The high rates of both acute hemostasis and recurrent bleeding suggest that Hemospray may be used in high-risk cases as a temporary measure or a bridge toward more definitive therapy.

Between 2001 and 2011, the standard of care for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was a combination of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV). In May 2011, boceprevir and telaprevir, two first-generation NS3/4A protease inhibitors, were approved in combination with PEG-IFN and RBV for 24 to 48 weeks in hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infections. In December 2013, simeprevir, a second-generation NS3/4A protease inhibitor, was approved for use with PEG-IFN and RBV for 12 weeks in genotype 1, while sofosbuvir, a NS5B nucleotide polymerase inhibitor, was approved for use with PEG-IFN and RBV for 12 weeks in genotypes 1 and 4, as well as with RBV alone for 12 weeks in genotype 2 and for 24 weeks in genotype 3. Sofosbuvir combined with simeprevir or an NS5A replication complex inhibitor (ledipasvir or daclatasvir) with or without RBV for 12 weeks in genotype 1 resulted in a sustained virological response >90%, irrespective of previous treatment history or presence of cirrhosis. Similarly impressive sustained virological response rates have been shown with ABT-450/r (ritonavir-boosted NS3/4A protease inhibitor)-based regimens in combination with other direct-acting antiviral agent(s) with or without RBV for 12 weeks in genotype 1. The optimal all-oral interferon-free antiviral regimen likely entails a combination of an NS5B nucleotide polymerase inhibitor with either a second-generation NS3/4A protease inhibitor or an NS5A replication complex inhibitor with or without RBV. Further research is needed to determine the role of resistance testing, clarify the optimal follow-up duration post-treatment, and evaluate the antiviral efficacy and safety in difficult-to-cure patient populations.

Background. Our study examined hepatitis B virus (HBV) awareness and knowledge in Asian communities in British Columbia (BC). Methods. A statistical random sample representation of Chinese, Korean, Filipino, South Asian, and Southeast Asian populations in Greater Vancouver was surveyed by telephone. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of HBV knowledge. Results. General awareness of HBV was reported in 78.8% (798/1013). HBV awareness was the highest in Chinese (89%) and Filipino (88%) populations and the lowest in the South Asian (56%) population. “Reasonable” knowledge of HBV was elicited in 76.8% (778/1013). Higher HBV knowledge was associated with younger age (p = 0.014), higher education (p < 0.0001), Chinese ethnicity (p < 0.0001), and use of media (p = 0.01) and Internet (p = 0.024) for health information. Compared to the Chinese (OR = 1.0) population, “reasonable” knowledge of HBV was lower in Korean (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1–0.5), Filipino (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2–0.6), South Asian (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2–0.4), and Southeast Asian (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1–0.6) populations. 54.8% (555/1013) felt that HBV education was inadequate and 80.1% (811/1013) preferred HBV education in their native languages. Conclusion. Compared to the Chinese population, other Asian communities in BC have lower HBV awareness and knowledge. Public education should target older and less educated and Korean, Filipino, South Asian, and Southeast Asian populations in their native languages via media and Internet.

Enhanced fiber with compensation of sensor signal attenuation over more than 1 km Measurement of UVinduced change in fiber Kerr nonlinearity over 1 km Thermal stability of UVinduced enhancement for 3 weeks at 210 C Enhanced fiber leads to higher spatial resolution in distributed acoustic sensing

Pursuit of lower k 1 for pushing the resolution limit becomes one of the most demanding tasks to meet stringent patterning requirements in next generation lithography. Particularly, the patterning of densely packed array devices with periodic and symmetric features is among the most challenging missions to enable high density memory chips to quickly move forward as projected by Moore's Law. As dictated by the physical limitation of optical system design, current immersion scanners are not capable of reliably printing feature sizes down to sub-40nm regime unless resorting to high index fluids or other effective Resolution Enhancement Techniques (RETs). Fortunately, recent prosperous progress in double patterning technique seems to give realistic hope as a straightforward bridge between the current immersion scanners [1] and the relatively immature EUV scanners [2]. State-of-the-art double patterning technique [3] includes the well known LLE (Litho-Litho-Etch) [4], LELE (Litho-Etch-Litho-Etch) [5], self-aligned [6] and other approaches [7].Among them the self-aligned approach is regarded as more appropriated for mass production of high density arrays due to less concerned of overlay budget [8]. In this paper, we studied the integrated lithography performance of one innovative self-aligned double patterning scheme for the demonstration of sub-40nm capability by the use of the most advanced 193nm dry scanner. In addition, silicon containing bottom reflective coating (BARC) was employed for the CD trimming in order to optimize the lithography & etch process windows [9]. A 37.5nm half-pitch L/S memory array with well controlled line edge roughness (LER) was successfully demonstrated in this work by the above mentioned selfaligned spacer approach. The equivalent k 1~0 .146 was readily achieved without too much complex integration, which is especially suitable for the future high density memory arrays as in FLASH or DRAM.