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.
Abstract
The detailed information on the surface structure and binding sites of oxide nanomaterials is crucial to understand the adsorption and catalytic processes and thus the key to develop better ...materials for related applications. However, experimental methods to reveal this information remain scarce. Here we show that
17
O solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be used to identify specific surface sites active for CO
2
adsorption on MgO nanosheets. Two 3-coordinated bare surface oxygen sites, resonating at 39 and 42 ppm, are observed, but only the latter is involved in CO
2
adsorption. Double resonance NMR and density functional theory (DFT) calculations results prove that the difference between the two species is the close proximity to H, and CO
2
does not bind to the oxygen ions with a shorter O···H distance of approx. 3.0 Å. Extensions of this approach to explore adsorption processes on other oxide materials can be readily envisaged.
Sirtuin3 (SIRT3) is associated with oxidative stress and lifespan. However, the possible mechanisms underlying its influence are unknown. We hypothesized that SIRT3 increases the antioxidant capacity ...of aged cells and improves the efficacy of human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) therapy for ischaemic heart diseases in aged patients. In vitro, the antioxidant capacity of old hMSCs (O‐hMSCs) was increased after SIRT3 overexpression using a gene transfection technique, while the antioxidant capacity of young hMSCs (Y‐hMSCs) was decreased by SIRT3 silencing. The levels of forkhead box O3a (FoxO3a) in the nucleus, and antioxidant enzymes Mn‐superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and catalase (CAT) increased in SIRT3‐overexpressed O‐hMSCs while they decreased in SIRT3‐silenced Y‐hMSCs after oxidative stress. Following myocardial infarction in adult rats in vivo, infarct size decreased and cardiac function was significantly enhanced after cell transplantation with SIRT3 overexpressed O‐hMSCs. The number of apoptotic cells decreased and the survival rate of transplanted cells increased following SIRT3 overexpression in O‐hMSCs. SIRT3 protects aged hMSCs against oxidative stress by positively regulating antioxidant enzymes (MnSOD and CAT) via increasing the expression of FoxO3a in the nucleus. The efficacy of aged hMSC transplantation therapy for ischaemic heart diseases can be improved by SIRT3 overexpression.
Periodontitis and hypertension often occur as comorbidities, which need to be treated at the same time. To resolve this issue, a controlled‐release composite hydrogel approach is proposed with dual ...antibacterial and anti‐inflammatory activities as a resolution to achieve the goal of co‐treatment of comorbidities. Specifically, chitosan (CS) with inherent antibacterial properties is cross‐linked with antimicrobial peptide (AMP)‐modified polyethylene glycol (PEG) to form a dual antibacterial hydrogel (CS‐PA). Subsequently, curcumin loaded into biodegradable nanoparticles (CNP) are embedded in the hydrogel exhibiting high encapsulation efficiency and sustained release to achieve long‐term anti‐inflammatory activities. In a mouse model of periodontitis complicated with hypertension, CS‐PA/CNP is applied to gingival sulcus and produced an optimal therapeutic effect on periodontitis and hypertension simultaneously. The therapeutic mechanisms are deeply studied and indicated that CS‐PA/CNP exerted excellent immunoregulatory effects by suppressing the accumulation of lymphocytes and myeloid cells and enhanced the antioxidant capacity and thus the anti‐inflammatory capacity of macrophages through the glutathione metabolism pathway. In conclusion, CS‐PA/CNP has demonstrated its superior therapeutic effects and potential clinical translational value in the co‐treatment of periodontitis and hypertension, and also serves as a drug delivery platform to provide combinatorial therapeutic options for periodontitis with complicated pathogenesis.
CS‐PA hydrogel with dual antibacterial activities is fabricated through the thiol‐maleimide click reaction, where curcumin nanoparticles are physically incorporated. By in situ injection of the hydrogel into periodontal pockets, CS‐PA/CNP can inhibit various periodontal pathogens and restore immune hemostasis to effectively manage periodontitis, which reverses periodontitis‐exacerbated hypertension in the meantime.
Compared to nanomaterials exposing nonpolar facets, polar-faceted nanocrystals often exhibit unexpected and interesting properties. The electrostatic instability arising from the intrinsic dipole ...moments of polar facets, however, leads to different surface configurations in many cases, making it challenging to extract detailed structural information and develop structure-property relations. The widely used electron microscopy techniques are limited because the volumes sampled may not be representative, and they provide little chemical bonding information with low contrast of light elements. With ceria nanocubes exposing (100) facets as an example, here we show that the polar surface structure of oxide nanocrystals can be investigated by applying
O and
H solid-state NMR spectroscopy and dynamic nuclear polarization, combined with DFT calculations. Both CeO
-termination reconstructions and hydroxyls are present for surface polarity compensation and their concentrations can be quantified. These results open up new possibilities for investigating the structure and properties of oxide nanostructures with polar facets.
Phototherapy is an emerging non-pharmacological treatment for depression, circadian rhythm disruptions, and neurodegeneration, as well as pain conditions including migraine and fibromyalgia. However, ...the mechanism of phototherapy-induced antinociception is not well understood. Here, using fiber photometry recordings of population-level neural activity combined with chemogenetics, we found that phototherapy elicits antinociception via regulation of the ventral lateral geniculate body (vLGN) located in the visual system. Specifically, both green and red lights caused an increase of c-fos in vLGN, with red light increased more. In vLGN, green light causes a large increase in glutamatergic neurons, whereas red light causes a large increase in GABAergic neurons. Green light preconditioning increases the sensitivity of glutamatergic neurons to noxious stimuli in vLGN of PSL mice. Green light produces antinociception by activating glutamatergic neurons in vLGN, and red light promotes nociception by activating GABAergic neurons in vLGN. Together, these results demonstrate that different colors of light exert different pain modulation effects by regulating glutamatergic and GABAergic subpopulations in the vLGN. This may provide potential new therapeutic strategies and new therapeutic targets for the precise clinical treatment of neuropathic pain.
•Green light activates glutamatergic neurons in vLGN.•Red light activates GABAergic neurons in vLGN.•Activation of glutaminergic neurons in vLGN mimics the analgesic effects of green light.•Glutamatergic neurons in vLGN may be a new therapeutic target of neuropathic pain.
The development of chemoresistance is a major hurdle for the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC), which contributes remarkably to the poor clinical prognosis. Nanodrug delivery systems show great ...potential in overcoming chemoresistance, but limited by the lack of identification of chemoresistance targets from cancer patients. In the present study, we enrolled chemotherapy-resistant or sensitive CRC patients and used the next-generation RNA sequencing to reveal that Asporin (ASPN) is highly expressed in tumor tissues from oxaliplatin (OXA)-resistant patients and closely correlated with a poor prognosis of CRC. Downregulation of ASPN reversed OXA resistance and promoted cell apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. To overcome ASPN-mediated OXA resistance, we constructed a nanoparticle-based co-delivery system (denoted as PPO-siASPN) for simultaneous delivery of OXA and siRNA targeting ASPN (siASPN). PPO-siASPN not only facilitated the intracellular delivery of OXA through the enhanced cellular uptake, but effectively suppressed ASPN expression for synergistic antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo. In the more clinically relevant patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse model, systemic administration of PPO-siASPN achieved a remarkable therapeutic effect. This study uncovered the critical role of ASPN in causing OXA resistance in CRC patients and suggests a promising nanoformulation that may be more effective than current standard-of-care medications.
Gut microbiota influences nutrient metabolism and immunity of animal hosts. Better understanding of the composition and diversity of gut microbiota contributes to conservation and management of ...threatened animals both in situ and ex situ. In this study, we applied 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to evaluate the composition and diversity of the fecal bacterial community of four gibbon genera (Family Hylobatidae) at four Chinese zoos. The results showed that the dominant bacterial phyla were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria and dominant families were Prevotellaceae (Bacteroidetes), Spirochaetaceae (Spirochaetes) and Ruminococcaceae (Firmicutes) in the gut of all gibbons. Both captive site and host genus had significant effects on the relative abundance of dominant bacteria and structure of gut bacterial community. We found that captive site and host genus did not solely impact gut bacterial diversity, but the interaction between them did. This study provides basic knowledge for gut microbiota of all four gibbon genera and contributes to management and conservation of captive gibbons.
This study reported the gut microbiota of all four gibbon generaat four Chinese zoos
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
The results showed that the dominant bacterial phyla were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria and dominant families were Prevotellaceae (Bacteroidetes), Spirochaetaceae (Spirochaetes) and Ruminococcaceae (Firmicutes) in the gut of all gibbons. Both captive site and host genus had significant effects on the relative abundance of dominant bacteria and structure of gut bacterial community. Captive site and host genus did not solely impact gut bacterial diversity, but the interaction between them did.
•NO gas application yielded a greater biomass in NaCl-treated spinach plants.•The salt-induced oxidative damages could be alleviated by application of NO gas.•Levels of antioxidation-associated ...compounds in NaCl-treated plants were elevated by NO gas.
The increased salinity in greenhouses has become a problem of great concern. In this study, it was observed that the salt-induced oxidative damages (indicated by MDA, H2O2 and antioxidant enzymes, including POD, SOD and CAT) could be alleviated by application of NO gas. Consequently, although both photosynthesis and growth in plants were inhibited by NaCl stress, they were restored by NO gas application, and the fresh and dry biomasses of edible parts increased by 60% and 27% over NaCl stress treatment, respectively. Furthermore, gaseous NO application also significantly elevated the levels of several antioxidation-associated compounds such as proline, ascorbate, glutathione, total phenolics and flavonoids, as well as the total antioxidant capacity (indicated by DPPH scavenging activity) in NaCl-treated plants. Keeping in mind all of the above, we concluded that atmospheric application of trace amounts of nitric oxide gas could be an effective strategy for improving both biomass production and nutrition quality in spinach under salt stress.
To investigate the treatment failure pattern and factors influencing locoregional recurrence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and examine patient survival with re-irradiation (re-RT) ...after primary radiotherapy.
We retrospectively analyzed 87 ESCC patients treated initially with radiotherapy. Failure patterns were classified into regional lymph node recurrence only (LN) and primary failure with/without regional lymph node recurrence (PF). Patients received either re-RT or other treatments (non-re-RT group). Baseline covariates were balanced by a propensity score model. Overall survival (OS) and toxicities were assessed as outcomes.
The median follow-up time was 87 months. Thirty-nine patients received re-RT. Failure pattern and re-RT were independent prognostic factors for OS (P = 0.040 and 0.015) by Cox multivariate analysis. Re-RT with concomitant chemotherapy showed no survival benefit over re-RT alone (P = 0.70). No differences in characteristics were found between the groups by Chi-square tests after propensity score matching. The Cox model showed that failure pattern and re-RT were prognostic factors with hazard ratios (HR) of 0.319 (P = 0.025) and 0.375 (P = 0.002), respectively, in the matched cohort. Significant differences in OS were observed according to failure pattern (P = 0.004) and re-RT (P < 0.001). In the re-RT and non-re-RT groups, 9.09% and 3.03% of patients experienced tracheoesophageal fistulas, and 15.15% and 3.03% of patients developed pericardial/pleural effusion, respectively (P > 0.05). The incidence of radiation pneumonitis was higher in the re-RT group (24.24% vs. 6.06%, P = 0.039), but no cases of pneumonia-related death occurred.
Re-RT improved long-term survival in patients with locoregional recurrent ESCC. Despite a high incidence of radiation pneumonitis, toxicities were tolerable.
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