We report on a microfluidic method that allows measurement of a small concentration of large contaminants in suspensions of solid micrometer-scale particles. To perform the measurement, we flow the colloidal suspension through a series of constrictions, i.e., a microchannel of varying cross-section. We show and quantify the role of large contaminants in the formation of clogs at a constriction and the growth of the resulting filter cake. By measuring the time interval between two clogging events in an array of parallel microchannels, we are able to estimate the concentration of contaminants whose size is selected by the geometry of the microfluidic device. This technique for characterizing colloidal suspensions offers a versatile and rapid tool to explore the role of contaminants on the properties of the suspensions.

Endometriosis is a common condition associated with debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. A genome-wide association study meta-analysis, including 60,674 cases and 701,926 controls of European and East Asian descent, identified 42 genome-wide significant loci comprising 49 distinct association signals. Effect sizes were largest for stage 3/4 disease, driven by ovarian endometriosis. Identified signals explained up to 5.01% of disease variance and regulated expression or methylation of genes in endometrium and blood, many of which were associated with pain perception/maintenance (SRP14/BMF, GDAP1, MLLT10, BSN and NGF). We observed significant genetic correlations between endometriosis and 11 pain conditions, including migraine, back and multisite chronic pain (MCP), as well as inflammatory conditions, including asthma and osteoarthritis. Multitrait genetic analyses identified substantial sharing of variants associated with endometriosis and MCP/migraine. Targeted investigations of genetically regulated mechanisms shared between endometriosis and other pain conditions are needed to aid the development of new treatments and facilitate early symptomatic intervention.

The first measurement of the Z boson production cross-section at centre-of-mass energy s = 5.02 TeV in the forward region is reported, using pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment in year 2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 100 ± 2 pb−1. The production cross-section is measured for final-state muons in the pseudorapidity range 2.0 < η < 4.5 with transverse momentum pT> 20 GeV/c. The integrated cross-section is determined to be (Formula presented.) for the di-muon invariant mass in the range 60 < Mμμ< 120 GeV/c2. This result and the differential cross-section results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant. Based on a previous LHCb measurement of the Z boson production cross-section in pPb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV, the nuclear modification factor RpPb is measured for the first time at this energy. The measured values are 1.2−0.3+0.5 (stat) ± 0.1(syst) in the forward region (1.53

A model-independent study of CP violation in B0→DK∗0 decays is presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9\,fb-1 collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of s=7,8 and 13\,TeV. The CKM angle γ is determined by examining the distributions of signal decays in phase-space bins of the self-conjugate D→KS0h+h- decays, where h=π,K. Observables related to CP violation are measured and the angle γ is determined to be γ=(49-19+22)∘. Measurements of the amplitude ratio and strong-phase difference between the favoured and suppressed B0 decays are also presented.