BACKGROUNDThere has been a striking generational increase in the prevalence of food allergies. We have proposed that this increase can be explained, in part, by alterations in the commensal ...microbiome.METHODSTo identify bacterial signatures and metabolic pathways that may influence the expression of this disease, we collected fecal samples from a unique, well-controlled cohort of twins concordant or discordant for food allergy. Samples were analyzed by integrating 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry metabolite profiling.RESULTSA bacterial signature of 64 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) distinguished healthy from allergic twins; the OTUs enriched in the healthy twins were largely taxa from the Clostridia class. We detected significant enrichment in distinct metabolite pathways in each group. The enrichment of diacylglycerol in healthy twins is of particular interest for its potential as a readily measurable fecal biomarker of health. In addition, an integrated microbial-metabolomic analysis identified a significant association between healthy twins and Phascolarctobacterium faecium and Ruminococcus bromii, suggesting new possibilities for the development of live microbiome-modulating biotherapeutics.CONCLUSIONTwin pairs exhibited significant differences in their fecal microbiomes and metabolomes through adulthood, suggesting that the gut microbiota may play a protective role in patients with food allergies beyond the infant stage.TRIAL REGISTRATIONParticipants in this study were recruited as part of an observational study (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01613885) at multiple sites from 2014 to 2018.FUNDINGThis work was supported by the Sunshine Charitable Foundation; the Moss Family Foundation; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (R56AI134923 and R01AI 140134); the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01 HL 118612); the Orsak family; the Kepner family; and the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplant and Infection.
Background
Nurses often face ethical issues in their daily work that can have an impact on their level of job embeddedness. And positive job embeddedness is essential to reduce burnout among nurses ...and improve professional retention in the medical industry. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness.
Objectives
To investigate the relationship between moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness, and explore the mediating role of moral resilience between moral distress and job embeddedness among nurses.
Design
A quantitative, cross-sectional study.
Methods
Nurses from a number of tertiary general hospitals in central China were surveyed and assessed using the Moral Distress Scale, the Nurse Moral Resilience Scale, and the nurse job embeddedness Scale from February to March 2023. The study was conducted in line with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.
Ethical consideration
All study procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University (No. 2023-313).
Findings
Moral distress was positively correlated with moral resilience (β = 0.525, p < 0.01) and negatively correlated job embeddedness (β = −0.470, p < 0.01). Moral resilience partially mediated the relationship between moral distress with job embeddedness (β = −0.087, p < 0.01).
Discussion
The findings reveal a relationship between moral distress, job embeddedness, and moral resilience among nurses.
Conclusion
Moral distress and moral resilience are important correlates of job embeddedness in nurses. Interventions to reduce moral distress and increase moral resilience may have potential benefits for improving nurses’ job embeddedness. It is recommended that clinical nursing administrators create a favorable ethical atmosphere, educate nurses about ethics, and increase nurses' moral resilience.
Background
It is unclear whether asthma and its allergic phenotype are risk factors for hospitalization or severe disease from SARS‐CoV‐2.
Methods
All patients over 28 days old testing positive for ...SARS‐CoV‐2 between March 1 and September 30, 2020, were retrospectively identified and characterized through electronic analysis at Stanford. A sub‐cohort was followed prospectively to evaluate long‐term COVID‐19 symptoms.
Results
168,190 patients underwent SARS‐CoV‐2 testing, and 6,976 (4.15%) tested positive. In a multivariate analysis, asthma was not an independent risk factor for hospitalization (OR 1.12 95% CI 0.86, 1.45, p = .40). Among SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive asthmatics, allergic asthma lowered the risk of hospitalization and had a protective effect compared with non‐allergic asthma (OR 0.52 0.28, 0.91, p = .026); there was no association between baseline medication use as characterized by GINA and hospitalization risk. Patients with severe COVID‐19 disease had lower eosinophil levels during hospitalization compared with patients with mild or asymptomatic disease, independent of asthma status (p = .0014). In a patient sub‐cohort followed longitudinally, asthmatics and non‐asthmatics had similar time to resolution of COVID‐19 symptoms, particularly lower respiratory symptoms.
Conclusions
Asthma is not a risk factor for more severe COVID‐19 disease. Allergic asthmatics were half as likely to be hospitalized with COVID‐19 compared with non‐allergic asthmatics. Lower levels of eosinophil counts (allergic biomarkers) were associated with a more severe COVID‐19 disease trajectory. Recovery was similar among asthmatics and non‐asthmatics with over 50% of patients reporting ongoing lower respiratory symptoms 3 months post‐infection.
Asthma is not a risk factor for more severe COVID‐19 disease. Allergic asthmatics are half as likely to be hospitalized compared with non‐allergic asthmatics and lower levels of eosinophil counts (allergic biomarkers) are associated with a more severe COVID‐19 disease trajectory. Recovery is similar among asthmatics and non‐asthmatics. Abbreviation: COVID, coronavirus disease 2019.
A series of stimuli-responsive fluorescent hydrogels were successfully synthesized via micelle radical copolymerization of hydrophilic acrylamide (AM), hydrophobic chromophore terpyridine-based ...monomer (TPY), and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM). These hydrogels presented blue emissions (423–440 nm) under room temperature, which is caused by the π-π* transition of the conjugated structures. Once the ambient temperature was increased to 55 °C, the fluorescence color changed from blue (430 nm) to pink (575 nm) within 10 min, subsequently to yellow (535 nm), and eventually back to pink. The thermal-responsive properties are attributed to the transition of the TPY units from unimer to dimer aggregation via the intermolecular charge transfer complex at high temperatures. The hydrogels showed pH-responsive properties. The emission peak of the hydrogel exhibited a blue shift of ~54 nm from neuter conditions to acidic conditions, while a 6 nm red shift to an alkaline environment was observed. The hydrogels demonstrated an obvious change in fluorescence intensity and wavelength upon adding different metal ions, which is caused by the coordination between the terpyridine units incorporated on the backbones and the metal ions. As a consequence, the hydrogels presented a sharp quenching fluorescence interaction with Fe2+, Fe3+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Ni2+, and Co2+, while it exhibited an enhanced fluorescence intensity interaction with Sn2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+. The microstructural, mechanical, and rheological properties of these luminescent hydrogels have been systematically investigated.
Neutrophils, basophils, and monocytes are continuously produced in bone marrow via myelopoiesis, circulate in blood, and are eventually removed from circulation to maintain homeostasis. To quantitate ...the kinetics of myeloid cell movement during homeostasis, we applied 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine pulse labeling in healthy rhesus macaques (
) followed by hematology and flow cytometry analyses. Results were applied to a mathematical model, and the blood circulating half-life and daily production, respectively, of each cell type from macaques aged 5-10 y old were calculated for neutrophils (1.63 ± 0.16 d, 1.42 × 10
cells/l/d), basophils (1.78 ± 0.30 d, 5.89 × 10
cells/l/d), and CD14
CD16
classical monocytes (1.01 ± 0.15 d, 3.09 × 10
cells/l/d). Classical monocytes were released into the blood circulation as early as 1 d after dividing, whereas neutrophils remained in bone marrow 4-5 d before being released. Among granulocytes, neutrophils and basophils exhibited distinct kinetics in bone marrow maturation time and blood circulation. With increasing chronological age, there was a significant decrease in daily production of neutrophils and basophils, but the half-life of these granulocytes remained unchanged between 3 and 19 y of age. In contrast, daily production of classical monocytes remained stable through 19 y of age but exhibited a significant decline in half-life. These results demonstrated relatively short half-lives and continuous replenishment of neutrophils, basophils, and classical monocytes during homeostasis in adult rhesus macaques with compensations observed during increasing chronological age.
A kind of terpyridine derivative (NH2-Tpy) in which the amino was incorporated by a short alkyl chain was synthesized. Through grafting of terpyridine units into the hydrophilic copolymers of maleic ...anhydride and acrylic acid PAAMa via the reaction of the amino groups in NH2-Tpy and the maleic anhydride units, a series of gelator polymers—P1, P2, and P3—containing different contents of terpyridine units was synthesized. Under coordination of Ni2+ and terpyridine ligands in linear polymers, the supramolecular hydrogels H1, H2, and H3 with different cross-linking degrees were prepared. The linear polymers P1–P3 had a strong absorption peak at about 290 nm in the UV-vis spectra which was attributed to π–π* transition, and there was a new peak at about 335 nm led by the metal-to-ligands charge transfer (MLCT) when coordinated with Ni2+ ions. According to the rheological behaviors, the storage modulus (G′) was larger than the loss modulus (G′′). These hydrogels showed typical gel-like characteristics when the terpyridine content of the hydrogels exceeded 10%, and the hydrogels showed liquid-like characteristics when the terpyridine content of the hydrogels was less than 7%. The results of the micromorphological investigation of the xerogels from SEM illustrated the metal–terpyridine coordination cross-linking could have an important influence on the microstructures of the resulting hydrogels. Furthermore, these hydrogels based on supramolecular cross-links exhibited reversible solution–gel transition at different environmental temperatures. At the same time, the equilibrium swelling of the supramolecular hydrogels was 8.0–12.3 g/g, which increased with the decrease in the content of the terpyridine units in the resulting hydrogels.
Introduction Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are enriched at mucosal surfaces where they respond rapidly to environmental stimuli and contribute to both tissue inflammation and healing. Methods To gain ...insight into the role of ILCs in the pathology and recovery from COVID-19 infection, we employed a multi-omics approach consisting of Abseq and targeted mRNA sequencing to respectively probe the surface marker expression, transcriptional profile and heterogeneity of ILCs in peripheral blood of patients with COVID-19 compared with healthy controls. Results We found that the frequency of ILC1 and ILC2 cells was significantly increased in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, all ILC subsets displayed a significantly higher frequency of CD69-expressing cells, indicating a heightened state of activation. ILC2s from COVID-19 patients had the highest number of significantly differentially expressed (DE) genes. The most notable genes DE in COVID-19 vs healthy participants included a) genes associated with responses to virus infections and b) genes that support ILC self-proliferation, activation and homeostasis. In addition, differential gene regulatory network analysis revealed ILC-specific regulons and their interactions driving the differential gene expression in each ILC. Discussion Overall, this study provides mechanistic insights into the characteristics of ILC subsets activated during COVID-19 infection.
Background:
Clinical trials, conducted efficiently and with the utmost integrity, are a key component in identifying effective vaccines, therapies, and other interventions urgently needed to solve ...the COVID-19 crisis. Yet launching and implementing trials with the rigor necessary to produce convincing results is a complicated and time-consuming process. Balancing rigor and efficiency involves relying on designs that employ flexible features to respond to a fast-changing landscape, measuring valid endpoints that result in translational actions and disseminating findings in a timely manner. We describe the challenges involved in creating infrastructure with potential utility for shared learning.
Methods:
We have established a shared infrastructure that borrows strength across multiple trials. The infrastructure includes an endpoint registry to aid in selecting appropriate endpoints, a registry to facilitate establishing a Data & Safety Monitoring Board, common data collection instruments, a COVID-19 dedicated design and analysis team, and a pragmatic platform protocol, among other elements.
Results:
The authors have relied on the shared infrastructure for six clinical trials for which they serve as the Data Coordinating Center and have a design and analysis team comprising 15 members who are dedicated to COVID-19. The authors established a pragmatic platform to simultaneously investigate multiple treatments for the outpatient with adaptive features to add or drop treatment arms.
Conclusion:
The shared infrastructure provides appealing opportunities to evaluate disease in a more robust manner with fewer resources and is especially valued during a pandemic where efficiency in time and resources is crucial. The most important element of the shared infrastructure is the pragmatic platform. While it may be the most challenging of the elements to establish, it may provide the greatest benefit to both patients and researchers.
Plasma has been of great interest to engineers and scientists during the past few decades
due to its wide applications. Besides, the plasma-sheath-caused lose of communication
(i.e. re-entry ...blackout) that happens when a spacecraft re-enters the earth atmosphere is
still a problem to be solved. The microwave characterisation of shock tube excited plasma
has been an important method for exploring the transmission and reflection of microwave
signals in plasma. The existing frequency sweep or multi-frequency technologies are not
desirable for the characterisation of high-speed time-varying plasma generated in shock
tubes. Hence, in this paper a novel signal-frequency approach is proposed to measure both
electron density and collision frequency of plasma in shock tube. As frequency sweep is
not required in this method, it is extremely suitable for characterising the shock tube
excited high-speed time-varying plasma. The genetic algorithm is applied to extract
electron density and collision frequency from the reflection coefficient. Simulation
results demonstrate excellent accuracy for electron density within
1
0
10
∼
1
0
12
c
m
−
3
and collision frequency within
5
×
1
0
10
∼
1
0
12
H
z
. This work paves the way for a fast and compact microwave
reflection measurement of shock tube generated plasma.
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