nm (H Lyman-α), which aims to realize compact and efficient polarizers for measuring the magnetic field vector of the solar corona. Both structures are based on a high reflective patterned Al/MgF2 bi-layer on top of an absorbent substrate, and a layer of MgF2 is sandwiched in the Al gaps to prevent it from being oxidized. Two promising solutions were selected, exhibiting a polarization degree of more than 99.99% and a TE-reflectance over 0.3. Their sensitivity to nanowire parameters has been carried out to evaluate manufacturing feasibility. The angular and spectral performance demonstrated that such polarizers have the large potential to significantly contribute to the future far-ultraviolet (FUV) instruments.

Absorptive polarizers are pivotal components for realizing a low ambient reflection in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Different types of absorptive polarizers have been proposed. Nevertheless, the realization of compact and efficient absorptive polarizers remains challenging. Wire grid polarizers (WGPs) are a promising solution because of their high durability and relatively thin thickness. In this paper, two structures of absorptive-WGPs have been proposed and optimized at the target wavelength of 532 nm: one is based on a patterned F e 2 O 3 / A l bi-layer on top of a S i O 2 substrate, and the second one builds on the first one by depositing a S i O 2 layer in the gaps of Al. The optimal solutions exhibit a reflectance less than 5%, a transmittance over 45%, and an extinction ratio over 40 dB. To evaluate the manufacturing feasibility, their sensitivity to the wire’s dimensional parameters is investigated. Their great spectral performance and large acceptance angles demonstrate that such polarizers have the potential to significantly promote the development of current display technologies.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can cause extrapulmonary injury such as diaphragm dysfunction. Oxidative stress is one of the main factors causing diaphragm dysfunction in COPD. Exercise plays a positive role in the prevention and treatment of diaphragm dysfunction in COPD, and the changes in diaphragm structure and function induced by exercise are closely related to the regulation of oxidative stress. Therefore, on the basis of the review of oxidative stress and the changes in diaphragm structure and function in COPD, this article analyzed the effects of exercise on oxidative stress and diaphragm dysfunction in COPD and explored the possible mechanism by which exercise improves oxidative stress. Studies have found that diaphragm dysfunction in COPD includes the decline of muscle strength, endurance, and activity. Oxidative stress mainly affects the structure and function of the diaphragm in COPD through protein oxidation, protease activation and calcium sensitivity reduction. The effects of exercise on oxidative stress level and diaphragm dysfunction may differ depending on the intensity, duration, and style of exercise. The mechanism of exercise on oxidative stress in the diaphragm of COPD may include improving antioxidant capacity, reducing oxidase activity and improving mitochondrial function.

Three test diets containing three different levels (1, 3, and 5 g kg−1) of dietary chitosan oligosaccharides (COs) were formulated and used to test the growth performance, body composition, intestine digestive enzymes, antioxidant responses and resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila of loach Paramisgurnus dabryanus. A basal diet without any COs served as the control. After 60 days of feeding, the growth performance, intestine digestive-enzyme activities, body protein content and total polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidant responses, and resistance to A. hydrophila of loach P. dabryanus were higher than those of the control when the loach P. dabryanus was fed with CO-containing diets. The optimum dose of dietary COs required for the maximum growth of loach was 3 g kg−1 of the diet. Results indicated that dietary COs can improve the growth performance, body composition, intestine digestive enzymes, antioxidant responses, and resistance to A. hydrophila of loach P. dabryanus and can thus be used as a diet supplement for them.

Variational quantum circuits (VQCs) have shown great potential in near-term applications. However, the discriminative power of a VQC, in connection to its circuit architecture and depth, is not understood. To unleash the genuine discriminative power of a VQC, we propose a VQC system with the optimal classical post-processing—maximum-likelihood estimation on measuring all VQC output qubits. Via extensive numerical simulations, we find that the error of VQC quantum data classification typically decays exponentially with the circuit depth, when the VQC architecture is extensive—the number of gates does not shrink with the circuit depth. This fast error suppression ends at the saturation towards the ultimate Helstrom limit of quantum state discrimination. On the other hand, non-extensive VQCs such as quantum convolutional neural networks are sub-optimal and fail to achieve the Helstrom limit, demonstrating a trade-off between ansatz complexity and classification performance in general. To achieve the best performance for a given VQC, the optimal classical post-processing is crucial even for a binary classification problem. To simplify VQCs for near-term implementations, we find that utilizing the symmetry of the input properly can improve the performance, while oversimplification can lead to degradation.

Metasurfaces are usually planar structures and do not possess intrinsic chirality and therefore hardly generate optical activity. Here we realized a tunable optical activity in a terahertz wave through a microfluid-based soft metasurface. The meta-atom is a chiral structured microchannel made of soft polydimethylsiloxane and injected with the liquid metal Galinstan. A microfluid pressure system is bonded to the metasurface to reconfigure all meta-atoms simultaneously. By pumping glycerol liquid into the pressure system, the metasurface is deformed from a planar structure to a three dimensional one, which manifests intrinsic chirality for optical activity realization. By controlling the injected glycerol volume, a polarization rotation from 0°to 14° at 0.19 THz is demonstrated. The soft metasurface with tunable optical activity can be flexibly applied in various applications such as polarization microscopy, bio-detection and material analysis, etc.

Quantum networks will play a key role in distributed quantum information processing. As the network size increases, network-level errors like random breakdown and intentional attack are inevitable; therefore, it is important to understand the robustness of large-scale quantum networks, similar to what has been done for the classical counterpart---the Internet. For exponential networks such as Waxman networks, errors simply re-parameterize the network and lead to a linear decrease of the quantum capacity with the probability of error. The same linear decay happens for scale-free quantum networks under random breakdowns, despite the previously discovered robustness in terms of the connectivity. In presence of attack, however, the capacity of scale-free quantum networks shows a sharp exponential decay with the increasing attack fraction. Our results apply to quantum internet based on fibers for all kinds of quantum communications and provide implications for the future construction of quantum networks with regard to its robustness., 12 pages, 10 figures

Two dissimilarity indices are introduced to measure the disharmony of a human body system by mimicking the population bioequivalence and the individual bioequivalence concepts. Hypotheses for the treatment effect of a traditional Chinese medicine are formulated based on the two indices and then tested under the proposed designs by reverting an approximate confidence upper bound. The proposed methods can also be used when a drug product has multiple components or a trial has multiple endpoints.

Introduction Dupilumab, a fully human anti-IL-4Rα monoclonal antibody, inhibits signaling of both interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13, which are key drivers of type 2-mediated inflammation. Dupilumab is approved in the EU, USA, and other countries for the treatment of adults with inadequately controlled moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Following positive phase 2 results in asthma, the phase 3 Liberty Asthma QUEST trial was initiated to provide further evidence for dupilumab efficacy and safety in patients with uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe asthma. Methods Liberty Asthma QUEST is a phase 3, multinational, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial (NCT02414854) in patients with persistent asthma who are receiving continuous treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) plus one or two other asthma controller medicines. A total of 1902 patients (aged ≥ 12 years) were randomized in a 2:2:1:1 ratio to receive 52 weeks of add-on therapy with subcutaneously administered dupilumab 200 or 300 mg every 2 weeks or matched placebo. The study consisted of a 4 ± 1-week screening period, 52-week randomized treatment period, and 12-week post-treatment follow-up period. All patients continued to receive their prescribed ICS plus up to two additional controller medications. The primary efficacy endpoints were annualized rate of severe exacerbation events during the 52-week treatment period and absolute change from baseline in pre-bronchodilator FEV1 at week 12. Conclusion Uncontrolled asthma patients with persistent symptoms represent a population of significant unmet need, for whom new treatments are required. Patients with severe asthma are at high risk of asthma exacerbations, and face an accelerated decline in lung function and impaired quality of life. QUEST examines the efficacy of dupilumab in this at-risk patient population; it is the largest placebo-controlled study in uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe asthma with a biologic agent to date, and the only phase 3 study of a biologic therapy of asthma that enrolled patients irrespective of baseline type 2 inflammatory biomarker levels. Funding Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT02414854.

Field- and fluence-dependent spin-wave dynamics in full-Heusler Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 films are studied by using time-resolved magneto-optical polar Kerr spectroscopy. Volume magnetostatic spin-wave (VMSW) and perpendicular standing spin-wave (PSSW) modes are excited in the films with thicknesses of 60 and 100 nm, while only the Kittel mode is observed in the films with thicknesses of 150 and 200 nm. The amplitudes of all three spin-wave modes increase with increasing field and fluence, and the frequencies slightly decrease with increasing fluence as expected. The lifetimes and effective damping are found to be modulated by both the external field and excitation fluence. The effective damping of VMSW and Kittel modes presents strong field dependences that are significantly different from each other and can be attributed to the field-dependent group velocity and magnetic inhomogeneity, respectively. In addition, the effective damping of VMSW and PSSW modes increases with increasing fluence, showing a dominant mechanism of electron–phonon scattering enhancement. However, that of the Kittel mode decreases with increasing fluence and further demonstrates the dominant contribution from magnetic inhomogeneity in this case, which is inferred to suppress the excitation of the VMSW mode.

Background: Dupilumab (DPL), a fully human anti-IL-4Rα mAb that inhibits IL-4/IL-13, is approved for treatment of adults with inadequately controlled moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. In a phase 3 study (NCT02414854), asthma patients (pts) aged ≥12 years, with no minimum baseline (BL) eosinophil requirement, uncontrolled with medium-to-high-dose ICS, plus 1 or 2 controllers received DPL 200/300mg or placebo (PBO) every 2 weeks for 52 weeks. DPL reduced severe exacerbations, improved FEV1 and quality of life measures, and was generally well tolerated. Aim: Assess DPL effect on 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) scores, a CRS disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcome, in asthma pts with CRS/NP. Methods: 382/1902 pts reported CRS/NP medical history. Outcome was change from BL in DPL vs PBO in SNOT-22 scores at Weeks 12, 24, and 52. Results: DPL improved SNOT-22 scores by Week 12, and over the 52-week treatment period (Table). SNOT-22 scores in the DPL-treated pts exceeded the minimal clinically important difference (≥8.9) at all time points compared to BL, and vs PBO at Week 52. The most common AE, with higher rates in 200/300mg DPL vs PBO, was injection-site reactions (21%/24% vs 6%/14%). Conclusion: Dupilumab significantly improved CRS/NP-specific symptoms and HRQoL in asthma pts with comorbid CRS/NP, and was generally well tolerated.

Through the use of an informative prior, Bayesian methodologies could potentially borrow the strength of historical information and become more and more popular for their applications to clinical trials. Nonetheless, even with tremendous effort, the reconciliation of the formulation of the hypotheses and the calculation of type I error between a Bayesian analysis and traditional frequentist analysis is still not very clear. In this research, we apply an inferential prior, null prior and design prior to the Bayesian data analysis, type I error control and sample size calculation. As demonstrated theoretically, the type I error control denies any borrowing of favorable prior information. Thus, the use of the calibrated critical value obtained through simulation for the commensurate or power prior for a Bayesian analysis has the effect of eliminating the borrowing of historical information. The validity of a Bayesian analysis with the borrowing of historical data should rest on the a priori assumption of consistency of data from the historical and current studies. Just in case the consistency assumption is not totally true, dynamic borrowing through the commensurate or power prior can regulate the level of borrowing based on the degree of consistency in the data. An example along with simulations are used to illustrate the applications and compare the characteristics of the methods.

Dupilumab is a fully human anti-interleukin-4 receptor α monoclonal antibody that blocks both interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 signaling. We assessed its efficacy and safety in patients with uncontrolled asthma.We randomly assigned 1902 patients 12 years of age or older with uncontrolled asthma in a 2:2:1:1 ratio to receive add-on subcutaneous dupilumab at a dose of 200 or 300 mg every 2 weeks or matched-volume placebos for 52 weeks. The primary end points were the annualized rate of severe asthma exacerbations and the absolute change from baseline to week 12 in the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) before bronchodilator use in the overall trial population. Secondary end points included the exacerbation rate and FEV1 in patients with a blood eosinophil count of 300 or more per cubic millimeter. Asthma control and dupilumab safety were also assessed.The annualized rate of severe asthma exacerbations was 0.46 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39 to 0.53) among patients assigned to 200 mg of dupilumab every 2 weeks and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.72 to 1.05) among those assigned to a matched placebo, for a 47.7% lower rate with dupilumab than with placebo (P

The tank volume and tilt angle of a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) are key parameters for a heat pipe PV/T system, and the two parameters are optimized in this paper. Hot water and electric power generation are also calculated. A simulation model of the heat pipe PV/T system was established using the TRNSYS, and the numerical results were validated by experimental data. The results show that hot water and electric power generation initially decrease and then increase with the volume of the circulating tank. The highest integrated efficiency reaches 67.5% while the volume of the circulating tank is 80 L. The orientation and tilt angle of the heat pipe PV/T collector were optimized based on the simulation model. The mean annual efficiency of the PV/T system is about 4.37%, and the heat collection is about 2328.16 MJ/year.

Chiral device breaking time-reversal symmetry can control the propagation direction of the light which is great significant for the information processing on chip. Here we report a new chiral structure based on silicon nitride (SiN x ) microring resonator embedded with a scatterer in the evanescent region the waveguide. The simulation results show that the asymmetry backscattering of the whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) can be induced by a single scatterer and thus directional transmission observed. In addition, the dimensions and relative position of the scatterer have been optimized to obtain the strongest chirality effect, resulting in an extinction ratio of up to 10 dB. Our results open pathways towards many chiral integrated nanophotonic devices.

We propose a compensative method for phase distortion of phase-only Spatial Light Modulator (SLM), which is based on Zernike polynomials aberration theory. We obtain the Zernike polynomial coefficient by observing the coupling efficiency of Gauss beam coupling into single mode fiber. The degree of phase distortion can be measured by root-mean-square (RMS) method, and the value of RMS is about 0.29λ@633nm in the experiment Two simple experiments verify that compensate mask can improve holographic imaging quality and reduce quality factor M2 from 3.59 to 1.09.

The kurtosis-based indexes are usually used to identify the optimal resonant frequency band. However, kurtosis can only describe the strength of transient impulses, which cannot differentiate impulse noises and repetitive transient impulses cyclically generated in bearing vibration signals. As a result, it may lead to inaccurate results in identifying resonant frequency bands, in demodulating fault features and hence in fault diagnosis. In view of those drawbacks, this manuscript redefines the correlated kurtosis based on kurtosis and auto-correlative function, puts forward an improved correlated kurtosis based on squared envelope spectrum of bearing vibration signals. Meanwhile, this manuscript proposes an optimal resonant band demodulation method, which can adaptively determine the optimal resonant frequency band and accurately demodulate transient fault features of rolling bearings, by combining the complex Morlet wavelet filter and the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. Analysis of both simulation data and experimental data reveal that the improved correlated kurtosis can effectively remedy the drawbacks of kurtosis-based indexes and the proposed optimal resonant band demodulation is more accurate in identifying the optimal central frequencies and bandwidth of resonant bands. Improved fault diagnosis results in experiment verified the validity and advantage of the proposed method over the traditional kurtosis-based indexes.

We design a SiNx microring resonator with a single Mie scatterer. Both of the simulated and the experimental results confirm that we can obtain the asymmetric backscattering without any mode splitting by the single Mie scatterer. The extinction ratio is close to 3.55 dB at the wavelength of 1553.1 nm in the experiment.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are a class of chemicals common in the environment. Certain PAH are carcinogenic, although the degree to which genetic variation influences susceptibility to carcinogenic PAH remains unclear. Also unknown is the influence of genetic variation on the procarcinogenic effect of in utero exposures to PAH. Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is a well-studied PAH that is classified as a probable human carcinogen. Within our New York City-based cohort, we explored interactions between maternal exposure to airborne PAH during pregnancy and maternal and newborn haplotypes (and in one case, a single-nucleotide polymorphism) in key B[a]P metabolism genes on B[a]P-DNA adducts in paired cord blood samples. The study subjects included non-smoking African-American (n = 132) and Dominican (n = 235) women with available data on maternal PAH exposure, paired cord adducts and genetic data who resided in the Washington Heights, Central Harlem and South Bronx neighborhoods of New York City. We selected seven maternal and newborn genes related to B[a]P metabolism, detoxification and repair for our analyses: CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP1B1, GSTM3, GSTT2, NQO1 and XRCC1. We found significant interactions between maternal PAH exposure and haplotype on cord B[a]P-DNA adducts in the following genes: maternal CYP1B1, XRCC1 and GSTM3, and newborn CYP1A2 and XRCC1 in African-Americans; and maternal XRCC1 and newborn NQO1 in Dominicans. These novel findings highlight differences in maternal and newborn genetic contributions to B[a]P-DNA adduct formation, as well as ethnic differences in gene-environment interactions, and have the potential to identify at-risk subpopulations who are susceptible to the carcinogenic potential of B[a]P.

Kurtograms have been verified to be an efficient tool in bearing fault detection and diagnosis because of their superiority in extracting transient features. However, the short-time Fourier Transform is insufficient in time-frequency analysis and kurtosis is deficient in detecting cyclic transients. Those factors weaken the performance of the original kurtogram in extracting weak fault features. Correlated Kurtosis (CK) is then designed, as a more effective solution, in detecting cyclic transients. Redundant Second Generation Wavelet Packet Transform (RSGWPT) is deemed to be effective in capturing more detailed local time-frequency description of the signal, and restricting the frequency aliasing components of the analysis results. The authors in this manuscript, combining the CK with the RSGWPT, propose an improved kurtogram to extract weak fault features from bearing vibration signals. The analysis of simulation signals and real application cases demonstrate that the proposed method is relatively more accurate and effective in extracting weak fault features.

Introduction: In a pivotal phase 2b trial (NCT01854047), adult patients (pts) with uncontrolled persistent asthma using ICS+LABA were randomized to 24 weeks (wks) of add-on therapy with dupilumab (DPL; an anti-IL-4Rα antibody), 200 or 300 mg every 2 weeks (q2w) or q4w, or placebo (PBO). DPL significantly reduced the rate of severe exacerbation when administered q2w. Most common adverse events (DPL vs PBO) were upper respiratory tract infections (12−15% vs 18%) and injection site erythema (8−22% vs 8%). We aimed to evaluate whether DPL, a dual antagonist of both IL-4 and IL-13, reduced severe exacerbations irrespective of baseline levels of serum periostin (PN; a biomarker of IL-13 activity). Methods: PN was assayed by ELISA (Shino-Test, Tokyo). Annualized rates of severe exacerbation in the 24-wk treatment period are given for “PN-high” and “PN-low” subgroups (≥ and Results: PN levels decreased on DPL vs PBO. Both DPL q2w regimens significantly reduced the rates of severe exacerbation in both PN-high and PN-low subgroups vs PBO. On PBO, the rate of exacerbation was 2-fold higher in PN-high vs PN-low pts. Conclusions : Dupilumab treatment, 200 and 300 mg q2w, reduces serum PN and the risk of severe exacerbation in both the more-frequently exacerbating PN-high and less-frequently exacerbating PN-low asthma pts.

We investigate the modulational instability of two incoherently coupled beams in a photovoltaic photorefractive crystal with a uniform background illumination. Our results show, as a precursor to soliton formation, the strength of modulational instability can be adjusted and controlled by the intensity ratio of two signal beams. Especially, the characteristics of modulational instability are totally distinct for different ratios of Glass coefficients of the signal to background beams.