Designing Highly Precise Overlay Targets for Asymmetric Sidewall Structures Using Quasi-Periodic Line Widths and Finite-Difference Time-Domain Simulation.

The present study introduces an optimized overlay target design to minimize the overlay error caused by asymmetric sidewall structures in semiconductor manufacturing. To achieve this goal, the overlay error formula was derived by separating the asymmetric bottom grating structure into symmetric and asymmetric parts. Based on this formula, it was found that the overlay target design with the linewidth of the bottom grating closed to the grating period could effectively reduce the overlay error caused by the sidewall asymmetry structure. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed design can effectively control the measurement error of different wavelengths within ±0.3 nm, even under varying sidewall angles and film thicknesses. Overall, the proposed overlay target design can significantly improve the overlay accuracy in semiconductor manufacturing processes.

The impact of triglyceride-glucose index on ischemic stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Strokes significantly impair quality of life and incur high economic and societal burdens. The triglyceride and glucose (TyG) index is a biochemical marker of insulin resistance (IR) and may have important value in the prediction of strokes, especially ischemic stroke (IS). Our study aims to investigate the relationship between TyG index and IS and ascertain whether TyG index is independently associated with IS adverse outcomes. METHODS: The Cochrane, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, and other relevant English databases and related websites were systematically searched for articles on ''TyG index'' and "stroke" published from inception to April 4, 2022. We reviewed the available literature on the TyG index and its relation to predicting IS occurrence in the general population and adverse clinical outcomes. We calculated odds ratios (OR) of TyG index and its predictability of IS occurrence and adverse outcomes. Statistical analyses were performed using the Meta Package in STATA, version 12.0. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies and 592,635 patients were included in our analysis. The pooled effect values of all stroke types showed that higher TyG index was associated with increased the risk of IS in the general population (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.22-1.54) in a total sample of 554,334 cases with a high level of heterogeneity (P = 0.000, I2 = 74.10%). In addition, compared to IS patients with a lower TyG index, IS patients with a higher TyG index was associated with higher risk of stroke recurrence (OR: 1.50; 95% CI 1.19-1.89) and increased risk of mortality (OR 1.40 95% CI 1.14-1.71). No correlation was found in the effect value combinations of poor functional outcomes (OR 1.12; 95% CI 0.88-1.43) and neurological worsening (OR: 1.76; 95% CI 0.79-3.95) in a total sample of 38,301 cases with a high level of heterogeneity (P = 0.000; I2 = 77.20%). CONCLUSIONS: TyG index has potential value in optimizing risk stratification for IS in the general population. Furthermore, there is a significant association between high TyG index and many adverse outcomes of stroke, especially stroke recurrence and high mortality. Future studies should focus on multi-center and multi-regional designs in order to further explore the relationship between IS and TyG index.

Prevalence of frailty among patients with inflammatory bowel disease and its association with clinical outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Studies have reported frailty as an independent risk factor of mortality in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, no systematic review and meta-analysis has been conducted to determine the relationship of frailty and IBD. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of frailty in patients with IBD and the impact of frailty on the clinical prognosis of these patients. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, Ovid (Medline), Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library from database inception until October 2022. This systematic review included observational studies describing IBD and frailty. We performed meta-analysis for the frailty prevalence in patients with IBD. We analyzed primary outcomes (mortality) and secondary outcomes (infections, hospitalizations, readmission, and IBD-related surgery). RESULTS: Nine studies with a total of 1,495,695 participants were included in our meta-analysis. The prevalence of frailty was 18% in patients with IBD. The combined effect analysis showed that frail patients with IBD had a higher risk of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio = 2.25, 95% confidence interval: 1.11-4.55) than non-frail patients with IBD. The hazard ratio for infections (HR = 1.23, 0.94-1.60), hospitalizations (HR = 1.72, 0.88-3.36), readmission (HR = 1.21, 1.17-1.25) and IBD-related surgery (HR = 0.78, 0.66-0.91) in frail patients with IBD. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that frailty is a significant independent predictor of mortality in patients with IBD. Our work supports the importance of implementing frailty screening upon admission in patients with IBD. More prospective studies are needed to investigate the influence of frailty on patients with IBD and improve the poor prognosis of patients with frailty and IBD.

Contact tracing with digital assistance in Taiwan's COVID-19 outbreak response.

AIM: Comprehensive case investigation and contact tracing are crucial to prevent community spread of COVID-19. We demonstrated a utility of using traditional contact tracing measures supplemented with symptom tracking and contact management system to assist public health workers with high efficiency. METHODS: A centralized contact tracing system was developed to support data linkage, cross-jurisdictional coordination, and follow-up of contacts' health status. We illustrated the process of how digital tools support contact tracing and management of COVID-19 cases and measured the timeliness from case detection to contact monitoring to evaluate system performance. RESULTS: Among the 8051 close contacts of the 487 confirmed cases (16.5 close contacts/case, 95% CI [13.9-19.1]), the median elapsed time from last exposure to quarantine was three days (IQR 1-5). By implementing the approach of self-reporting using automatic text-messages and web-app, the percentage of health status updates from self-reporting increased from 22.5% to 61.5%. The high proportion of secondary cases detected via contact tracing (88%) might reduce the R0 to under one and minimize the impact of local transmission in the community. CONCLUSION: Comprehensive contact tracing and management with complementary technology would still be a pillar of strategies for containing outbreaks during de-escalation or early in the next wave of COVID-19 pandemic.