This study determines the relative survival (RS) of Bacillus subtilis spores loaded on an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) after decontamination by five methods under worst‐case conditions. ...Relative survival was obtained by testing after decontamination and after storing the FFRs at 37°C and 95% relative humidity for 24 hours. The decontamination methods involved ethanol, bleach, ultraviolet irradiation (UVA 365 nm, UVC 254 nm), an autoclave, and a traditional electric rice cooker (TERC) that was made in Taiwan. Without decontamination, 59 ± 8% of the loaded spores survived for 24 hours. When 70% ethanol was added to the N95 FFR at a packing density of 0.23, the RS was 73 ± 5% initially and decayed to 22 ± 8% in 24 hours. Relative survival remained above 20% after 20 minutes of UVA irradiation. The other four decontamination measures achieved 99%‐100% biocidal efficacy, as measured immediately after the methods were applied to the test FFRs. Relative survival is a useful parameter for measuring sterilization or degree of disinfection. Bleach, UVC, an autoclave, and a TERC provide better biocidal efficacy than ethanol and UVA. Not only a higher filter quality but also a lower value of RS produced the most decontaminated FFR.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The study analysed healthcare workers' (HCWs) knowledge, practices, and attitudes regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February 4th to February ...8th, 2020, involving a total of 1357 HCWs across 10 hospitals in Henan, China. Of those surveyed, 89% of HCWs had sufficient knowledge of COVID-19, more than 85% feared self-infection with the virus, and 89.7% followed correct practices regarding COVID-19. In addition to knowledge level, some risk factors including work experience and job category influenced HCWs' attitudes and practice concerning COVID-19. Measures must be taken to protect HCWs from risks linked to job category, work experience, working hours, educational attainment, and frontline HCWs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
To evaluate the effect of the different doses of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) on the incidence of acute GVHD among patients receiving hematopoietic SCT without ex vivo T-cell-depletion from ...haploidentical donors, 224 patients with standard-risk hematological malignancy were randomized in this study. One hundred and twelve patients received 6 mg/kg ATG, whereas the remaining patients received 10 mg/kg ATG. This study was registered at http://www.chictr.org as No. ChiCTR-TRC-11001761. The incidence of grade III-IV acute GVHD was higher in the ATG-6 group (16.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI), 9.1-23.1%) than in the ATG-10 group (4.5%, CI, 0.7-8.3%, P=0.005, 95% CI for the difference, -19.4% to -3.8%). EBV reactivation occurred more frequently in the ATG-10 group (25.3%, 17.1-33.5%) than in the ATG-6 group (9.6% (4.0-15.2%), P=0.001). The 1-year disease-free survival rates were 84.3% (77.3-91.3%) and 86.0% (79.2-92.8%) for the ATG-6 group and ATG-10 groups, respectively (P=0.88). In conclusion, although 6 mg/kg ATG applied in haploidentical transplantation decreased the risk of EBV reactivation compared with 10 mg/kg ATG, this treatment exposes patients to a higher risk for severe acute GVHD.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Perceptual decision-making relies on the gradual accumulation of noisy sensory evidence. It is often assumed that such decisions are degraded by adding noise to a stimulus, or to the neural systems ...involved in the decision making process itself. But it has been suggested that adding an optimal amount of noise can, under appropriate conditions, enhance the quality of subthreshold signals in nonlinear systems, a phenomenon known as stochastic resonance. Here we asked whether perceptual decisions made by human observers obey these stochastic resonance principles, by adding noise directly to the visual cortex using transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) while participants judged the direction of coherent motion in random-dot kinematograms presented at the fovea. We found that adding tRNS bilaterally to visual cortex enhanced decision-making when stimuli were just below perceptual threshold, but not when they were well below or above threshold. We modelled the data under a drift diffusion framework, and showed that bilateral tRNS selectively increased the drift rate parameter, which indexes the rate of evidence accumulation. Our study is the first to provide causal evidence that perceptual decision-making is susceptible to a stochastic resonance effect induced by tRNS, and to show that this effect arises from selective enhancement of the rate of evidence accumulation for sub-threshold sensory events.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Objective
Alzheimer disease (AD) is characterized by functional impairment in the neural elements and circuits underlying cognitive and memory functions. We hypothesized that fornix/hypothalamus deep ...brain stimulation (DBS) could modulate neurophysiological activity in these pathological circuits and possibly produce clinical benefits.
Methods
We conducted a phase I trial in 6 patients with mild AD receiving ongoing medication treatment. Patients received continuous stimulation for 12 months. Three main lines of investigation were pursued including: (1) mapping the brain areas whose physiological function was modulated by stimulation using standardized low‐resolution electromagnetic tomography, (2) assessing whether DBS could correct the regional alterations in cerebral glucose metabolism in AD using positron emission tomography (PET), and 3) measuring the effects of DBS on cognitive function over time using clinical scales and instruments.
Results
DBS drove neural activity in the memory circuit, including the entorhinal, and hippocampal areas and activated the brain's default mode network. PET scans showed an early and striking reversal of the impaired glucose utilization in the temporal and parietal lobes that was maintained after 12 months of continuous stimulation. Evaluation of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale and the Mini Mental State Examination suggested possible improvements and/or slowing in the rate of cognitive decline at 6 and 12 months in some patients. There were no serious adverse events.
Interpretation
There is an urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches for AD. Modulating pathological brain activity in this illness with DBS merits further investigation. Ann Neurol 2010
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are believed to have fundamental roles in tumorigenesis and have great potential for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. However, the roles of miRNAs in hepatocellular ...carcinogenesis are still not fully elucidated. We investigated the aberrantly expressed miRNAs involved in hepatoma by comparison of miRNA expression profiles in cancerous hepatocytes with normal primary human hepatocytes, and 37 dysregulated miRNAs were screened out by twofold change with a significant difference (P<0.05). Clustering analysis based on 13 miRNAs with changes over 15-folds showed that the miRNA expression patterns between the cancerous and normal hepatocytes were clearly different. Among the 13 miRNAs, we found that miR-375 was significantly downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-375 in liver cancer cells decreased cell proliferation, clonogenicity, migration/invasion and also induced G1 arrest and apoptosis. To unveil the molecular mechanism of miR-375-mediated phenotype in hepatoma cells described above, we examined the putative targets using bioinformatics tools and found that astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) was a potential target of miR-375. Then we demonstrated that miR-375 bound directly to the 3'-untranslated region of AEG-1 and inhibited the expression of AEG-1. TaqMan quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR and western blot analysis showed that miR-375 expression was inversely correlated with AEG-1 expression in HCC tissues. Knockdown of AEG-1 by RNAi in HCC cells, similar to miR-375 overexpression, suppressed tumor properties. Ectopic expression of AEG-1, conversely, could partially reverse the antitumor effects of miR-375. In a mouse model, therapeutic administration of cholesterol-conjugated 2'-O-methyl-modified miR-375 mimics (Chol-miR-375) could significantly suppress the growth of hepatoma xenografts in nude mice. In conclusion, our findings indicate that miR-375 targets AEG-1 in HCC and suppresses liver cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo, and highlight the therapeutic potential of miR-375 in HCC treatment.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
To date, comparatively little empirical research has been done on Generation Z globally, and the studies that do exist, while informative, have arrived at different, often loosely tied, conclusions. ...Seeing as how Generation Z is in the process of joining the professional workforce, it is important for decision makers to understand this generation’s value differences and cultural orientation in order to mitigate intergenerational conflicts and ensure a productive workforce going forward. China, meanwhile, is a rising superpower, and its Generation Z will have a significant impact globally. With the generational mix at work changing to accommodate this new generation, this paper presents a critique of current empirical research on this topic in a cross-cultural context and offers recommendations regarding future research directions as these relate to generational shift in China and other non-Western contexts. It is only by better understanding Generation Z that organizations can develop strategies and policies that will ensure a productive, profitable and collaborative environment in the future, one that better takes into account this newest generation’s needs and outlook.
В настоящее время во всем мире проведено сравнительно мало эмпирических исследований, посвященных поколению Z, а имеющиеся исследования, хотя и информативны, приводят к различным, часто противоречивым заключениям. Между тем уже сейчас поколение Z вступает в трудоспособный возраст, и важно понимать специфику его ценностей и культурную ориентацию для того, чтобы смягчить конфликты между поколениями на рабочих местах и обеспечить эффективную деятельность предприятия или организации. Китай является растущей сверхдержавой, и влияние поколения Z этой страны будет чувствоваться на глобальном уровне, что обуславливает значимость его изучения. В статье проведен критический анализ текущих эмпирических исследований поколения Z в кросс-культурном контексте и предложены новые направления исследований по проблеме смены поколений в Китае и других странах вне Запада. Только благодаря лучшему пониманию поколения Z организации смогут разрабатывать стратегию и политику с учетом потребностей и перспектив этого нового поколения, что позволит обеспечить продуктивную, прибыльную среду и межпоколенческое сотрудничество в будущем.
The successful application of mesoporous silica nanomaterials (MSNs) in biomedical fields requires careful consideration of their spatial dimensions, biofunctionality, specific cellular uptake ...efficiency, biocompatibility and targeting delivery efficacy. A deep understanding of the interactions between MSNs and biological systems is thus of significant importance. To this end, over the past few decades, studies aimed at synthesis of MSNs with controlled size, shape and surface chemistry properties and exploring the roles of these properties on in vitro and in vivo biological performance have been conducted. These studies provide new and foundational information for engineering the next generation of mesoporous silica-based nanoscale devices. This review highlights the current progress on the controlled synthesis of size, shape and surface chemistry tuneable MSNs, emphasises the roles of size, shape and surface chemistry on biological systems with a special focus on the direct comparison studies, and discusses the emerging design paradigm for building mesoporous silica-based particulate systems.
Astrocytes produce and release L-lactate as a potential source of energy for neurons. Here we present evidence that L-lactate, independently of its caloric value, serves as an astrocytic signalling ...molecule in the locus coeruleus (LC). The LC is the principal source of norepinephrine to the frontal brain and thus one of the most influential modulatory centers of the brain. Optogenetically activated astrocytes release L-lactate, which excites LC neurons and triggers release of norepinephrine. Exogenous L-lactate within the physiologically relevant concentration range mimics these effects. L-lactate effects are concentration-dependent, stereo-selective, independent of L-lactate uptake into neurons and involve a cAMP-mediated step. In vivo injections of L-lactate in the LC evokes arousal similar to the excitatory transmitter, L-glutamate. Our results imply the existence of an unknown receptor for this 'glio-transmitter'.
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