The triple burden of malnutrition (TBM) is a growing public health issue worldwide. This study examined the prevalence and association between undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs), and the key demographic and socioeconomic determinants, among Vietnamese children, using the nationally representative General Nutrition Survey (GNS) 2020(1).

The GNS 2020 was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of the National Institute of Nutrition, Vietnam. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant and/or their parents prior to data collection. Data on anthropometric parameters, micronutrients biomarkers, demographic and socioeconomic indicators for 7,289 children aged 6 months to 9 years old were analysed(1). All analyses were weighted and accounted for complex survey design using svyset commands in STATA. Age-specific and region-specific prevalence of malnutrition were examined. Determinants of malnutrition were assessed using bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions, crude or adjusted odds ratio (OR/AOR) and respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported.

Overall, the prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting/thinness of children was 12.7%, 10.5%, and 4.7%, respectively, in 2020. This finding underscores that child stunting reduction in Vietnam is on track towards the target of 40% reduction by 2025 set by the Global Nutrition Targets(2) (<20%). Meanwhile overweight and obesity among school aged children is off track the target(2), with the prevalence in urban areas increasing from 8.5% in 2010 to 31% in 2020. Low serum zinc, anaemia and iron deficiency (ID) were the common MNDs observed, affecting 53.1%, 15.2%, and 13.9% of children. Prevalence of low serum retinol was relatively low (<7%). In the bivariate regressions, older child (2-4 years old) [OR (95% CI): 1.43 (1.20, 1.72)], ethnic minorities [5.94 (3.78, 9.36)], and living in mountainous areas [5.06 (1.18, 14.42)] had increased odds of stunting, whereas reduced odds were found in children from the richest quintile [0.13 (0.05, 0.32)]. Similar determinants were found to be associated with underweight and MNDs. Males [1.43 (1.16, 1.76)], older children (5-9 years old) [10.02 (6.71, 14.97), and children from the richest quintile [2.91 (1.20, 7.05)] had increased odds of overweight. After adjusting for covariates including age, sex, region, wealth index and inflammation, children with anaemia, low serum retinol and low serum zinc had increased odds of stunting and underweight than non-micronutrient deficient children (AOR = 1.43-1.71). Compared to children without MNDs, those with ≥3 MNDs had almost double the odds of stunting and underweight, whereas those with ≤3 MNDs had reduced odds of overweight (AOR = 0.38−0.60).

TBM is becoming a major public health concern for Vietnamese children, and significant demographic variation and socioeconomic inequalities in malnutrition were observed. These findings suggest that national policies and programmes in Vietnam should address age-specific, sex-specific, geographical and socioeconomic disparities to accelerate progress in reducing child malnutrition.

In Canada, recreational use of cannabis was legalized in October 2018. This policy change along with recent publications evaluating the efficacy of cannabis for the medical treatment of epilepsy and media awareness about its use have increased the public interest about this agent. The Canadian League Against Epilepsy Medical Therapeutics Committee, along with a multidisciplinary group of experts and Canadian Epilepsy Alliance representatives, has developed a position statement about the use of medical cannabis for epilepsy. This article addresses the current Canadian legal framework, recent publications about its efficacy and safety profile, and our understanding of the clinical issues that should be considered when contemplating cannabis use for medical purposes.

Background: SMA is characterized by reduced levels of survival of motor neuron (SMN) protein from deletions and/or mutations of the SMN1 gene. While SMN1 produces full-length SMN protein, a second gene, SMN2, produces low levels of functional SMN protein. Risdiplam (RG7916/RO7034067) is an investigational, orally administered, centrally and peripherally distributed small molecule that modulates pre-mRNA splicing of SMN2 to increase SMN protein levels. Methods: FIREFISH (NCT02913482) is an ongoing, multicenter, open-label operationally seamless study of risdiplam in infants aged 1–7 months with Type 1 SMA and two SMN2 gene copies. Exploratory Part 1 (n=21) assesses the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of different risdiplam dose levels. Confirmatory Part 2 (n=40) is assessing the safety and efficacy of risdiplam. Results: In a Part 1 interim analysis (data-cut 09/07/18), 93% (13/14) of babies had ≥4-point improvement in CHOP-INTEND total score from baseline at Day 245, with a median change of 16 points. The number of infants meeting HINE-2 motor milestones (baseline to Day 245) increased. To date (data-cut 09/07/18), no drug-related safety findings have led to patient withdrawal. No significant ophthalmological findings have been observed. Conclusions: In FIREFISH Part 1, risdiplam improved motor function in infants with Type 1 SMA.

Background: Fatigue was recently reported to be the largest contributor to poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in paediatric Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Additional studies are necessary to confirm the generalizability of this finding. Our objective was to explore the longitudinal relationship between fatigue and HRQOL in an additional cohort of DMD patients. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from a clinical trial (NCT00592553), which enrolled patients with nonsense mutation DMD, aged 5–20 years, from 37 sites in 11 countries (N=174). Fatigue and HRQOL were assessed using the PedsQLTM Multidimensional Fatigue Scale and Generic Core Scales, respectively, by patient- and parent-report at baseline and over 48 weeks. Results: Patients reported greater fatigue than healthy controls from published data. There was no significant difference between patient- and parent-reported fatigue. Fatigue was significantly correlated with worse HRQOL at baseline, by patient-report (r=0.70, P<0.001) and parent-report (r=0.70, P<0.001); and at 48 weeks, by patient-report (r=0.79, P<0.001) and parent-report (r=0.74, P<0.001). Change in fatigue was significantly correlated with change in HRQOL over 48 weeks, by patient-report (r=0.64, P<0.001) and parent-report (r=0.67, P<0.001). Conclusions: Fatigue is a major contributor to HRQOL in DMD. The strong association between fatigue and HRQOL corroborates previous studies, and suggests that reducing fatigue may improve HRQOL.

Submillimeter dust continuum emission traces high molecular column densities and, thus,dense cloud regions in which new stars are forming. Surveys of the Galactic plane in suchemission have the potential of delivering an unbiased view of high-mass star formationthroughout the Milky Way. The location of the APEX telescope on the Chajnantor plateau inChile is ideally suited for mapping the inner Galaxy. ATLASGAL, The APEX Telescope LargeArea Survey of the Galaxy at 870 μm, is a survey of the Galactic planeusing the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA), in the Galactic longitude and latituderanges of  ±60 and  ±1.5°, respectively. This survey is providing an unbiased sample ofcold dusty clumps in the Galaxy at submillimeter wavelength and a variety of molecularline follow-up observations have been started to characterize the physical and chemicalconditions in the newly found clumps. Here, first results from this survey and itsfollow-up programs are described.

The science of extra-solar planets is one of the most rapidly changing areas of astrophysics and since 1995 the number of planets known has increased by almost two orders of magnitude. A combination of ground-based surveys and dedicated space missions has resulted in 560-plus planets being detected, and over 1200 that await confirmation. NASA's Kepler mission has opened up the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around some of the 100,000 stars it is surveying during its 3 to 4-year lifetime. The new ESA's Gaia mission is expected to discover thousands of new planets around stars within 200 parsecs of the Sun. The key challenge now is moving on from discovery, important though that remains, to characterisation: what are these planets actually like, and why are they as they are?

In the past ten years, we have learned how to obtain the first spectra of exoplanets using transit transmission and emission spectroscopy. With the high stability of Spitzer, Hubble, and large ground-based telescopes the spectra of bright close-in massive planets can be obtained and species like water vapour, methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide have been detected. With transit science came the first tangible remote sensing of these planetary bodies and so one can start to extrapolate from what has been learnt from Solar System probes to what one might plan to learn about their faraway siblings. As we learn more about the atmospheres, surfaces and near-surfaces of these remote bodies, we will begin to build up a clearer picture of their construction, history and suitability for life.

The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, EChO, will be the first dedicated mission to investigate the physics and chemistry of Exoplanetary Atmospheres. By characterising spectroscopically more bodies in different environments we will take detailed planetology out of the Solar System and into the Galaxy as a whole.

EChO has now been selected by the European Space Agency to be assessed as one of four M3 mission candidates.

Arsenic doped Si:C films were grown epitaxially using Silcore® (Si3H8), methylsilane and arsine as source gases with growth rates up to 90 nm/min at 550°C. We observed a strong dependence of C and As incorporation on growth rate, caused by a growth rate dependent surface segregation behavior of C and As. High-resolution x-ray diffraction measurements of the epi layers reveal a perpendicular lattice constant as low as 5.323 Å. This corresponds to a biaxial stress of more than 2 GPa. Grazing exit (224) x-ray diffraction reciprocal space maps show the full tetragonal strain expected from the C content, suggesting that no relaxation of the films has occurred. Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) spectra were acquired in the 0.74 to 6.6 eV photon energy range. For intrinsic Si:C alloys, the E1 critical point shows the expected blueshift due to the alloying. For Si:C:As, a strong broadening of the E1 and E2 transitions exists, due to scattering of Bloch electrons in the crystal by As atoms. Additionally, free carrier effects lead to a decrease (increase) of the real (imaginary) part of the dielectric function in the near-infrared, consistent with a free carrier concentration in excess of 5×1020 cm-3. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of As doped Si:C films confirmed single-crystal epitaxial growth.

Amorphous pure and Y-doped ZrO2 and HfO2 were prepared by precipitation with ammonia or hydrazine. Amorphous zirconium and hafnium silicates with SiO2 content from 10 to 90 mol % were prepared by sol-gel. Crystallization was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at 20 °C/min and crystallite size after crystallization was determined from XRD data. ZrO2 crystallized into the tetragonal phase with ΔH -21 ±2 kJ/mol and HfO2 into the monoclinic phase with ΔH -31 ±2 kJ/mol. Doping with 20 at.% Y decreased crystallite size after crystallization. Crystallization temperatures for pure and Y-doped ZrO2 samples were in the range 420–440 °C. Crystallization temperatures for pure and Y-doped HfO2 samples varied from 470 to 570°C and correlate with surface area. Crystallization onset temperature in silicates increased with silica content from about 650 to 950 °C for ZrO2·SiO2 and from 740 to 1030 °C for HfO2·SiO2. Tetragonal zirconia and hafnia were the only crystalline phases formed below 1100 °C in all zirconium silicates and in hafnium silicates with more than 10 mol% SiO2. Crystallite size after crystallization decreased with increase in silica content. In hafnium silicate, a decrease in HfO2 crystallite size from 5 to 2.5 ±1 nm corresponds to a crystallization enthalpy change from -22 to -15 ±2 kJ/mol. The tetragonal HfO2/amorphous SiO2 interface energy can be calculated from calorimetric data as ∼0.25 J/m2. The critical particle size for the tetragonal to monoclinic transformation of HfO2 in HfO2-SiO2 system is about 6 nm. We predict that tetragonal HfO2 will be stabilized in films thinner than 2 nm.

As the MOSFET gate lengths are scaled down to 50 nm or below, the expected increase in gate leakage will be countered by the use of a high dielectric constant (high K) material. The series capacitance from polysilicon gate electrode depletion significantly reduces the gate capacitance as the dielectric thickness is scaled down to 10 Å equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) or below. Metal gates promise to solve this problem and address other problems like boron penetration and enhanced gate resistance that will have increased focus as the polysilicon gate thickness is reduced. Extensive simulations have shown that the optimal gate work-functions for the sub-50 nm channel lengths should be 0.2 eV below (above) the conduction (valence) band edge of silicon for n-MOSFETs (p-MOSFETs). This study summarizes the evaluations of TiN, TaSiN, WN, TaN, TaSi, Ir and IrO2 as candidate metals for dual-metal gate CMOS using HfO2 as the gate dielectric. The gate work-function was determined by fabricating MOS capacitors with varying dielectric thicknesses and different post-gate anneals. The metal-dielectric compatibility and thermal stability was studied by annealing the stacks at different temperatures. The gate stacks were characterized using TEM, SIMS and X-ray diffraction. Based on workfunctions and thermal stability, TaSiN and TaN show most promise as metal electrodes for HfO2 n-MOSFETs.

We present a laser-based direct write technique termed matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation direct write (MAPLE DW). This technique utilizes a laser transparent fused silica disc coated on one side with a composite matrix consisting of the material to be deposited mixed with a laser absorbing polymer. Absorption of laser radiation results in the decomposition of the polymer, which aids in transferring the solute to an acceptor substrate placed parallel to the matrix surface. Using MAPLE DW, complex patterns consisting of metal powders, ceramic powders, and polymer composites were transferred onto the surfaces of various types of substrates with <10 micron resolution at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure without the use of masks.

Using molecular beam epitaxy, thin films perovskite-type oxide SrxBa1−xTiO3 (0≤×≤1) has been grown epitaxially on Si(001) substrates. Reflection high energy electron diffraction measurements and X-ray diffraction analysis indicate that high quality heteroepitaxy on Si takes place with SrxBa1−xTiO3(001)//Si(001) and SrxBa1−xTiO3[010]//Si[10]. Extensive atomic simulations have been carried out to understand the initial growth mechanism of the oxide layers on silicon. SrTiO3 layers grown directly on Si have been used as the gate dielectric for the fabrication of MOSFET devices. By varying the growth conditions the thickness of the amorphous interfacial silicon oxide layer formed during the growth of the oxide layers has been engineered to minimize the device short channel effects. An effective oxide thickness <10 Å has been obtained for a 110 Å thick SrTiO3 dielectric film with interface state density around 6.4 × 1010 cm−2 eV-1, and the inversion layer carrier mobilities of 220 cm2 V−1 s−1 and 62 cm 2 V−ls−1 for NMOS and PMOS devices, respectively. The gate leakage in these devices is 2 orders of magnitude smaller than a comparable SiO2 gate dielectric MOSFET.

Initial stages of growth of silicon on dielectric surface proceeds through Volmer-Webber growth mode (through island formation) and coalescence of islands to form a continuous thin film layer. Growth of silicon nanocrystals on dielectric surface can be achieved by controlling the nucleation and growth kinetics of these nanocrystals on the dielectric surface. In this study, we present CVD growth of Si nanocrystals on oxide, oxynitride and nitride surfaces using silane based chemistry. The effect of process conditions such as deposition temperature, precursor flow rate, carrier gas on nanocrystal incubation time, size and density of nanocrystals was studied. The nucleation and growth rate of the silicon nanocrystals is also a strong function of the surface chemistry, surface structure and strain in the dielectric film. We have studied the effect of oxide deposition temperature and surface pretreatments on the nucleation and growth characteristics of the silicon nanocrystals.

A design-of-experiments methodology was implemented to assess the commercial equipment viability to fabricate the high-K dielectrics Ta2O5, TiO2 and BST (70/30 and 50/50 compositions) for use as gate dielectrics. The high-K dielectrics were annealed in 100% or 10% O2 for different times and temperatures in conjunction with a previously prepared NH3 nitrided or 14N implanted silicon surface. Five metal electrode configurations—Ta, TaN, W, WN and TiN—were concurrently examined. Three additional silicon surface configurations were explored in conjunction with a more in-depth set of time and temperature anneals for Ta2O5. Electrical characterization of capacitors fabricated with the above high-K gate dielectrics, as well as SIMS and TEM analysis, indicate that the post high-K deposition annealing temperature was the most significant variable impacting the leakage current density, although there was minimal influence on the capacitance. Further studies are required, however, to clarify the physical mechanisms underlying the electrical data presented.

As device geometries continue to scale down, a larger portion of the circuit delay is contributed by interconnects, and the majority of this delay is due to capacitive loading. The replacement of plasma-deposited SiO2 as an intermetal dielectric with an insulator of lower dielectric constant can provide performance improvement through the reduction of capacitance.

A commercially available polyimide, BiPhenylene DiAnhydride – Phenylene DiAmine, BPDA-PDA, with an out-of-plane dielectric constant 3.0, is evaluated by integration with AI(Cu) in a double level metal, BiCMOS 4MB SRAM device, with 0.5μm groundrules. Process challenges unique to integration of an organic rather than inorganic insulator are described and experimental features concerning process integration, particularly via etch, Al(Cu) deposition, adhesion and moisture management are presented.