We report a new search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using the combined low background data sets acquired in 2016 and 2017 from the PandaX-II experiment in China. The latest data set contains a new exposure of 77.1 live days, with the background reduced to a level of 0.8×10^{-3}  evt/kg/day, improved by a factor of 2.5 in comparison to the previous run in 2016. No excess events are found above the expected background. With a total exposure of 5.4×10^{4}  kg day, the most stringent upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section is set for a WIMP with mass larger than 100  GeV/c^{2}, with the lowest 90% C.L. exclusion at 8.6×10^{-47}  cm^{2} at 40  GeV/c^{2}.

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The PandaX-4T experiment, a four-ton scale dark matter direct detection experiment, is being planned at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. In this paper we present a simulation study of the expected background in this experiment. In a 2.8-ton fiducial mass and the signal region between 1 to 10 keV electron equivalent energy, the total electron recoil background is found to be 4.9 · 10 −5 (kg · day · keV) −1 . The nuclear recoil background in the same region is 2.8 · 10 −7 (kg · day · keV) −1 . With an exposure of 5.6 ton-years, the sensitivity of PandaX-4T could reach a minimum spin-independent dark matter-nucleon cross section of 6 · 10 −48 cm 2 at a dark matter mass of 40 GeV/c 2 .

We report the dark matter search results obtained using the full 132 ton·day exposure of the PandaX-II experiment, including all data from March 2016 to August 2018. No significant excess of events is identified above the expected background. Upper limits are set on the spin-independent dark matter-nucleon interactions. The lowest 90% confidence level exclusion on the spin-independent cross section is 2.2 × 10−46 cm2 at a WIMP mass of 30 GeV/c2.

Key Points Question Are antibiotics appropriately prescribed for infection prophylaxis before dental procedures? Findings In this cohort study of 91 438 patients who received antibiotic prophylaxis for 168 420 dental visits from 2011 to 2015, a total of 90.7% of dental visits had manipulation of the gingiva or tooth periapex, but only 20.9% of patients had a cardiac condition at the highest risk of adverse outcome from infective endocarditis. Therefore, 80.9% of antibiotic prophylaxis prescriptions were discordant with guidelines. Meaning Most antibiotics prescribed for infection prophylaxis before dental procedures are unnecessary.