Large Fiber Research Articles

Neuropathy in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: Confirmatory diagnostic tests, bedside tests, and risk factors

AimsTo estimate the prevalence of large fiber (LFN), small fiber (SFN), and autonomic neuropathy in adolescents with type 1 diabetes using confirmatory tests known from adults and to identify risk factors and bedside methods for neuropathy. MethodsSixty adolescents with type 1 diabetes (diabetes duration > five years) and 23 control subjects underwent neurological examination and confirmatory diagnostic tests for neuropathy, including nerve conduction studies, skin biopsies determining intraepidermal nerve fiber density, quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test (QSART), cardiovascular reflex tests (CARTs), and tilt table test. Possible risk factors were analyzed. Bedside tests (biothesiometry, DPNCheck®, Sudoscan, and Vagus®device) were compared with the confirmatory tests using ROC analysis. ResultsThe prevalence of neuropathies in the adolescents with diabetes (mean HbA1c 7.6% (60 mmol/mol)) was as follows: 14% confirmed/26% subclinical LFN, 2% confirmed/25% subclinical SFN, 20% abnormal QSART, 8% abnormal CARTs, and 14% orthostatic hypotension. Higher age, higher insulin dose, previous smoking, and higher triglycerides level were found to increase the relative risk for neuropathy. The bedside tests showed poor to acceptable concordance with the confirmatory tests (all, AUC ≤ 0.75). ConclusionsThe diagnostic tests confirmed the presence of neuropathy in adolescents with diabetes and underscore the importance of prevention and screening.

ID: 208947 Ultrashort Microscopic Magnetic Vagal Stimulation

Electrical stimulation of the cervical vagus nerve is an emerging treatment field for various central nervous system disorders. Invasive electrical Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA-approved add-on treatment to medication for refractory partial-onset seizures in patients 12 years of age and older. However, only approximately 40-50% of patients experience a marked seizure reduction of 50% or more than seizures before treatment [1]. The effects of VNS on neurotransmitter systems, including the noradrenergic system originating from the locus coeruleus and the serotonergic system from the dorsal raphe nucleus, have been reported in experimental settings. The therapeutic effect of VNS in the brain is linked to the stimulation of large diameter afferent fibers. These large myelinated afferent fibers, terminating in the nucleus tractus solitarius in the brainstem, are assumed to deliver the therapeutic effect through further projections into the other brain areas. Non-selective stimulation results in inadvertent activation of efferent fibers that innervate a wide range of peripheral organs resulting in adverse effects [2] with a rare but severe risk of bradyarrhythmia and asystole.

Effect of radial growth rate on wood properties variation of Sentang (Azadirachta excelsa) tree planted in Kelantan, Malaysia

Properties of Sentang wood planted in Kelantan, Malaysia, were studied, focusing on the effect of radial growth rate on variation in the fiber and vessel element dimensions, moisture content, density, shrinkage, bending, and compression strength at the breast height of the tree. The trees were categorized into slow-, average-, and fast-growth categories, based on their breast height diameter and standard deviation. The variations in properties were then examined from the pith to the bark. The fiber length and diameter tend to decrease until a certain distance from the pith, followed by an increase toward the bark. Contrastingly, the vessel element length and diameter tend to increase until a maximum size is reached and then exhibit a relatively constant size toward the bark. The fast-growing trees tended to have longer and larger fibers, while the slow-growing trees tended to have longer and larger vessel elements. In addition, the fast-growing trees tended to have a higher green moisture content and shrinkage, lower density, lower modulus of rupture (MOR), and lower compression strength. The results revealed that growth rate seems to influence the modulus of elasticity (MOE) less than the MOR and compression strength.

Broadband Photon-Assisted Terahertz Communication and Sensing

Terahertz band (0.1 to 10 THz) with high carrier frequency and large available bandwidth has become a promising candidate to meet the 100 Gbit/s or even 1 Tbit/s data rate required by the future six-generation (6G) mobile communication networks. Compared with the all-electrical methods to generate terahertz signals, the photon-assisted technology can break the bottleneck of the bandwidth limit of the electronics devices, and generate the terahertz signal with high frequency, large bandwidth, flexible tunability and easy integration with the large capacity fiber link. In this paper, we introduce the typical methods to generate terahertz signals based on the photon-assisted technology, and review the representative achievements in different areas of terahertz communication, such as the large capacity terahertz transmission, the long distance terahertz transmission, the real-time terahertz communication, and the integrated terahertz sensing and communication. Based on the photon-assisted technology and various key techniques, devices and advanced digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms, we have obtained many great achievements in broadband terahertz communication and sensing, and the experimental setups and results have also been demonstrated in detail.

Evidence of a common origin for the Virgo overdensity and Hercules-Aquila Cloud from abundances and orbital parameters

Aims. The Virgo overdensity (VOD) and the Hercules-Aquila cloud (HAC) may have originated from the same accretion event. In this work, we use K giants from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey to further investigate their potentially common origins. Methods. We selected member stars in the VOD and HAC regions from the K giant sample of LAMOST DR5 and cross-matched them with results from the literature to obtain their elemental abundances. The orbital characteristics, namely, eccentricity, apocenter distance, energy, and angular momentum were compared between the member stars in the VOD and HAC regions. Then, we investigated the relationship between the VOD and HAC from the perspective of chemical evolution through a comparison of the distributions of elemental abundances in these two regions. Results. By studying the orbital parameters of the members in VOD and HAC, we find that the distribution of the orbital eccentricity, apocenter, and maximum height from the Galactic disk of the members of these two regions are very consistent. They are both on orbits of low angular momentum and high energy. Their density distributions in the spatial position are also similar based on an integration of the last 8 Gyr of their orbits. We also found that these two structures have similar distributions in [Fe/H] and other elemental abundances. Based on the similarity of the orbital properties and the consistency of the chemical abundances, we suggest that these two structures may have come from the merger of the same dwarf galaxy, such as the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE). Also, part of the VOD may originate from Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) debris that had been stripped 3 Gyr ago.

The Edge Sensor of Segmented Mirror Based on Fringes of Equal Thickness

Co-phase and co-focus detection is one of the key technologies for large-aperture segmented mirror telescopes. In this paper, a new edge sensor based on fringes of equal thickness is developed, which can detect each segment’s relative piston, tilt, and tip errors from the interferograms. Based on the co-focus demand for many ground-based seeing limited segmented mirror telescopes, an edge sensor prototype based on such a principle is built and applied in the indoor segmented mirror experiment system in the lab. According to the co-focus requirement of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, many simulations and experiments are carried out for co-focus error detection of the segmented mirror system. Experiment results show that the co-focus accuracy is better than 0.″02 rms, which can meet the co-focus requirements of most large or extremely large segmented mirror astronomical telescopes.

Minute-cadence observations of the LAMOST fields with the TMTS: II. Catalogues of short-period variable stars from the first 2-yr surveys

ABSTRACT Over the past few years, wide-field time-domain surveys such as Zwicky Transient Facility and Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment have led to discoveries of various types of interesting short-period stellar variables, such as ultracompact eclipsing binary white dwarfs (WDs), rapidly rotating magnetized WDs, transitional cataclysmic variables between hydrogen-rich and helium accretion, and blue large-amplitude pulsators (BLAPs), which greatly enrich our understandings of stellar physics under some extreme conditions. In this paper, we report the first-2-yr discoveries of short-period variables (i.e. P < 2 h) by the Tsinghua University–Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS). TMTS is a multitube telescope system with a field of view up to 18 deg2, which started to monitor the Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) sky areas since 2020 and generated uninterrupted minute-cadence light curves for about 10 million sources within 2 yr. Adopting the Lomb–Scargle periodogram with period-dependent thresholds for the maximum powers, we identify over 1100 sources that exhibit a variation period shorter than 2 h. Compiling the light curves with the Gaia magnitudes and colours, LAMOST spectral parameters, International Variable Star Index classifications, and archived observations from other prevailing time-domain survey missions, we identified 1076 as δ Scuti stars, which allows us to study their populations and physical properties in the short-period regime. The other 31 sources include BLAPs, subdwarf B variables, pulsating WDs, ultracompact/short-period eclipsing/ellipsoidal binaries, cataclysmic variables below the period gap, etc., which are highly interesting and worthy of follow-up investigations.

PERFORMANCE OF WOOD COMPOSITES WITH NATURAL FIBER AS SOUND ABSORBER OF BUILDING MATERIALS

Natural fibers are an alternative to reduce the use of synthetic materials in acoustic products. Such fibers have the benefits of being inexpensive, environmentally benign, biodegradable, and safe for human health. The influence on sound absorption coefficient of different natural fibers including rubberwood, coconut coir, and oil palm empty fruit bunches was investigated. The samples were composed of three kinds of natural fibers, three different fiber sizes, and two different kinds of adhesives. The porosity values of the samples were found in the range of 4.58-8.84% whereas the lowest water absorption value was found on the sample with rubberwood fiber in the range of 57.62-127.83%. Impedance tube testing was used for the sound absorption tests following ISO 10534-2. The experimental result revealed that the natural fibers have good performance associated with the fiber length. The longer fiber performs the better sound absorption than that of the short fiber. All kinds of natural fiber plates tested had sound absorption of 50% above 3.5 kHz whereas the oil palm fiber gave the highest absorption coefficient at 95%. The fiber size fraction approved that those fibers could improve the peak values of sound absorption. The small fiber size gave higher peak values than that of the large fiber size. The type of adhesive influences sound absorption coefficient on the sample with small fiber size (80 mesh) than that of the large fiber size (40 mesh). The output of this study reveals the waste plant fibers could adopt to develop sound absorber building materials.

Design and Analysis of a Large Mode Field Area and Low Bending Loss Multi-Cladding Fiber with Comb-Index Core and Gradient-Refractive Index Ring.

The large mode field area fiber can raise the tolerance of power, and high requirements for the bending characteristics of optical fibers are needed. In this paper, a fiber composed of a comb-index core, gradient-refractive index ring, and multi-cladding is proposed. The performance of the proposed fiber is investigated by using a finite element method at a 1550 nm wavelength. When the bending radius is 20 cm, the mode field area of the fundamental mode can achieve 2010 μm2, and the bending loss is reduced to 8.452 × 10-4 dB/m. Additionally, when the bending radius is smaller than 30 cm, there are two variations with low BL and leakage; one is a bending radius of 17 cm to 21 cm, and the other is from 24 cm to 28 cm (except for 27 cm). When the bending radius is between 17 cm and 38 cm, the highest bending loss is 1.131 × 10-1 dB/m and the lowest mode field area is 1925 μm2. It has a very important application prospect in the field of high-power fiber lasers and telecom applications.

Large-tow carbon fibers coated an aqueous epoxy sizing agent to enhance interfacial interactions

Large tow carbon fiber (LTCF) has excellent performance and low cost. However, there are still many difficulties in the application of LTCFs, among which the problem of interfacial penetration is mainly solved. Building interfaces with sizing structures of fiber composites is an effective approach to achieve high performance. In this article, a water-based epoxy sizing agent suitable for LTCF fiber thermoset composites was studied. A comparison of the five LTCFs in this study shows that the wettability and contact angle of the sized LTCFs are significantly improved. In addition, the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) increased from 52.3 to 71.0 MPa (35%) and 36.4 to 54.6 MPa (50%), respectively. Compared with other imported LTCFs, domestic large-size LTCFs have a wide variety and a large number of surface functional groups, thereby improving their wettability and covalent bonding with the resin matrix. This work has reference significance for the practical application and industrial production of LTCFRP.

Müller's Muscle as a Sensory Proprioceptive Organ: Histological and Histochemical Analysis.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether proprioceptive nerves are present in Müller's muscle. This was a prospective cohort study in which histologic and immunofluorescence analyses of excised Müller's muscle specimens were performed. Twenty fresh Müller's muscle's specimens from patients undergoing posterior approach ptosis surgery in one center between 2017 and 2018 were evaluated by histologic and immunofluorescent analysis. Axonal types were determined by measuring axon diameter in methylene blue stained plastic sections and by immunofluorescence of frozen sections. We identified large (greater than 10 microns) and small myelinated fibers in the Müller's muscle, with 6.4% of these fibers being large. Immunofluorescent labeling with choline acetyltransferase showed no evidence of skeletal motor axons in the samples, indicating large axons are likely to be sensory and proprioceptive. In addition, we identified C-fibers using double labeling with peripherin and neural cell adhesion molecules. Overall, large myelinated sensory fibers are present in the Müller's muscle, likely serving proprioceptive innervation. This suggests that proprioception signals from Müller's muscle may have a role in eyelid spatial positioning and retracting, in addition to visual deprivation. This finding sheds new light on our understanding of this complex mechanism.

Neuro-COVID is a Common Complication of SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Merits Prospective Evaluation

We read with interest the article by Tan et al. on a cross-sectional, observational, mono-canter study of 156 COVID-19 patients [1]. Among these 156 in-hospital patients collected between July and December 2021, 23.7% had neurological complications from the infection, which included stroke, encephalitis, or encephalopathy [1]. Diabetic patients were at an increased risk for neuro-COVID. Unvaccinated patients had a 4.25 fold increased risk of developing neurological complications compared to unvaccinated patients [1]. The risk of developing neurological complications from COVID-19 was increased by 18% among those with leucocytosis [1]. It was concluded that patients with diabetes, leucocytosis, and being unvaccinated are at increased risk of developing neuro-COVID. The study is excellent but has limitations that raise concerns and require discussion. We disagree that muscle weakness and numbness are exclusively manifestations of ischemic stroke. Muscle weakness and sensory disturbances are not only due to central nervous system (CNS) disease but also involvement of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). We should know whether all patients with weakness and numbness also had a stroke on cerebral imaging. Did truly all patients undergo cerebral imaging when stroke was suspected? It is not comprehensible why patients with seizures were delineated from those with status epilepticus. Status epilepticus is a seizure type, why these two entities should not be evaluated separately. Surprisingly, not a single patient with PNS disease was detected among the 156 COVID-19 patients. We should know the reason why no patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome plexitis, large or small fiber neuropathy, myasthenia, myopathy, myositis, or rhabdomyolysis was detected. Were the included patients not prospectively investigated for PNS disease? A stroke mechanism not considered in the study is endotheliopathy. There are indications that SASR-CoV-2 infections can be complicated by endothelialitis, which increases the risk of thrombosis and vessel occlusion. Another pathophysiological mechanism not considered is arterial dissection. Supposing that SARS-CoV-2 causes damage of the vascular wall, it is conceivable that also dissection occurs. Several patients with dissection during a SARS-CoV-2 infection have been report [2]. We disagree with the notion that critical ill polyneuropathy is a direct consequence of a SARS-CoV-2 infection [1]. Critical ill polyneuropathy is iatrogenic and therefore should be excluded from the evaluation. Leucocytosis is multifactorial. Therefore, we should know how alternative causes of the COVID-19 infection were ruled out as causes of leucocytosis. We should know how many of the included patients were smokers, received steroids, were under stress, had a chronic infection, colitis ulcerosa, a fungal infection, a parasitic infection, were pregnant, had an allergy, or had a malignancy. A limitation of the study is that no definition of the term “encephalopathy” was provided. It should be explained whether encephalopathy means seizures, leukoencephalopathy, encephalitis, confusion, or neuropsychological deficits in the absence of morphological abnormalities on cerebral imaging. If encephalopathy is regarded as a post-ictal condition, it should be told if these patients were classified into both the “seizures” group and the “encephalopathy” group. If encephalopathy resulted from metabolic dysfunction, we should be informed what kind of metabolic derangement resulted in encephalopathy. How many of the included patients had diabetes or hyperglycemic crisis on admission? Seizures in COVID-19 patients are commonly symptomatic manifestations of stroke, encephalitis, or venous sinus thrombosis (VST). Therefore, we should know how many of those with seizures also had morphological abnormalities on MRI. The sentence “Anosmia and dysgeusia were less associated with neurological complications” is not comprehensible because anosmia and dysgeusia are classical neurological complication already. Overall, the interesting study has limitations that call the results and their interpretation into question. Clarifying these weaknesses would strengthen the conclusions and could improve the study. Neurological complications of SARS-CoV-2 infections are manifold and may be recognised only if an appropriate number of patients is investigated or if multi-center or multinational studies with a high number of patients are undertaken and if COVID-19 patients are prospectively and comprehensibly investigated for CNS and PNS disease having started after onset of COVID-19.

Frontiers in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in diabetic sensorimotor neuropathy (DSPN).

Diabetes sensory polyneuropathy (DSPN) is a significant complication of diabetes affecting up to 50% of patients in their lifetime and approximately 20% of patients suffer from painful diabetes neuropathic pain. DSPN - both painless and painful - leads to considerable morbidity including reduction of quality of life, increased lower limb amputations and is associated with worsening mortality. Significant progress has been made in the understanding of pathogenesis of DSPN and the last decade has seen newer techniques aimed at its earlier diagnosis. The management of painful DSPN remains a challenge despite advances made in the unravelling the pathogenesis of pain and its transmission. This article discusses the heterogenous clinical presentation of DSPN and the need to exclude key differential diagnoses. Furthermore, it reviews in detail the current diagnostic techniques involving both large and small neural fibres, their limitations and advantages and current place in the diagnosis of DSPN. Finally, the management of DSPN including newer pharmacotherapies are also discussed.

Concordance between the Stockholm Workshop Scale and the International Consensus Criteria for grading the severity of neurosensory manifestations in hand-arm vibration syndrome in a Swedish clinical setting

ObjectivesOccupational exposure to vibration using hand-held tools may cause hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). Correct diagnosis and grading of severity are crucial in protecting the individual’s health and for workers’ compensation...

Regenerated Fiber Bragg Gratings in Large Mode Area Fibers for High-Temperature Sensing

Regenerated fiber Bragg gratings (RFBGs) have been created in large mode area (LMA) fibers, and their key properties for their application as high-temperature sensors were experimentally characterized for the first time. UV written Type-I seed gratings in standard single-mode fibers (SMF-28) and in low numerical aperture LMA fibers with 125 μm and 250 μm cladding diameters were regenerated, and their wavelength drift characteristics at high temperatures, their temperature sensitivities, and their mechanical strengths were tested and compared with each other. We found that low dopant concentrations in the fiber cores led to lower wavelength drift rates during and after regeneration. A temperature calibration from room temperature to 800 °C showed that LMA fibers have generally similar but slightly lower temperature sensitivities than SMF-28 fibers. The tensile strength tests showed that LMA fibers with 250 μm cladding diameter have similar tensile fracture stresses as SMF-28 fibers but four times larger tensile force tolerances because of their twofold fiber diameter. Our research shows that using LMA fibers for RFBGs offers significant advantages for high-temperature sensing than their counterparts in standard fibers, which are also applicable to other silica fiber-based high-temperature sensors.

Tissue-like cultured fish fillets through a synthetic food pipeline

Tissue-like cultured meats of some livestock have successfully been established by different approaches. However, the production of a structure similar to fish fillets is still challenging. Here, we develop tissue-like cultured fish fillets by assembly of large yellow croaker muscle fibers and adipocytes with 3D-printed gel. Inhibition of Tgf-β and Notch signals significantly promoted myogenic differentiation of piscine satellite cells (PSCs). The mixture of fish gelatin and sodium alginate combined with a p53 inhibitor and a Yap activator supported PSC viability and proliferation. Based on the texture of fish muscle tissue, a 3D scaffold was constructed by gelatin-based gel mixed with PSCs. After proliferation and differentiation, the muscle scaffold was filled with cultured piscine adipocytes. Finally, tissue-like fish fillets with 20 × 12 × 4 mm were formed, consisting of 5.67 × 107 muscles and 4.02 × 107 adipocytes. The biomanufacture of tissue-like cultured fish fillet here could be a promising technology to customize meat production with high fidelity.

A Catalog of Distance Determinations for the LAMOST DR8 K Giants in the Galactic Halo

We present a catalog of distances for 19,544 K giants drawn from Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) DR8. Most of them are located in the halo of the Milky Way up to ∼120 kpc. There are 15% K giants without Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry, for which we supplements with Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) photometry calibrated to SDSS photometric system. The possible contamination of the red clumps/horizontal branch are removed according to metallicities and colors before the distance determination. Combining the LAMOST spectroscopic metallicities with the SDSS/PS1 photometry, we estimate the absolute magnitudes in the SDSS r band, the distance moduli, and the corresponding uncertainties through an Bayesian approach devised by Xue et al. for the Sloan Extension for Galactic understanding and exploration halo K giants. The typical distance precision is about 11%. The stars in the catalog lie in a region of 4–126 kpc from the Galactic center, of which with 6320 stars beyond 20 kpc and 273 stars beyond 50 kpc, forming the largest spectroscopic sample of distant tracers in the Milky Way halo so far.

Search for Extremely Metal-poor Stars with Gemini-N/Graces. I. Chemical-abundance Analysis

We present stellar parameters and abundances of 13 elements for 18 very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] < –2.0) stars, selected as extremely metal-poor (EMP; [Fe/H] < –3.0) candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Large sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope survey. High-resolution spectroscopic observations were performed using GEMINI-N/GRACES. We find 10 EMP stars among our candidates, and we newly identify three carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars with [Ba/Fe] < 0. Although chemical abundances of our VMP/EMP stars generally follow the overall trend of other Galactic halo stars, there are a few exceptions. One Na-rich star ([Na/Fe] = +1.14) with low [Mg/Fe] suggests a possible chemical connection with second-generation stars in a globular cluster. The progenitor of an extremely Na-poor star ([Na/Fe] = –1.02) with high K- and Ni-abundance ratios may have undergone a distinct nucleosynthesis episode, associated with core-collapse supernovae (SNe) having a high explosion energy. We have also found a Mg-rich star ([Mg/Fe] = +0.73) with slightly enhanced Na and extremely low [Ba/Fe], indicating that its origin is not associated with neutron-capture events. On the other hand, the origin of the lowest Mg abundance ([Mg/Fe] = –0.61) star could be explained by accretion from a dwarf galaxy, or formation in a gas cloud largely polluted by SNe Ia. We have also explored the progenitor masses of our EMP stars by comparing their chemical-abundance patterns with those predicted by Population III SNe models, and find a mass range of 10–26 M ⊙, suggesting that such stars were primarily responsible for the chemical enrichment of the early Milky Way.

Efficacy and safety of vixotrigine in idiopathic or diabetes-associated painful small fibre neuropathy (CONVEY): a phase 2 placebo-controlled enriched-enrolment randomised withdrawal study.

No pharmacological treatments are specifically indicated for painful small fibre neuropathy (SFN). CONVEY, a phase 2 enriched-enrolment study, evaluated the efficacy and safety of vixotrigine, a voltage- and use-dependent sodium channel blocker, in participants with idiopathic or diabetes-associated painful SFN. CONVEY was a phase 2, multicentre, placebo-controlled, double-blind (DB), enriched-enrolment, randomised withdrawal study. The study was conducted at 68 sites in 13 countries (Europe and Canada) between May 17, 2018, and April 12, 2021. Following a 4-week open-label period in which 265 adults with painful SFN (a mixture of large and small fibre neuropathy was not exclusionary) received oral vixotrigine 350mg twice daily (BID), 123 participants (with a ≥30% reduction from baseline in average daily pain [ADP] score during the open-label period) were randomised 1:1:1 to receive 200mg BID, 350mg BID or placebo for a 12-week double-blind (DB) period. Primary endpoint was change from baseline in ADP at DB Week 12. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of participants with a ≥30% reduction from baseline in ADP and the proportion of Patient Global Impression of Pain (PGIC) responders at DB Week 12. Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) were monitored. Statistical significance was set at 0.10 (2-sided). The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03339336) and on ClinicalTrialsregister.eu (2017-000991-27). A statistically significant difference from placebo in least squares mean reduction in ADP score from baseline to DB Week 12 was observed with vixotrigine 200mg BID (-0.85; SE, 0.43; 95% CI,-1.71 to 0.00; p=0.050) but not 350mg BID (-0.17; SE, 0.43; 95% CI,-1.01 to 0.68; p=0.70). Numerically, but not statistically significantly, more participants who received vixotrigine vs placebo experienced a ≥30% ADP reduction from baseline (68.3-72.5% vs 52.5%), and only the 350mg BID group had significantly more PGIC responders vs placebo (48.8% vs 30.0%; odds ratio=2.60; 95% CI, 0.97-6.99; p=0.058) at DB Week 12. AEs were mostly mild to moderate in the vixotrigine groups. The most common AEs (≥5% of vixotrigine-treated participants) in the DB 200mg BID and 350mg BID vixotrigine groups were falls, nasopharyngitis, muscle spasm, and urinary tract infection. In our study, vixotrigine 200mg BID, but not 350mg BID, met the primary endpoint; more vixotrigine-treated participants experienced a ≥30% reduction from baseline in ADP at DB Week 12. Vixotrigine (at both dosages) was well tolerated in participants with SFN. Biogen, Inc.

A New Catalog of Am-type Chemically Peculiar Stars Based on LAMOST

A total of about 21,600 Am candidates were detected with the MKCLASS code based on the low-resolution spectra of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope Data Releases 8 (v1.0), 9 (v0), and 10 (v0), which greatly expands the database of Am-type stars. By crossmatching the known catalogs of Am stars and our Am candidates with the AAVSO International Variable Star Index catalog, a catalog of the largest eclipsing Am binaries was obtained, which includes 754 binaries and provides a substantial sample with which to study Am stars. Fundamental information, including atmospheric parameters of the two kinds of candidates, are collected and listed in the catalogs, such as temperature, log g, and metallicity. We further carried out statistical analysis of the types of parameters. In our new catalog, there are some Am candidates with a temperature lower than 7000 K and some eclipsing Am binary candidates with a period of less than 1 day, which poses challenges to the slow rotation of stars classified as type Am observed in previous research. These candidates are significant and provide a great opportunity to explore the real relationship between Am-type stars’ peculiarity and slow stellar rotation. The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram of Am stars and the primary stars of eclipsing Am binary candidates indicate that a majority of the Am stars and almost all primary stars of binaries are in or around the main-sequence evolution stage.