This paper studies the fundamental tradeoff between storage and latency in a general wireless interference network with caches equipped at all transmitters and receivers. The tradeoff is characterized by an information-theoretic metric, normalized delivery time (NDT), which is the worst-case delivery time of the actual traffic load at a transmission rate specified by degrees of freedom (DoF) of a given channel. We obtain both an achievable upper bound and a theoretical lower bound of the minimum NDT for any number of transmitters, any number of receivers, and any feasible cache size tuple. We show that the achievable NDT is exactly optimal in certain cache size regions, and is within a bounded multiplicative gap to the theoretical lower bound in other regions. In the achievability analysis, we first propose a novel cooperative transmitter/receiver coded caching strategy. It offers the freedom to adjust file splitting ratios for NDT minimization. We then propose a delivery strategy which transforms the considered interference network into a new class of cooperative X-multicast channels. It leverages local caching gain, coded multicasting gain, and transmitter cooperation gain (via interference alignment and interference neutralization) opportunistically. Finally, the achievable NDT is obtained by solving a linear programming problem. This study reveals that with caching at both transmitter and receiver sides, the network can benefit simultaneously from traffic load reduction and transmission rate enhancement, thereby effectively reducing the content delivery latency. Index TermsWireless cache network, coded caching, content delivery, multicast, and interference management.∪ mR i R,T c ,n : mR i R,T c ,n ∈ MR i R,T c [N + 1] , R ∪R i ∋ q, |T c | = t − 1 .

Background: As effective medication to treat COVID-19 is currently unavailable, preventive remedies may be particularly important. Objective: To examine the relationship between serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) level and COVID-19 infection, its severity, and its clinical case characteristics. Methods: This case-control study compared serum 25(OH)D levels and rates of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) between 80 healthy controls and 62 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Guangxi People's Hospital, China, 2/16/2020-3/16/2020. Cases were categorized into asymptomatic, mild/moderate, and severe/critical disease. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations between 25(OH)D level, or VDD, and case status/severity of COVID-19 while controlling for demographics and comorbidities. A threshold level of vitamin D for conveying COVID-19 risk was estimated. Results: Severe/critical COVID-19 cases were significantly older and had higher percentages of comorbidity (renal failure) compared to mild cases. The serum 25(OH)D concentration in COVID-19 patient was much lower than that in healthy control. And 25(OH)D level was the lowest in severe/ critical cases, compared with mild cases. In further, significantly higher rates of VDD were found in COVID-19 cases (41.9%) compared to healthy controls (11.1%). And VDD was the greatest in severe/critical cases (80%), compared with mild cases (36%). These statistically significant associations remained even after controlling for demographics and comorbidities. A potential threshold of 25(OH)D (41.19 nmol/L) to protect against COVID-19 was identified. Conclusion: Elderly and people with comorbidities were susceptible to severe COVID-19 infection. VDD was a risk factor for COVID-19, especially for severe/critical cases. While further confirmation is needed, vitamin D supplementation may have prevention or treatment potential for COVID-19 disease.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical treatment effects of orthokeratology to slow the progression of myopia.MethodsSeveral well-designed controlled studies have investigated the effects of orthokeratology in school-aged children. We conducted this meta-analysis to better evaluate the existing evidence. Relevant studies were identified in the Medline and Embase database without language limitations. The main outcomes included axial length and vitreous chamber depth reported as the mean ± standard deviation. The results were pooled and assessed with a fixed-effects model analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed according to geographical location and study design.ResultsOf the seven eligible studies, all reported axial length changes after 2 years, while two studies reported vitreous chamber depth changes. The pooled estimates indicated that change in axial length in the ortho-k group was 0.27 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.22, 0.32) less than the control group. Myopic progression was reduced by approximately 45%. The combined results revealed that the difference in vitreous chamber depth between the two groups was 0.22 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.14, 0.31). None of the studies reported severe adverse events.ConclusionThe overall findings suggest that ortho-k can slow myopia progression in school-aged children.

Previous data have indicated that the development of resistance to amprenavir, an inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease, is associated with the substitution of valine for isoleucine at residue 50 (I50V) in the viral protease. We present further findings from retrospective genotypic and phenotypic analyses of plasma samples from protease inhibitor-naïve and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-experienced patients who experienced virological failure while participating in a clinical trial where they had been randomized to receive either amprenavir or indinavir in combination with NRTIs. Paired baseline and on-therapy isolates from 31 of 48 (65%) amprenavir-treated patients analyzed demonstrated the selection of protease mutations. These mutations fell into four distinct categories, characterized by the presence of either I50V, I54L/I54M, I84V, or V32I؉I47V and often included accessory mutations, commonly M46I/L. The I50V and I84V genotypes displayed the greatest reductions in susceptibility to amprenavir, although each of the amprenavir-selected genotypes conferred little or no cross-resistance to other protease inhibitors. There was a significant association, for both amprenavir and indinavir, between preexisting baseline resistance to NRTIs subsequently received during the study and development of protease mutations (P ‫؍‬ 0.014 and P ‫؍‬ 0.031, respectively). Our data provide a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms by which amprenavir resistance develops during clinical use and present evidence that resistance to concomitant agents in the treatment regimen predisposes to the development of mutations associated with protease inhibitor resistance and treatment failure.