Description: Introduction Many studies suggest that Tai Chi exercise is a safe and appropriate mind-body exercise for older people and effectively slows down age-related cognitive decline. A set of bespoke Tai Chi exercise named ‘Cognition Protecting Tai Chi’ (CPT) has been created for older people with cognitive impairments by the research team of geriatricians, neurologists, rehabilitation specialists, experts of sports medicine and experienced practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. This trial is designed to evaluate its effects on cognitive function, behaviour/moods, risk of falls and activities of daily living of the participants with mild dementia. Methods and analysis A randomised controlled study will be conducted. Eighty participants with mild dementia will be recruited and randomly allocated to an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group will practice the CPT exercise three times a week for 20 min each time under the guidance of professional therapists. The control group will continue receiving their routine treatments. The duration of this study will be 10 months. All participants will be assessed with a battery of neuropsychological and functional evaluations, which include Mini Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the WHO-University of California Los Angeles-Auditory Verbal Learning test (WHO-UCLA-AVLT), Trail Making Test (TMT), Geriatric Depression Scale, Neuropsychological Inventory and Barthel Index, at the baseline, 5 and 10 months during the study period. Fall incident will also be recorded. The primary outcome will be the WHO-UCLA-AVLT delayed recall score. The secondary outcome will be the TMT score. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the ethical review committee of the Beijing Geriatric Hospital (protocol number: 2015–021). Informed consent will be obtained from all participants or their guardians. The authors intend to submit the findings of the study to peer-reviewed journals or academic conferences to be published. Trial registration number ChiCTR-INR-16009872 ; Pre-results.

Description: Author(s): K.-W. Chen, X. Lian, Y. Lai, N. Aryal, Y.-C. Chiu, W. Lan, D. Graf, E. Manousakis, R. E. Baumbach, and L. Balicas We report a de Haas–van Alphen (dHvA) effect study on the Dirac type-II semimetallic candidates M Al 3 (where, M = V , Nb and Ta). The angular dependence of their Fermi surface (FS) cross-sectional areas reveals a remarkably good agreement with our first-principles calculations. Therefore, dHvA supports ... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 206401] Published Tue May 15, 2018

Description: Objective This study aims to understand the age patterns of smoking initiation during adolescence and young adulthood in South-West China, where the prevalence of tobacco use is reported as the highest in the country. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting The data were derived from the China National Nutrition and Health Survey in Yunnan Province, South-West China (2010–2012). Participants A total of 4801 participants aged 15–65 years were included. Primary outcome measures A survival model was used to estimate the hazard of smoking initiation by age and log-rank test was used to compare the hazard curves across subgroups (men/women, urban/rural, Han Chinese/ethnic minority). Results The prevalence of current smoking among men and women were 60.4% (95% CI 58.2% to 62.6%) and 5.1% (95% CI 4.3% to 5.9%), respectively. Smoking was more prevalent among men and women of lower education and less income, as well as rural and ethnic minority women. Among the current smokers, cigarette (80.7%) was the most commonly used tobacco product, followed by waterpipe (10.8%) and pipe tobacco (8.5%). The hazards of smoking initiation were low for both men and women before the age of 15 years (1% for men and 0.05% for women); and the hazards increased quickly from age 15 years and peaked at 19years (21.5% for men and 1.0% for women). Rural and ethnic minority women were at higher risk of smoking initiation than their counterparts between 15 years and 19 years of age ( 2 =44.8, p〈0.01; 2 =165.2, p〈0.01) and no such difference was found in men. Conclusions Findings of this study underscore the importance to implement tobacco prevention interventions among older teens and young adults in South-West China, especially for rural and ethnic minority women.

Description: Objectives To evaluate the relationship between pupillary response to light, myopia and disk halo size. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Single refractive surgery centre. Participants In this study, 197 right eyes of 197 patients between 20 and 35 years of age were evaluated for disk halo size and pupillary response to light with a vision monitor. Primary and secondary outcome measures Halo radius, age, spherical equivalent (SE), axial length (AL), initial diameter, amplitude of contraction, latency of contraction, duration of contraction, velocity of contraction, latency of dilation, duration of dilation, velocity of dilation, maximum pupil, minimum pupil, average pupil and dark pupil. Results Significant associations were found between disk halo size and SE (r=–0.219, P=0.002), AL (r=0.152, P=0.033) and minimum pupil (r=0.149, P=0.037). There were no associations between disk halo size and initial diameter, amplitude of contraction, latency of contraction, duration of contraction, velocity of contraction, latency of dilation, duration of dilation, velocity of dilation, maximum pupil, average pupil, dark pupil and age (P〉0.05). A significant difference in disk halo size was detected between the low-moderate and high myopia (SE〈 –6 D) groups (P=0.002) and between the small and large (minimum pupil≥4 mm) minimum pupil size groups (P=0.014). Conclusions Patients with a high SE and large minimum pupil size (minimum pupil ≥4 mm) suffered more disability glare than those with a low SE and small minimum pupil size.

Description: Objectives To estimate prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs), and investigate the association between relevant characteristics and CRF clustering among adults in eastern China. Design Community-based cross-sectional study. Setting Data were collected by interview survey, physical measurements and laboratory examinations from the 2011 Nanjing Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance. Participants A representative sample of 41 072 residents aged ≥18 years volunteered to participate in the survey, with a response rate of 91.3%. We excluded 1232 subjects due to missing data or having a history of cardiovascular diseases; a total of 39 840 participants were included in the analysis. Outcome measures Prevalence and clustering of five major CRFs including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, overweight or obesity and current smoking. Results Of 39 840 participants (mean age 47.9±16.2 years), 17 964 (45.1%) were men and 21 876 (54.9%) were women. The weighted prevalence of CRFs ranged between 6.2% for diabetes and 35.6% for overweight or obesity. The proportion of CRFs tended to be higher in men, the elderly, participants who lost a life partner, or lived in rural areas, or had lower level of education and total annual income. Overall, 30.1% and 35.2% of participants had one and at least two CRFs, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that men, older age, loss of a life partner, lower level of socioeconomic status, rural areas, insufficient physical activity or unhealthy diets were positively associated with CVD risk factor clustering, compared with their counterparts. Conclusions High regional prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidaemia, overweight or obesity and their clustering are present in Nanjing. The Nanjing government should develop effective public health policies at the regional level especially for high-risk groups, such as enhancing the public’s health awareness, organising health promotion programmes, implementing smoke-free law, producing healthy nutrient foods, providing free or low-cost public sports and fitness facilities.

Description: Introduction The proportion of elderly people is steadily rising worldwide, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, including China. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common disorder in older people. However, little is known about the epidemiology of CKD and its consequences among the elderly. Improvements on clinical guidelines and healthcare policies for this population are required. This study aims to examine the risk factors for progression of CKD among the elderly and develop models to identify subgroups who are at high risk. Methods and analysis This is a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. The study population comprises ~3000 patients with predialysis CKD, aged ≥65 years, recruited between March 2016 and December 2017. After the baseline assessments, these patients will be followed for 5 years or until the occurrence of primary outcomes. Assessments that include anthropomorphic measures, laboratory tests, questionnaires, and blood and urine specimen collection will be performed at baseline and at follow-ups. Data on demographic information, cognitive function, depression, risk of malnutrition, physical activity and quality of life will be collected. The primary outcomes are incidence of end-stage renal disease, loss of renal function (≥40% decline in glomerular filtration rate from baseline), and death. The secondary outcomes are acute coronary syndrome, hospitalisation for heart failure or unstable angina, cerebrovascular events, and peripheral arterial disease. Ethics and dissemination This study protocol has been approved by the ethics committees of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital and the participating centres. All the participants gave written informed consent before data collection. The findings of the study will be published in peer-reviewed journals and will be presented at national or international conferences. Trial registration number NCT03246204 ; Pre-results.

Description: Objectives The aim of this study was to explore the prognostic value of ki67 as a marker in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) treated with BCG. Methods Studies were systematically retrieved from the relevant databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase), and the expiry date was May 2017. The research steps referred to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement. Results A total of 11 studies that complied with the inclusion criteria were included. The expression of ki67 was not statistically significantly associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) (HR 1.331; 95% CI 0.980 to 1.809). No significant heterogeneity was found among all included studies ( I 2 =36.7%, p=0.148). The expression of ki67 was statistically significantly associated with progression-free survival (PFS) (HR 2.567; 95% CI 1.562 to 4.219), and the overexpression of ki67 was the risk factor for PFS. Significant heterogeneity was noted among all the included studies ( I 2 =55.6%, p=0.021). The studies that might cause heterogeneity were excluded using the Galbraith plot, and then the meta-analysis was performed again. The results showed that the expression of ki67 was still associated with PFS (HR 2.922; 95% CI 2.002 to 4.266). Conclusions The overexpression of ki67 was the risk factor for PFS, and the relationship between the expression of ki67 and RFS was not statistically significant in patients with NMIBC treated with BCG intravesical immunotherapy. Well-designed, prospective, with a large sample size are still needed to validate the findings.

Description: Author(s): Q. Yao, D. W. Shen, C. H. P. Wen, C. Q. Hua, L. Q. Zhang, N. Z. Wang, X. H. Niu, Q. Y. Chen, P. Dudin, Y. H. Lu, Y. Zheng, X. H. Chen, X. G. Wan, and D. L. Feng van der Waals heterostructures (VDWHs) exhibit rich properties and thus has potential for applications, and charge transfer between different layers in a heterostructure often dominates its properties and device performance. It is thus critical to reveal and understand the charge transfer effects in... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 106401] Published Wed Mar 07, 2018

Description: Author(s): B. Xu, L. X. Zhao, P. Marsik, E. Sheveleva, F. Lyzwa, Y. M. Dai, G. F. Chen, X. G. Qiu, and C. Bernhard We present an infrared spectroscopy study of ZrTe 5 , which confirms a recent theoretical proposal that this material exhibits a temperature-driven topological quantum phase transition from a weak to a strong topological insulating state with an intermediate Dirac semimetal state around T p ≃ 138     K . Our... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 187401] Published Wed Oct 31, 2018

Description: Author(s): F. C. Chen, X. Luo, J. Yan, Y. Sun, H. Y. Lv, W. J. Lu, C. Y. Xi, P. Tong, Z. G. Sheng, X. B. Zhu, W. H. Song, and Y. P. Sun Topological Weyl semimetals (WSMs), a new quantum state of matter, provide the realization of relativistic Weyl fermions in solid-state physics. The appearance of the Weyl nodes will demonstrate novel transport phenomena related to the chiral anomaly. Theoretical prediction hints that the giant plan... [Phys. Rev. B 98, 041114(R)] Published Mon Jul 30, 2018