The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2 virus) has been sustained in China since December 2019, and has become a ...pandemic. The mental health of frontline medical staff is a concern. In this study, we aimed to identify the factors influencing medical worker anxiety in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. We conducted a cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of anxiety among medical staff in China from 10 February 2020 to 20 February 2020 using the Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) to assess anxiety, with the criteria of normal (⩽49), mild (50-59), moderate (60-70) and severe anxiety (⩾70). We used multivariable linear regression to determine the factors (e.g. having direct contact when treating infected patients, being a medical staff worker from Hubei province, being a suspect case) for anxiety. We also used adjusted models to confirm independent factors for anxiety after adjusting for gender, age, education and marital status. Of 512 medical staff in China, 164 (32.03%) had had direct contact treating infected patients. The prevalence of anxiety was 12.5%, with 53 workers suffering from mild (10.35%), seven workers suffering from moderate (1.36%) and four workers suffering from severe anxiety (0.78%). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, education and marital status), medical staff who had had direct contact treating infected patients experienced higher anxiety scores than those who had not had direct contact (β value = 2.33, confidence interval (CI) 0.65-4.00; P = 0.0068). A similar trend was observed in medical staff from Hubei province, compared with those from other parts of China (β value = 3.67, CI 1.44-5.89; P = 0.0013). The most important variable was suspect cases with high anxiety scores, compared to non-suspect cases (β value = 4.44, CI 1.55-7.33; P = 0.0028). In this survey of hospital medical workers during the COVID-19 outbreak in China, we found that study participants experienced anxiety symptoms, especially those who had direct clinical contact with infected patients; as did those in the worst affected areas, including Hubei province; and those who were suspect cases. Governments and healthcare authorities should proactively implement appropriate psychological intervention programmes, to prevent, alleviate or treat increased anxiety.
Purpose
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased levels of systemic inflammatory markers, increased arterial stiffness, and endothelial dysfunction, which may lead to increased ...cardiovascular risk. We aimed to quantify the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on cardiovascular biomarkers and to establish predictors of response to CPAP.
Methods
We searched PubMed and the Cochrane Library from inception to May 31, 2017. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the efficacy of CPAP on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF-α), augmentation index (AIx), pulse wave velocity (PWV), and flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in patients with OSA were selected by consensus.
Results
We included 15 RCTs comprising 1090 patients in the meta-analysis. The pooled standard mean difference (SMD) of effect of CPAP on hs-CRP was − 0.64 (95% confidence interval (CI) − 1.19 to − 0.09;
P
= 0.02). CPAP was associated with a reduction in AIx of 1.53% (95% CI, 0.80 to 2.26%;
P
< 0.001) and a significant increase in FMD of 3.96% (95% CI 1.34 to 6.59%;
P
= 0.003). Subgroup analyses found CPAP was likely to be more effective in improving FMD levels in severe OSA patients or patients with effective CPAP use ≥ 4 h/night.
Conclusions
Among patients with OSA, CPAP improves inflammatory marker hs-CRP, arterial stiffness marker AIx, and endothelial function marker FMD. These biomarkers may provide information related to response to treatment. Future studies will need to clarify the efficacy of these biomarkers in assessing cardiovascular risk reduction among OSA treated with CPAP.
CO2 capture technologies are essential to achieve the global goal of carbon neutral and carbon negative. Membrane separations are energy-efficient compared to the adsorption/absorption processes with ...sorbents/solvents. However, little attention has been given to CO2 separation from air (direct air capture: DAC) or cabin air by membranes. In this study, a thin film composite type of facilitated transport membrane (FTM) with a functionalized ionic liquid (IL) carrier is developed. The selective layer is an IL-rich gel nanoconfined within the graphene oxide nanosheet framework. High performance of CO2 carrier-facilitated transport at conditions relevant to DAC (3090 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of 1180) and cabin air (620 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of 250) was demonstrated at 295 K and 40% RH (1 GPU = 3.348 × 10-10 mol m-2 s-1 Pa−1). The coupled permeation and selectivity represent the best performing FTM known under DAC conditions and promise potential for CO2 separation from air.
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•A composite membrane with ionic liquid carrier is developed for CO2/N2 separation.•CO2 permeance of 3090 GPU is achieved at 295 K, 40% RH with 410 ppm of CO2 feed.•A record breaking CO2/N2 selectivity of 1180 is demonstrated.•The inclusion of graphene oxide and poly(ionic liquid) enhanced membrane stability.•Membrane operates consistently over a 2-week long continuous separation.
The electromagnetic field in an optical cavity can dramatically modify and even control chemical reactivity via vibrational strong coupling (VSC). Since the typical vibration and cavity frequencies ...are considerably larger than thermal energy, it is essential to adopt a quantum description of cavity-catalyzed adiabatic chemical reactions. Using quantum transition state theory (TST), we examine the coherent nature of adiabatic reactions in cavities and derive the cavity-induced changes in eigenfrequencies, zero-point energy, and quantum tunneling. The resulting quantum TST calculation allows us to explain and predict the resonance effect (i.e., maximal kinetic modification via tuning the cavity frequency), collective effect (i.e., linear scaling with the molecular density), and selectivity (i.e., cavity-induced control of the branching ratio). The TST calculation is further supported by perturbative analysis of polariton normal modes, which not only provides physical insights to cavity-catalyzed chemical reactions but also presents a general approach to treat other VSC phenomena.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common type of pancreatic cancer featured with high intra-tumoral heterogeneity and poor prognosis. To comprehensively delineate the PDAC ...intra-tumoral heterogeneity and the underlying mechanism for PDAC progression, we employed single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) to acquire the transcriptomic atlas of 57,530 individual pancreatic cells from primary PDAC tumors and control pancreases, and identified diverse malignant and stromal cell types, including two ductal subtypes with abnormal and malignant gene expression profiles respectively, in PDAC. We found that the heterogenous malignant subtype was composed of several subpopulations with differential proliferative and migratory potentials. Cell trajectory analysis revealed that components of multiple tumor-related pathways and transcription factors (TFs) were differentially expressed along PDAC progression. Furthermore, we found a subset of ductal cells with unique proliferative features were associated with an inactivation state in tumor-infiltrating T cells, providing novel markers for the prediction of antitumor immune response. Together, our findings provide a valuable resource for deciphering the intra-tumoral heterogeneity in PDAC and uncover a connection between tumor intrinsic transcriptional state and T cell activation, suggesting potential biomarkers for anticancer treatment such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy.
Most eukaryotic mRNAs are translated in a cap-dependent fashion; however, under stress conditions, the cap-independent translation driven by internal ribosomal entry sites (IRESs) can serve as an ...alternative mechanism for protein production. Many IRESs have been discovered from viral or cellular mRNAs to promote ribosome assembly and initiate translation by recruiting different trans-acting factors. Although the mechanisms of translation initiation driven by viral IRESs are relatively well understood, the existence of cellular IRESs is still under debate due to the limitations of translation reporter systems used to assay IRES activities. A recent screen identified > 1000 putative IRESs from viral and human mRNAs, expanding the scope and mechanism for cap-independent translation. Additionally, a large number of circular RNAs lacking free ends were identified in eukaryotic cells, many of which are found to be translated through IRESs. These findings suggest that IRESs may play a previously unappreciated role in driving translation of the new type of mRNA, implying a hidden proteome produced from cap-independent translation.
Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer. However, systematic characterizations of metabolites in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are still lacking. Our study profiled the polar ...metabolome and lipidome in 330 TNBC samples and 149 paired normal breast tissues to construct a large metabolomic atlas of TNBC. Combining with previously established transcriptomic and genomic data of the same cohort, we conducted a comprehensive analysis linking TNBC metabolome to genomics. Our study classified TNBCs into three distinct metabolomic subgroups: C1, characterized by the enrichment of ceramides and fatty acids; C2, featured with the upregulation of metabolites related to oxidation reaction and glycosyl transfer; and C3, having the lowest level of metabolic dysregulation. Based on this newly developed metabolomic dataset, we refined previous TNBC transcriptomic subtypes and identified some crucial subtype-specific metabolites as potential therapeutic targets. The transcriptomic luminal androgen receptor (LAR) subtype overlapped with metabolomic C1 subtype. Experiments on patient-derived organoid and xenograft models indicate that targeting sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), an intermediate of the ceramide pathway, is a promising therapy for LAR tumors. Moreover, the transcriptomic basal-like immune-suppressed (BLIS) subtype contained two prognostic metabolomic subgroups (C2 and C3), which could be distinguished through machine-learning methods. We show that N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate is a crucial tumor-promoting metabolite and potential therapeutic target for high-risk BLIS tumors. Together, our study reveals the clinical significance of TNBC metabolomics, which can not only optimize the transcriptomic subtyping system, but also suggest novel therapeutic targets. This metabolomic dataset can serve as a useful public resource to promote precision treatment of TNBC.
•Spatial spillover effects of variables are considered in the curve fitting.•The influences of critical factors on the CO2 emissions are analyzed.•There exists an apparent block distribution in ...spatial structure of China's provincial CO2 emissions.•Urbanization and coal combustion are main factors on increasing CO2 emissions while the trade openness contributes to the slight decrease in CO2 emissions.
Different from previous studies which mainly focused on conventional estimation techniques, this paper examines the CO2 EKC hypothesis of China using a spatial panel data model to avoid the coefficient estimation error covering the period of 1997–2012. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the turning points between the non-spatial panel model and spatial panel model is conducted. The results show that the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions shapes as an inverted-N trajectory. Spatial spillovers effects are confirmed to affect the shape of the CO2 environmental Kuznets curve. There exists an apparent block distribution in spatial structure of China's provincial CO2 emissions. Specifically, CO2 emissions have a relatively sharp increase from the eastern regions to the central and the western regions of China. It has also been found that urbanization and coal combustion are main factors on increasing CO2 emissions. While the trade openness contributes to slight decrease in CO2 emissions. The government should make targeted carbon-reduction policies for CO2 emission reduction.
•The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptom was 7.7% and 12.2%, respectively.•Having confirmed and suspected cases in family members or relatives was associated with the higher risk of ...depression symptom.•Self-reported health condition was strongly associated with risk of anxiety and depression symptom.
: Although studies have suggested experiencing the epidemic of severe infectious diseases increased the prevalence of mental health problems, the association between COVID-19 epidemic and risk of anxiety and depression symptom in college students in China was unclear.
: A large cross-sectional online survey with 44,447 college students was conducted in Guangzhou, China. The Zung's Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale) were used to define the anxiety and depression symptom, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between COVID-19 epidemic and risk of anxiety and depression symptom.
: The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptom was 7.7% (95% confidence interval CI: 7.5%, 8.0%) and 12.2% (95%CI: 11.9%, 12.5%), respectively. Compared with students who reported have not infected or suspected cases in family members and relatives, students who reported having confirmed (OR=4.06; 95%CI: 1.62, 10.19; P = 0.003), and suspected (OR=2.11; 95%CI: 1.11, 4.00; P = 0.023) cases in family members and relatives had higher risk of depression symptom. Additionally, the proportions of students with anxiety and depression symptom reported more demand of psychological knowledge and interventions than those without (P<0.001).
: All the data in this study was collected through online questionnaire, and we did not evaluate the reliability and validity.
: The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptom was relatively low in college students, but the COVID-19 epidemic-related factors might be associated with higher depression symptom risk.
This study analyzed the association between depressive symptoms and employment type, by considering both socioeconomic status and job stress factors.
We analyzed 27,369 participants (13,134 men and ...14,235 women) using data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey. The participants were divided into regular and precarious workers. Depressive symptoms were defined using the World Health Organization-5 Well-Being Index. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between depressive symptoms and employment type.
Of the participants, 71.53% (N = 19578) were regular workers and 28.47% (N = 7791) were precarious workers. The weighted frequencies of participants with depressive symptoms (42.50%) were significantly higher than those of precarious workers (32.54%, p < 0.001). In the univariate and multivariate analyses, precarious workers had a significantly higher risk of depressive symptoms than regular workers (odds ratio OR 1.53, 95% confidence interval CI 1.42-1.64; OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07-1.26, respectively). The significant association between depressive symptoms and precarious workers has also been reflected in propensity score matched participants through crude and multivariate analysis (OR 1.54 95% CI 1.43-1.66 and OR 1.15 95% CI 1.04-1.26, respectively).
The findings suggest that precarious workers may have a higher risk of depressive symptoms than regular workers. However, this is only a cross-sectional study. Therefore, further study is required to investigate the relevance association between depressive symptoms and employment types.
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