Aims
The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between caregiving burden and pre‐death grief, with a specific focus on adult‐child caregivers in mainland China. Additionally, the ...study explored whether coping strategies played a mediating role in this correlation.
Methods
A convenience sample of 320 adult‐child caregivers of older parents with dementia from Kunming, mainland China, was recruited for the study. Data were collected using the Chinese version of the Marwit‐Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory‐Short Form, the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers, and the Ways of Coping Checklist‐Revised.
Results
Results using linear regression and multiple mediation analysis with Hayes' process model indicated that caregiving burden was positively related to pre‐death grief and that active coping mediated the relationship between them. In the female group, active coping partially mediated the association between caregiving burden and pre‐death grief, but in the male group, this mediating effect did not exist.
Conclusion
The study found evidence supporting the link between caregiving burden and pre‐death grief among adult‐child caregivers of older parents with dementia in mainland China. Furthermore, the caregiving burden prevented the use of active coping, and this decrease in coping increased the perception of pre‐death grief. These associations only existed in the female group.
Implications
This paper presented the importance of active coping skills in the dementia caregiving process.
Impact
The findings of this study emphasize the necessity for health practitioners to provide targeted interventions regarding pre‐death grief among dementia caregivers and strengthen caregivers' active coping strategies to reduce their pre‐death grief. Community‐based and personal care support services should be promoted to alleviate their caregiving burden.
Reporting Method
We have adhered to the transparent reporting of evaluations with quantitative design statements and the corresponding checklist was followed.
Patient or Public Contribution
‘No patient or public involvement’.
Radical borylation using N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC)‐BH3 complexes as boryl radical precursors has emerged as an important synthetic tool for organoboron assembly. However, the majority of reported ...methods are limited to reaction modes involving carbo‐ and/or hydroboration of specific alkenes and alkynes. Moreover, the generation of NHC‐boryl radicals relies principally on hydrogen atom ion with the aid of radical initiators. A distinct radical generation method is reported, as well as the reaction pathways of NHC‐boryl radicals enabled by photoredox catalysis. NHC‐boryl radicals are generated via a single‐electron oxidation and subsequently undergo cross‐coupling with the in‐situ‐generated radical anions to yield gem‐difluoroallylboronates. A photoredox‐catalyzed radical arylboration reaction of alkenes was achieved using cyanoarenes as arylating components from which elaborated organoborons were accessed. Mechanistic studies verified the oxidative formation of NHC‐boryl radicals through a single‐electron‐transfer pathway.
NHC‐boryl radicals are generated by single‐electron oxidation of NHC‐BH3 complexes using a photoredox catalytic system. New reaction modes of NHC‐boryl radicals were determined for the facile synthesis of highly elaborated organoboron molecules. Key: N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC), leaving group (LG).
Summary Background In 2015, a large outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection occurred following a single patient exposure in an emergency room at the Samsung ...Medical Center, a tertiary-care hospital in Seoul, South Korea. We aimed to investigate the epidemiology of MERS-CoV outbreak in our hospital. Methods We identified all patients and health-care workers who had been in the emergency room with the index case between May 27 and May 29, 2015. Patients were categorised on the basis of their exposure in the emergency room: in the same zone as the index case (group A), in different zones except for overlap at the registration area or the radiology suite (group B), and in different zones (group C). We documented cases of MERS-CoV infection, confirmed by real-time PCR testing of sputum samples. We analysed attack rates, incubation periods of the virus, and risk factors for transmission. Findings 675 patients and 218 health-care workers were identified as contacts. MERS-CoV infection was confirmed in 82 individuals (33 patients, eight health-care workers, and 41 visitors). The attack rate was highest in group A (20% 23/117 vs 5% 3/58 in group B vs 1% 4/500 in group C; p<0·0001), and was 2% (5/218) in health-care workers. After excluding nine cases (because of inability to determine the date of symptom onset in six cases and lack of data from three visitors), the median incubation period was 7 days (range 2–17, IQR 5–10). The median incubation period was significantly shorter in group A than in group C (5 days IQR 4–8 vs 11 days 6–12; p<0·0001). There were no confirmed cases in patients and visitors who visited the emergency room on May 29 and who were exposed only to potentially contaminated environment without direct contact with the index case. The main risk factor for transmission of MERS-CoV was the location of exposure. Interpretation Our results showed increased transmission potential of MERS-CoV from a single patient in an overcrowded emergency room and provide compelling evidence that health-care facilities worldwide need to be prepared for emerging infectious diseases. Funding None.
Metamaterials, artificially constructed structures that mimic lattices in natural materials, have made numerous contributions to the development of unconventional optical devices. With an increasing ...demand for more diverse functionalities, terahertz (THz) metamaterials are also expanding their domain, from the realm of mere passive devices to the broader area where functionalized active THz devices are particularly required. A brief review on THz metamaterials is given with a focus on research conducted in the authors' group. The first part is centered on enhanced THz optical responses from tightly coupled meta‐atom structures, such as high refractive index, enhanced optical activity, anomalous wavelength scaling, large phase retardation, and nondispersive polarization rotation. Next, electrically gated graphene metamaterials are reviewed with an emphasis on the functionalization of enhanced THz optical responses. Finally, the linear frequency conversion of THz waves in a rapidly time‐variant THz metamaterial is briefly discussed in the more general context of spatiotemporal control of light.
Passive and active metamaterials are important to the development of unconventional terahertz optical devices due to their engineered optical responses, such as enhanced optical responses, electrical control, and spatiotemporal control. These materials are reviewed, with emphasis on metamaterials for engineering of terahertz waves, from the regime of passive devices to broader areas in which functionalized active terahertz devices are particularly required.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been widely implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We assessed the effect of NPIs on hospitalisations for pneumonia, influenza, COPD and asthma. ...This retrospective, ecological study compared the weekly incidence of hospitalisation for four respiratory conditions before (January 2016–January 2020) and during (February–July 2020) the implementation of NPI against COVID-19. Hospitalisations for all four respiratory conditions decreased substantially during the intervention period. The cumulative incidence of admissions for COPD and asthma was 58% and 48% of the mean incidence during the 4 preceding years, respectively.
Patterning of nanoparticles (NPs) via photochemical reduction within thermally responsive hydrogel films is demonstrated as a versatile platform for programming light‐driven shape morphing and ...materials assembly. Responsive hydrogel disks, containing patterned metal NPs, form characteristic wrinkled structures when illuminated at an air/water interface. The resulting distortion of the three‐phase (air/water/hydrogel) contact lines induces capillary interactions between two or more disks, which are either attractive or repulsive depending on the selected pattern of light. By programming the shapes of the NP‐rich regions, as well as of the hydrogel objects themselves, the number and location of attractive interactions are specified, and the assembly geometry is controlled. Remarkably, appropriately patterned illumination enables sustained rotation and motion of the hydrogel disks. Overall, these results offer insight into a wide variety of shape‐programmable materials and capillary assemblies, simply by controlling the NP patterns and illumination of these soft materials.
Spatially patterned gold nanoparticles in temperature‐responsive hydrogel films enable light‐induced shape morphing. For hydrogels adsorbed at the air–water interface, this leads to optically programmable capillary interactions including attraction, repulsion, and assembly. By combining patterns of nanoparticles with patterns of light, sustained capillary rotation is demonstrated.
Self‐folding is a powerful approach to fabricate materials with complex 3D forms and advanced properties using planar patterning steps, but suffers from intrinsic limitations in robustness due to the ...highly bifurcated nature of configuration space around the flat state. Here, a simple mechanism is introduced to achieve robust self‐folding of microscale origami by separating actuation into two discrete steps using different thermally responsive hydrogels. First, the vertices are pre‐biased to move in the desired direction from the flat state by selectively swelling one of the two hydrogels at high temperature. Subsequently, the creases are folded toward their target angles by activating swelling of the second hydrogel upon cooling to room temperature. Since each vertex can be individually programmed to move upward or downward, it is possible to robustly select the desired branch even in multi‐vertex structures with reasonably high complexity. This strategy provides key new principles for designing shaping‐morphing materials that avoid undesired distractor states, expanding their potential applications in areas such as soft robotics, sensors, mechanical metamaterials, and deployable devices.
Robust self‐folding of microscale hydrogel origami is demonstrated by prescribing the buckling direction of vertices to avoid misfolding along distractor branches that bifurcate from the flat state. Followed by thermally responsive activation of hinges to their programmed angles, this allows for robust self‐folding even for multi‐vertex origami designs that frequently fail to fold properly in the absence of vertex biasing.
Neuronal activity is emerging as a driver of central and peripheral nervous system cancers. Here, we examined neuronal physiology in mouse models of the tumor predisposition syndrome ...Neurofibromatosis-1 (NF1), with different propensities to develop nervous system cancers. We show that central and peripheral nervous system neurons from mice with tumor-causing Nf1 gene mutations exhibit hyperexcitability and increased secretion of activity-dependent tumor-promoting paracrine factors. We discovered a neurofibroma mitogen (COL1A2) produced by peripheral neurons in an activity-regulated manner, which increases NF1-deficient Schwann cell proliferation, establishing that neurofibromas are regulated by neuronal activity. In contrast, mice with the Arg1809Cys Nf1 mutation, found in NF1 patients lacking neurofibromas or optic gliomas, do not exhibit neuronal hyperexcitability or develop these NF1-associated tumors. The hyperexcitability of tumor-prone Nf1-mutant neurons results from reduced NF1-regulated hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel function, such that neuronal excitability, activity-regulated paracrine factor production, and tumor progression are attenuated by HCN channel activation. Collectively, these findings reveal that NF1 mutations act at the level of neurons to modify tumor predisposition by increasing neuronal excitability and activity-regulated paracrine factor production.
Effects of thyme essential oil (TEO) emulsion (TEE) with cationic charge formulated using cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) on attachment strength and inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes and ...Escherichia coli O157:H7 on romaine lettuce surface were examined in this study. Regardless of the inoculation time (2 h and 24 h), pathogen attachment was stronger on the adaxial surface of the romaine lettuce than on the abaxial surface because of the lower roughness of the former. Moreover, attachment strength increased with increasing inoculation time. TEE washing had the strongest inhibitory effect on pathogen attachment at 2 h when compared with that of TEO, CPC, and sodium hypochlorite (SH), demonstrating a 3.32 and 2.53 log-reduction in the size of the L. monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 populations, respectively, compared to the control samples. Additionally, the TEE washing effects were maintained even after inoculation for 24 h, and it decreased attachment to adaxial surface of the samples. These results indicate that TEE could be a good alternative to SH in improving the microbiological safety of romaine lettuce.
•Thyme essential oil emulsion (TEE) was applied to inactivate pathogens on romaine.•TEE showed greater inactivation effect than other treatments in confocal analysis.•In addition, TEE as a sanitizer effectively eliminated pathogens on romaine.•TEE also reduced attachment strength of pathogens on romaine surface the most.•Thus, TEE can be used as a good sanitizing agent for improving safety of romaine.
Nonlinear optics: Photoinduced interfacial polymerization within a microfluidic channel is shown to be an effective method to prepare microcapsules that provide for photon upconversion by ...triplet–triplet annihilation (see picture). In this approach, an elastomeric shell formed on the inner surface of the microcapsules served as an efficient protective shield, whereas a liquid core promoted the required energy transfer for the upconverted luminescence.
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