Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in a Cohort of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis under Disease-Modifying Therapies

Background: Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) alter the immune system and therefore increase the risk of infection. There is growing concern about the impact of COVID-19 on patients with MS (pwMS), especially those treated with DMTs. Methods: This is a single-center prospective observational study based on data from the Esclerosis Múltiple y COVID-19 (EMCOVID-19) study. Demographic characteristics, MS history, laboratory data and SARS-CoV-2 serology, and symptoms of COVID-19 in pwMS treated with any DTM were extracted. The relationship among demographics, MS status, DMT, and COVID-19 was evaluated. Results: A total of 259 pwMS were included. The administration of interferon was significantly associated with the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (26.4% vs. 10.7%, p = 0.006). Although patients taking interferon were significantly older (49.1 vs. 43.5, p = 0.003), the association of interferon with the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was still significant in the multivariate analysis (OR 2.99 (1.38; 6.36), p = 0.006). Conclusions: According to our data, pwMS present a higher risk of COVID-19 infection compared with results obtained from the general population. There is no evidence of a worse COVID-19 outcome in pwMS. DMTs did not significantly change the frequency of COVID-19, except for interferon; however, these findings must be interpreted with caution given the small sample of pwMS taking each DMT

Interlayer hopping properties of electrons in layered metals

A formalism is proposed to study the electron tunneling between extended states, based on the spin-boson Hamiltonian previously used in two-level systems. It is applied to analyze the out--of--plane tunneling in layered metals considering different models. By studying the effects of in--plane interactions on the interlayer tunneling of electrons near the Fermi level, we establish the relation between departure from Fermi liquid behavior driven by electron correlations inside the layer and the out of plane coherence. Response functions, directly comparable with experimental data are obtained

Advantages of Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization in Gas Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry: Pyrethroid Insecticides as a Case Study

Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has been extensively applied for determination of volatile, nonpolar, compounds in many applied fields like food safety, environment, or toxicology. The wide majority of methods reported use electron ionization (EI), which may result in extensive fragmentation of analytes compromising selectivity and sensitivity. This might also complicate the application of tandem MS due to lack of specific/abundant precursor ions. Pyrethroids are examples of compounds with this behavior. In this work, the potential of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), a softer form of ionization, combined with GC and a triple quadrupole mass analyzer was investigated, taking pyrethroids as a case study and their determination in fruit and vegetables as example application. Ionization and fragmentation behavior of eight pyrethroids (bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, cypermethrin, permethrin, ¿-cyhalothrin, fluvalinate, fenvalerate, and deltamethrin) by APCI were studied. The formation of a highly abundant (quasi) molecular ion was the main goal because of the enhanced selectivity when used as precursor ion in tandem MS. The addition of water as a modifier was tested to promote the generation of protonated molecules, resulting in notable improvement of sensitivity and selectivity for most compounds. The excellent detectability (low detection limits (LODs

Biotransformation of pharmaceuticals in surface water and during waste water treatment: identification and occurrence of transformation products

Venlafaxine, gemfibrozil, ibuprofen, irbesartan and ofloxacin are highly-consumed pharmaceuticals that show considerable removal efficiencies (between 40 and 98%) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Consequently, they are expected to generate transformation products (TPs) during wastewater treatment and in surface water (SW) receiving WWTP effluent. In this work, degradation experiments for these five pharmaceuticals have been carried out with SW and WWTP activated sludge under laboratory-controlled aerobic conditions to identify their transformation products by liquid chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF MS). Initially, 22 pharmaceutical TPs were tentatively identified. A retrospective analysis was performed in effluent wastewater (EWW) and SW samples. All parent compounds as well as several TPs were found in some of the selected EWW and SW samples. Additionally, valsartan and 3 TPs were also detected by searching for common fragments in these waters. It is important to highlight that some TPs, such as O-desmethyl-venlafaxine and an oxidized gemfibrozil TP, were more frequently found than their corresponding parent compounds. On the basis of these results, it would be recommendable to include these TPs (at least those found in EWW and SW samples analyzed) in monitoring programs in order to gain a more realistic understanding of the impact of pharmaceuticals on water quality

Electrochemical oxidation of meglumine in a pharmaceutical formulation using a nanocomposite anode

The electrocatalytic oxidation of meglumine and gadoterate meglumine (Gd-DOTA) on a TiO2-Ni(SO4)0.3(OH)1.4 composite anode was investigated in alkaline medium (5 M KOH) using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The composite was prepared by hydrothermal method and the morphology and structure of the produced nanoparticles were studied by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, BET surface area analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The characterization revealed the formation of Ni(SO4)0.3(OH)1.4 nanobelts dispersed on TiO2 nanoaggregates. The composite was coated onto a porous graphite rod, showing good adherence without requiring any binder (according to their anodic and cathodic charges). The supported composite was electrocatalytic, allowing the oxidation of meglumine, either as pure reagent or contained in gadoterate meglumine solutions. Electrochemical methods allowed determining the kinetic parameters, such as the electron transfer coefficient α, the total number of electrons n and the standard heterogeneous rate constant k0 for the reaction of meglumine. The chronoamperometric tests informed about the good stability of the composite anode upon meglumine oxidation at +0.6 V for 10 h. The electrochemical oxidation of meglumine in a commercial pharmaceutical formulation (Dotarem®) was corroborated via ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Electrochemical oxidation of dibenzothiophene compounds on BDD electrode in acetonitrile-water medium

The electrochemical oxidation of dibenzothiophene and two derivatives, namely 4-methyldibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene, was investigated either separately or as a mixture, on a BDD anode in a miscible acetonitrile (87.5% v/v)-water (12.5% v/v, 0.01 M NaNO3) solution. Linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and bulk electrolysis under potentiostatic conditions suggested the probable occurrence of two pathways: direct electrochemical oxidation and indirect reaction with hydroxyl radicals and other reactive oxygen species formed at the BDD anode surface during water discharge. The products extracted upon electrolysis at 1.5 and 2.0 V vs. SCE were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS). The main molecules identified were the corresponding sulfoxides or sulfones, depending on the applied anodic potential. Possible oxidation routes for the dibenzothiophene compounds are proposed