We explored whether medical health workers had more psychosocial problems than nonmedical health workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
An online survey was run from February 19 to March 6, 2020; a ...total of 2,182 Chinese subjects participated. Mental health variables were assessed via the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Symptom Check List-revised (SCL-90-R), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), which included a 2-item anxiety scale and a 2-item depression scale (PHQ-2).
Compared with nonmedical health workers (n = 1,255), medical health workers (n = 927) had a higher prevalence of insomnia (38.4 vs. 30.5%, p < 0.01), anxiety (13.0 vs. 8.5%, p < 0.01), depression (12.2 vs. 9.5%; p< 0.04), somatization (1.6 vs. 0.4%; p < 0.01), and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (5.3 vs. 2.2%; p < 0.01). They also had higher total scores of ISI, GAD-2, PHQ-2, and SCL-90-R obsessive-compulsive symptoms (p ≤ 0.01). Among medical health workers, having organic disease was an independent factor for insomnia, anxiety, depression, somatization, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (p < 0.05 or 0.01). Living in rural areas, being female, and being at risk of contact with COVID-19 patients were the most common risk factors for insomnia, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and depression (p < 0.01 or 0.05). Among nonmedical health workers, having organic disease was a risk factor for insomnia, depression, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (p < 0.01 or 0.05).
During the COVID-19 outbreak, medical health workers had psychosocial problems and risk factors for developing them. They were in need of attention and recovery programs.
Zn‐ion capacitors (ZICs) take advantage of batteries and supercapacitors in delivering high energy and power densities for energy storage by using porous carbons due to their low cost, lightweight, ...high conductivity, and good stability. However, it remains a grand challenge to regulate the mesoporous structures of carbons, including pore sizes and surface functional groups, which are essential for ion transport and electrochemical reactions of ZICs. Herein, a bi‐directional electrolysis strategy is developed to directly reduce CO2 to oxygen‐rich mesoporous carbons (OMCs) with adjustable pore sizes and oxygen‐bearing functional groups, which are preferred for ZICs as theoretically proved by density functional theory (DFT). The designed OMCs exhibit a remarkable energy density of 216.6 Wh kg−1 and performance retention of 90% after 15000 cycles. When assembled in the flexible ZICs, the OMCs demonstrate a high capacitance of 329.5 mAh g−1. This work presents a novel strategy for synthesizing OMCs through a decarbonization process and reveals the crucial role of microstructure and surface functional groups in promoting the performance of ZICs.
CO2‐derived oxygen‐rich mesoporous carbons with optimal pore size and oxygen‐containing functional groups are successfully synthesized via a bi‐directional electrolysis strategy for Zn‐ion capacitors, which exhibit a remarkable energy density of 216.6 Wh kg−1 and performance retention of 90% after 15000 cycles. This work presents a novel strategy for synthesizing energy materials through a decarbonization process.
The efficacy of checkpoint immunotherapy to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) largely depends on the tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, we demonstrate that CCL7 facilitates anti-PD-1 therapy for ...the Kras
Tp53
(KP) and the Kras
Lkb1
(KL) NSCLC mouse models by recruiting conventional DC 1 (cDC1) into the TME to promote T cell expansion. CCL7 exhibits high expression in NSCLC tumor tissues and is positively correlated with the infiltration of cDC1 in the TME and the overall survival of NSCLC patients. CCL7 deficiency impairs the infiltration of cDC1 in the TME and the subsequent expansion of CD8
and CD4
T cells in bronchial draining lymph nodes and TME, thereby promoting tumor development in the KP mouse model. Administration of CCL7 into lungs alone or in combination with anti-PD-1 significantly inhibits tumor development and prolongs the survival of KP and KL mice. These findings suggest that CCL7 potentially serves as a biomarker and adjuvant for checkpoint immunotherapy of NSCLC.
Practical application of aqueous Zn‐ion batteries (AZIBs) is significantly limited by poor reversibility of the Zn anode. This is because of 1) dendrite growth, and 2) water‐induced parasitic ...reactions including hydrogen evolution, during cycling. Here for the first time an elegantly simple method is reported that introduces ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt (Na4EDTA) to a ZnSO4 electrolyte. This is shown to concomitantly suppress dendritic Zn deposition and H2 evolution. Findings confirm that EDTA anions are adsorbed on the Zn surface and dominate active sites for H2 generation and inhibit water electrolysis. Additionally, adsorbed EDTA promotes desolvation of Zn(H2O)62+ by removing H2O molecules from the solvation sheath of Zn2+. Side reactions and dendrite growth are therefore suppressed by using the additive. A high Zn reversibility with Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 99.5% and long lifespan of 2500 cycles at 5 mAh cm−2, 2 mAh cm−2 is demonstrated. Additionally, the highly reversible Zn electrode significantly boosts overall performance of VO2//Zn full‐cells. These findings are expected to be of immediate benefit to a range of researchers in using dual‐function additives to suppress Zn dendrite and parasitic reactions for electrochemistry and energy storage applications.
A dual‐function additive, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt (Na4EDTA), is applied in a ZnSO4 electrolyte to boost the reversibility of Zn anodes via electrolysis inhibition and desolvation promotion. These characteristics originate from the high adsorption ability of EDTA on the Zn surface, and strong interaction with Zn2+ hydrated ions. The EDTA‐containing electrolyte endows high Coulombic efficiency, stable voltage profiles and stable cycling performance to VO2//Zn cells.
The proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) is an important cause of pulmonary vascular remodelling in hypoxia‐induced pulmonary hypertension (HPH). However, its underlying ...mechanism has not been well elucidated. Connexin 43 (Cx43) plays crucial roles in vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in various cardiovascular diseases. Here, the male Sprague‐Dawley (SD) rats were exposed to hypoxia (10% O2) for 21 days to induce rat HPH model. PASMCs were treated with CoCl2 (200 µM) for 24 h to establish the HPH cell model. It was found that hypoxia up‐regulated the expression of Cx43 and phosphorylation of Cx43 at Ser 368 in rat pulmonary arteries and PASMCs, and stimulated the proliferation and migration of PASMCs. HIF‐1α inhibitor echinomycin attenuated the CoCl2‐induced Cx43 expression and phosphorylation of Cx43 at Ser 368 in PASMCs. The interaction between HIF‐1α and Cx43 promotor was also identified using chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Moreover, Cx43 specific blocker (37,43Gap27) or knockdown of Cx43 efficiently alleviated the proliferation and migration of PASMCs under chemically induced hypoxia. Therefore, the results above suggest that HIF‐1α, as an upstream regulator, promotes the expression of Cx43, and the HIF‐1α/Cx43 axis regulates the proliferation and migration of PASMCs in HPH.
The use of antibiotics may accelerate the development of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and bacteria which shade health risks to humans and animals. The emerging of ARGs in the water environment ...is becoming an increasing worldwide concern. Hundreds of various ARGs encoding resistance to a broad range of antibiotics have been found in microorganisms distributed not only in hospital wastewaters and animal production wastewaters, but also in sewage, wastewater treatment plants, surface water, groundwater, and even in drinking water. This review summarizes recently published information on the types, distributions, and horizontal transfer of ARGs in various aquatic environments, as well as the molecular methods used to detect environmental ARGs, including specific and multiplex PCR (polymerase chain reaction), real-time PCR, DNA sequencing, and hybridization based techniques.
Background/Aims: Adipocyte-derived exosomes (ADEs) stimulate the activation of macrophages and contribute to the development of insulin resistance. Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) is an exosome-carrying protein ...and stimulates macrophages to secrete inflammatory cytokines. However, the impact of ADEs carrying Shh on the pro-inflammatory activation of macrophages and consequently, adipocyte insulin resistance is unclear. Methods: 3T3-L1 adipocytes were cultured with high glucose and insulin to imitate the pathogeny of insulin resistance. ADEs were isolated from conditioned media of 3T3-L1 adipocytes via differential ultracentrifugation. We explored the role of ADEs carrying Shh in the polarization of macrophages by flow cytometry. Western blot and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) were performed to determine the activation of Shh-mediated signalling pathways. The effects of ADE-treated macrophages on adipocyte insulin signalling were studied by Western blot. Results: We found that circulating Shh-positive exosomes were increased in type 2 diabetes patients. High glucose and insulin increased the secretion of Shh-positive ADEs. The ADEs carrying Shh induced pro-inflammatory or M1 polarization of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) and RAW 264.7 macrophages. Inhibitors of Ptch and PI3K blocked the M1 polarization induced by ADEs, which suggests that ADEs carrying Shh mediated M1 macrophage polarization through the Ptch/PI3K signalling pathway. ADE-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages were subsequently used to assess the effect on insulin signalling in adipocytes. Using a co-culture assay, we showed that both ADE-treated macrophages and exosomes from these macrophages could decrease the expression of insulin-resistant substrate-1 (IRS-1) and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) in adipocytes. Inhibitors of Ptch and PI3K blocked the down-regulation of IRS-1 and HSL induced by ADE-treated macrophages. Conclusion: Together, these data indicate that ADEs carrying Shh induce the M1 polarization of macrophages, which contributes to insulin resistance in adipocytes through the Ptch/PI3K pathway.
Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) using sequencing of fetal cellfree DNA from maternal plasma has enabled accurate prenatal diagnosis of aneuploidy and become increasingly accepted in clinical ...practice. We investigated whether NIPT using semiconductor sequencing platform (SSP) could reliably detect subchromosomal deletions/duplications in women carrying high-risk fetuses. We first showed that increasing concentration of abnormal DNA and sequencing depth improved detection. Subsequently, we analyzed plasma from 1,456 pregnant women to develop a method for estimating fetal DNA concentration based on the size distribution of DNA fragments. Finally, we collected plasma from 1,476 pregnant women with fetal structural abnormalities detected on ultrasound who also underwent an invasive diagnostic procedure. We used SSP of maternal plasma DNA to detect subchromosomal abnormalities and validated our results with array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH). With 3.5 million reads, SSP detected 56 of 78 (71.8%) subchromosomal abnormalities detected by aCGH. With increased sequencing depth up to 10 million reads and restriction of the size of abnormalities to more than 1Mb, sensitivity improved to 69 of 73 (94.5%). Of 55 false-positive samples, 35 were caused by deletions/duplications present in maternal DNA, indicating the necessity of a validation test to exclude maternal karyotype abnormalities. This study shows that detection of fetal subchromosomal abnormalities is a viable extension of NIPT based on SSP. Although we focused on the application of cell-free DNA sequencing for NIPT, we believe that this method has broader applications for genetic diagnosis, such as analysis of circulating tumor DNA for detection of cancer.
Vanadium trioxide (V6O13) cathode has recently aroused intensive interest for aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) due to their structural and electrochemical diversities. However, it undergoes ...sluggish reaction kinetics and significant capacity decay during prolonged cycling. Herein, an oxygen‐vacancy‐reinforced heterojunction in V6O13−x/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) cathode is designed through electrostatic assembly and annealing strategy. The abundant oxygen vacancies existing in V6O13−x weaken the electrostatic attraction with the inserted Zn2+; the external electric field constructed by the heterointerfaces between V6O13−x and rGO provides additional built‐in driving force for Zn2+ migration; the oxygen‐vacancy‐enriched V6O13−x highly dispersed on rGO fabricates the interconnected conductive network, which achieves rapid Zn2+ migration from heterointerfaces to lattice. Consequently, the obtained 2D heterostructure exhibits a remarkable capacity of 424.5 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, and a stable capacity retention (96% after 5800 cycles) at the fast discharge rate of 10 A g−1. Besides, a flexible pouch‐type AZIB with real‐life practicability is fabricated, which can successfully power commercial products, and maintain stable zinc‐ion storage performances even under bending, heavy strikes, and pressure condition. A series of quantitative investigation of pouch batteries demonstrates the possibility of pushing pouch‐type AZIBs to realistic energy storage market.
The oxygen‐vacancy‐reinforced V6O13−x/reduced graphene oxide heterojunction cathode with interconnected conductive network demonstrates the superior rate capability and cycling stability for aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs). Significantly, the encapsulated flexible pouch‐type AZIBs can effectively power for the tablet, confirming the vast commercialization potential.
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