There is limited evidence of work-related transmission in the emerging coronaviral pandemic. We aimed to identify high-risk occupations for early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) local ...transmission.
In this observational study, we extracted confirmed COVID-19 cases from governmental investigation reports in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. We followed each country/area for 40 days after its first locally transmitted case, and excluded all imported cases. We defined a possible work-related case as a worker with evidence of close contact with another confirmed case due to work, or an unknown contact history but likely to be infected in the working environment (e.g. an airport taxi driver). We calculated the case number for each occupation, and illustrated the temporal distribution of all possible work-related cases and healthcare worker (HCW) cases. The temporal distribution was further defined as early outbreak (the earliest 10 days of the following period) and late outbreak (11th to 40th days of the following period).
We identified 103 possible work-related cases (14.9%) among a total of 690 local transmissions. The five occupation groups with the most cases were healthcare workers (HCWs) (22%), drivers and transport workers (18%), services and sales workers (18%), cleaning and domestic workers (9%) and public safety workers (7%). Possible work-related transmission played a substantial role in early outbreak (47.7% of early cases). Occupations at risk varied from early outbreak (predominantly services and sales workers, drivers, construction laborers, and religious professionals) to late outbreak (predominantly HCWs, drivers, cleaning and domestic workers, police officers, and religious professionals).
Work-related transmission is considerable in early COVID-19 outbreaks, and the elevated risk of infection was not limited to HCW. Implementing preventive/surveillance strategies for high-risk working populations is warranted.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The pervasive influence of secreted Wnt signaling proteins in tissue homeostasis and tumorigenesis has galvanized efforts to identify small molecules that target Wnt-mediated cellular responses. By ...screening a diverse synthetic chemical library, we have discovered two new classes of small molecules that disrupt Wnt pathway responses; whereas one class inhibits the activity of Porcupine, a membrane-bound acyltransferase that is essential to the production of Wnt proteins, the other abrogates destruction of Axin proteins, which are suppressors of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway activity. With these small molecules, we establish a chemical genetic approach for studying Wnt pathway responses and stem cell function in adult tissue. We achieve transient, reversible suppression of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway response in vivo, and we establish a mechanism-based approach to target cancerous cell growth. The signal transduction mechanisms shown here to be chemically tractable additionally contribute to Wnt-independent signal transduction pathways and thus could be broadly exploited for chemical genetics and therapeutic goals.
Acute kidney injury is a common and complex complication that has high morality and the risk for chronic kidney disease among survivors. The accuracy of current AKI biomarkers can be affected by ...water retention and diuretics. Therefore, we aimed to identify a urinary non-recovery marker of acute kidney injury in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. We used the isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification technology to find a relevant marker protein that could divide patients into control, acute kidney injury with recovery, and acute kidney injury without recovery groups. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of the endothelial cell protein C receptor (EPCR) was used to verify the results. We found that the EPCR was a usable marker for non-recovery renal failure in our setting with the area under the receiver operating characteristics 0.776 ± 0.065; 95%CI: 0.648-0.905, (
< 0.001). Further validation is needed to explore this possibility in different situations.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by cognitive inflexibility and social deficits. Probiotics have been demonstrated to play a promising role in managing the severity of ASD. However, ...there are no effective probiotics for clinical use. Identifying new probiotic strains for ameliorating ASD is therefore essential. Using the maternal immune activation (MIA)-based offspring ASD-like mouse model, a probiotic-based intervention strategy was examined in female mice. The gut commensal microbe Parabacteroides goldsteinii MTS01, which was previously demonstrated to exert multiple beneficial effects on chronic inflammation-related-diseases, was evaluated. Prenatal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure induced leaky gut-related inflammatory phenotypes in the colon, increased LPS activity in sera, and induced autistic-like behaviors in offspring mice. By contrast, P. goldsteinii MTS01 treatment significantly reduced intestinal and systemic inflammation and ameliorated disease development. Transcriptomic analyses of MIA offspring indicated that in the intestine, P. goldsteinii MTS01 enhanced neuropeptide-related signaling and suppressed aberrant cell proliferation and inflammatory responses. In the hippocampus, P. goldsteinii MTS01 increased ribosomal/mitochondrial and antioxidant activities and decreased glutamate receptor signaling. Together, significant ameliorative effects of P. goldsteinii MTS01 on ASD relevant behaviors in MIA offspring were identified. Therefore, P. goldsteinii MTS01 could be developed as a next-generation probiotic for ameliorating ASD.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and is associated with adverse outcomes. The study aimed to identify a miRNA signature for the early diagnosis ...of post-AMI AKI.
A total of 108 patients admitted to a coronary care unit (CCU) were divided into four subgroups: AMI
AKI
, AMI
AKI
, AMI
AKI
, and AMI
AKI
. Thirty-six miRNA candidates were selected based on an extensive literature review. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis was used to determine the expression levels of these miRNAs in the serum collected on the day of CCU admittance. TargetScan 7.1 and miRDB databases were used for target prediction and Metacore 6.13 was used for pathway analysis.
Through a stepwise selection based on abundance, hemolytic effect and differential expression between four groups, 9 miRNAs were found to have significantly differential expression levels as potential biomarkers for post-AMI AKI specifically. Noticeably, the expression levels of miR-24, miR-23a and miR-145 were significantly down-regulated in AMI
AKI
patients compared to those in AMI
AKI
patients. Combination of the three miRNAs as a panel showed the best performance in the early detection of AKI following AMI (AUC = 0.853, sensitivity 95.65%), compared to the analysis of serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (AUC = 0.735, sensitivity 63.16%). Furthermore, bioinformatic analysis indicated that these three miRNAs regulate the transforming growth factor beta signaling pathway and involve in apoptosis and fibrosis in AKI.
For the first time, this study identify a unique circulating miRNA signature (miR-24-3p, miR-23a-3p, miR-145-5p) that can potentially early detect AKI following AMI and may be involved in renal injury and fibrosis in post-AMI AKI pathogenesis.
We propose a flavored U(1)eμ neutrino mass and dark matter (DM) model to explain the recent DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) data, which feature an excess on the cosmic ray electron plus ...positron flux around 1.4 TeV. Only the first two lepton generations of the Standard Model are charged under the new U(1)eμ gauge symmetry. A vector-like fermion ψ, which is our DM candidate, annihilates into e± and μ± via the new gauge boson Z′ exchange and accounts for the DAMPE excess. We have found that the data favors a ψ mass around 1.5 TeV and a Z′ mass around 2.6 TeV, which can potentially be probed by the next generation lepton colliders and DM direct detection experiments.
This study aimed to investigate the association between the carotid ultrasound results and 1-yr mortality of patients with neurological deficits in the emergency department (ED).
This study included ...patients with neurological symptoms who presented to the ED between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2018, and underwent sonographic imaging of the bilateral carotid bulb, common carotid artery (CCA), internal carotid artery (ICA), and external carotid arteries. A stenosis degree of >50% was defined as significant carotid stenosis. Carotid plaque score (CPS) was calculated by adding the score of stenosis severity of all segments. The association between carotid ultrasound results and 1-yr mortality was investigated using the Cox regression model.
The analysis included 7,961 patients (median age: 69 yr; men: 58.7%). Among them, 247 (3.1%) passed away from cardiovascular (CV)-related causes, and 746 (9.4%) died within a year. The mortality group presented with more significant carotid stenosis of the carotid bulb, CCA, or ICA and had a higher median CPS. A higher CPS was associated with a greater 1-yr all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio aHR = 1.08; 95% confidence interval CI = 1.03-1.13; p = 0.001; log-rank p < 0.001) and CV-related mortality (aHR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.04-1.22; p = 0.002, log-rank p < 0.001). Significant stenosis of either carotid artery segment did not result in a higher risk of 1-yr mortality.
We comprehensively investigated the utility of carotid ultrasound parameters on predicting mortality in this 10-yr population-based cohort, which included over 7,000 patients with acute neurological deficits presented to the ED. The result showed that CPS could be used as risk stratification tools for 1-yr all-cause and CV mortality.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Traditional thrombolytic therapeutics for vascular blockage are affected by their limited penetration into thrombi, associated off-target side effects, and low bioavailability, leading to ...insufficient thrombolytic efficacy. We hypothesized that these limitations could be overcome by the precisely controlled and targeted delivery of thrombolytic therapeutics. A theranostic platform was developed that is biocompatible, fluorescent, magnetic, and well-characterized, with multiple targeting modes. This multimodal theranostic system can be remotely visualized and magnetically guided toward thrombi, non-invasively irradiated by near-infrared (NIR) phototherapies, and remotely activated by actuated magnets for additional mechanical therapy. Magnetic guidance can also improve the penetration of nanomedicines into thrombi. In a mouse model of thrombosis, the thrombosis residues were reduced by ca. 80% and with no risk of side effects or of secondary embolization. This strategy not only enabled the progression of thrombolysis but also accelerated the lysis rate, thereby facilitating its prospective use in time-critical thrombolytic treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Epidemiological studies have yielded conflicting results regarding climate and incident SARS-CoV-2 infection, and seasonality of infection rates is debated. Moreover, few studies have focused on ...COVD-19 deaths. We studied the association of average ambient temperature with subsequent COVID-19 mortality in the OECD countries and the individual United States (US), while accounting for other important meteorological and non-meteorological co-variates. The exposure of interest was average temperature and other weather conditions, measured at 25 days prior and 25 days after the first reported COVID-19 death was collected in the OECD countries and US states. The outcome of interest was cumulative COVID-19 mortality, assessed for each region at 25, 30, 35, and 40 days after the first reported death. Analyses were performed with negative binomial regression and adjusted for other weather conditions, particulate matter, sociodemographic factors, smoking, obesity, ICU beds, and social distancing. A 1 °C increase in ambient temperature was associated with 6% lower COVID-19 mortality at 30 days following the first reported death (multivariate-adjusted mortality rate ratio: 0.94, 95% CI 0.90, 0.99, p = 0.016). The results were robust for COVID-19 mortality at 25, 35 and 40 days after the first death, as well as other sensitivity analyses. The results provide consistent evidence across various models of an inverse association between higher average temperatures and subsequent COVID-19 mortality rates after accounting for other meteorological variables and predictors of SARS-CoV-2 infection or death. This suggests potentially decreased viral transmission in warmer regions and during the summer season.
Here, an efficient intracellular delivery of molecules with high cell viability is reported using nanosecond-pulsed laser-activated plasmonic photoporation, mediated by high-aspect-ratio ...nano-corrugated mushroom-shaped gold-coated polystyrene nanoparticles (nm-AuPNPs) at near-infrared wavelength. Upon pulsed laser illumination, nm-AuPNPs exhibit greater plasmonic extinction than spherical AuPNPs, which increase their energy efficiency and reduce the necessary illumination of light, effectively controlling cell damage and improving the delivery efficiency. Nm-AuPNPs exhibit surface plasmon absorption at near infrared region with a peak at 945 nm. Pulsed laser illumination at this plasmon peak triggers explosive nanobubbles, which create transient membrane pores, allowing the delivery of dyes, quantum dots and plasmids into the different cell types. The results can be tuned by laser fluence, exposure time, molecular size and concentration of nm-AuPNPs. The best results are found for CL1-0 cells, which yielded a 94% intracellular PI dye uptake and ∼100% cell viability at 35 mJ cm
−2
laser fluence for 945 nm wavelength. Thus, the presented approach has proven to have an inevitable potential for biological cell research and therapeutic applications.
Here, an efficient intracellular delivery of molecules with high cell viability is reported using plasmonic photoporation mediated by nano-corrugated mushroom-shaped gold-coated polystyrene nanoparticles at near-infrared wavelength.
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