Water-Repellent TiO₂-Organic Dye-Based Air Filters for Efficient Visible-Light-Activated Photochemical Inactivation against Bioaerosols

Recently, bioaerosols, including the 2019 novel coronavirus, pose a serious threat to global public health. Herein, we introduce a visible-light-activated (VLA) antimicrobial air filter functionalized with titanium dioxide (TiO2)–crystal violet (CV) nanocomposites facilitating abandoned visible light from sunlight or indoor lights. The TiO2–CV based VLA antimicrobial air filters exhibit a potent inactivation rate of ∼99.98% and filtration efficiency of ∼99.9% against various bioaerosols. Under visible-light, the CV is involved in overall inactivation by inducing reactive oxygen species production both directly (CV itself) and indirectly (in combination with TiO2). Moreover, the susceptibility of the CV to humidity was significantly improved by forming a hydrophobic molecular layer on the TiO2 surface, highlighting its potential applicability in real environments such as exhaled or humid air. We believe this work can open a new avenue for designing and realizing practical antimicrobial technology using ubiquitous visible-light energy against the threat of infectious bioaerosols

Nosocomial infection in a newborn intensive care unit (NICU), South Korea

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the occurrence of nosocomial infections (NIs), including infection rates, main infection sites, and common microorganisms. Patients included in the study were taken from a newborn intensive care unit (NICU), in a hospital in South Korea. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed by reviewing chart. The subjects were 489 neonates who were admitted to the NICU, survived longer than 72 hours, and not transferred to another unit, between Jan. 1. 1995 to Sep. 30, 1999. NIs were identified according to the NNIS definition. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Cumulative incidence rate for NIs was 30.3 neonates out of 100 admissions, with a total of 44.6 infections. The incidence density was average 10.2 neonates and 15.1 infections per 1000 patient days. The most common infections were pneumonia (28%), bloodstream infection (26%), and conjunctivitis (22%). Major pathogens were Gram-positives such as Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci. The factors associated with NI was less than 1500 g of birth weight, less than 32 weeks of gestational age, and less than 8 of apgar score. There's no statistical difference in discharge status between two groups, but hospital stay was longer in subjects with nosocomial infection than those without infection. CONCLUSION: Although the distribution of pathogens was similar to previous reports, a high rate of nosocomial infection and in particular conjunctivitis was observed in this study that merits further evaluation

A measure of individual role in collective dynamics

Identifying key players in collective dynamics remains a challenge in several research fields, from the efficient dissemination of ideas to drug target discovery in biomedical problems. The difficulty lies at several levels: how to single out the role of individual elements in such intermingled systems, or which is the best way to quantify their importance. Centrality measures describe a node's importance by its position in a network. The key issue obviated is that the contribution of a node to the collective behavior is not uniquely determined by the structure of the system but it is a result of the interplay between dynamics and network structure. We show that dynamical influence measures explicitly how strongly a node's dynamical state affects collective behavior. For critical spreading, dynamical influence targets nodes according to their spreading capabilities. For diffusive processes it quantifies how efficiently real systems may be controlled by manipulating a single node.Comment: accepted for publication in Scientific Report

The first report of RPSA polymorphisms, also called 37/67 kDa LRP/LR gene, in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although polymorphisms of <it>PRNP</it>, the gene encoding prion protein, are known as a determinant affecting prion disease susceptibility, other genes also influence prion incubation time. This finding offers the opportunity to identify other genetic or environmental factor (s) modulating susceptibility to prion disease. Ribosomal protein SA (<it>RPSA</it>), also called 37 kDa laminin receptor precursor (LRP)/67 kDa laminin receptor (LR), acts as a receptor for laminin, viruses and prion proteins. The binding/internalization of prion protein is dependent for LRP/LR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To identify other susceptibility genes involved in prion disease, we performed genetic analysis of <it>RPSA</it>. For this case-control study, we included 180 sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) patients and 189 healthy Koreans. We investigated genotype and allele frequencies of polymorphism on <it>RPSA </it>by direct sequencing or restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including -8T>C (rs1803893) in the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of exon 2, 134-32C>T (rs3772138) in the intron, 519G>A (rs2269350) in the intron and 793+58C>T (rs2723) in the intron on the <it>RPSA</it>. The 519G>A (at codon 173) is located in the direct PrP binding site. The genotypes and allele frequencies of the <it>RPSA </it>polymorphisms showed no significant differences between the controls and sporadic CJD patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that these <it>RPSA </it>polymorphisms have no direct influence on the susceptibility to sporadic CJD. This was the first genetic association study of the polymorphisms of <it>RPSA </it>gene with sporadic CJD.</p

Automatic Network Fingerprinting through Single-Node Motifs

Complex networks have been characterised by their specific connectivity patterns (network motifs), but their building blocks can also be identified and described by node-motifs---a combination of local network features. One technique to identify single node-motifs has been presented by Costa et al. (L. D. F. Costa, F. A. Rodrigues, C. C. Hilgetag, and M. Kaiser, Europhys. Lett., 87, 1, 2009). Here, we first suggest improvements to the method including how its parameters can be determined automatically. Such automatic routines make high-throughput studies of many networks feasible. Second, the new routines are validated in different network-series. Third, we provide an example of how the method can be used to analyse network time-series. In conclusion, we provide a robust method for systematically discovering and classifying characteristic nodes of a network. In contrast to classical motif analysis, our approach can identify individual components (here: nodes) that are specific to a network. Such special nodes, as hubs before, might be found to play critical roles in real-world networks.Comment: 16 pages (4 figures) plus supporting information 8 pages (5 figures

Dark Radiation and Dark Matter in Large Volume Compactifications

We argue that dark radiation is naturally generated from the decay of the overall volume modulus in the LARGE volume scenario. We consider both sequestered and non-sequestered cases, and find that the axionic superpartner of the modulus is produced by the modulus decay and it can account for the dark radiation suggested by observations, while the modulus decay through the Giudice-Masiero term gives the dominant contribution to the total decay rate. In the sequestered case, the lightest supersymmetric particles produced by the modulus decay can naturally account for the observed dark matter density. In the non-sequestered case, on the other hand, the supersymmetric particles are not produced by the modulus decay, since the soft masses are of order the heavy gravitino mass. The QCD axion will then be a plausible dark matter candidate.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures; version 3: version published in JHE

One-year efficacy and safety of everolimus-eluting bioresorbable scaffolds in the setting of acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study sought to compare clinical outcomes between bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) and durable polymer everolimus-eluting metallic stents (DP-EES) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) undergoing successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: From March 2016 to October 2017, 952 patients with AMI without cardiogenic shock undergoing successful PCI with BRS (n = 136) or DP-EES (n = 816) were enrolled from a multicenter, observational Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry. RESULTS: In the crude population, there was no significant difference in the 1-year rate of device-oriented composite endpoint (DOCE) and device thrombosis between the BRS and DP-EES groups (2.2% vs. 4.8%, hazard ratio [HR] 0.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.13-1.41, p = 0.163; 0.7% vs. 0.5%, HR 1.49, 95% CI 0.16-13.4, p = 0.719, respectively). BRS implantation was opted in younger patients (53.7 vs. 62.6 years, p < 0.001) with low-risk profiles, and intravascular image-guided PCI was more preferred in the BRS group (60.3% vs. 27.2%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: At 1-year follow-up, no differences in the rate of DOCE and device thrombosis were observed between patients with AMI treated with BRS and those treated with DP-EES. Our data suggest that imaging-guided BRS implantation in young patients with low risk profiles could be a reasonable strategy in the setting of AMI

Estresse e Burnout entre residentes multiprofissionais

OBJECTIVE: To identify associations between high-stress and burnout syndrome in multidisciplinary residents from a federal university in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. METHOD: This is an analytical, cross-sectional and quantitative study. A socio-demographic questionnaire, the Work Stress Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Health Services Survey (MBI-HSS) were applied to 37 residents between April and June 2011. P-valuesOBJETIVO: Identificar la asociación entre alto estrés y Burnout en residentes Multiprofesionales de una universidad federal de Rio Grande do Sul. MÉTODO: se trata de un estudio analítico, transversal, cuantitativo. Se aplicaron un formulario de datos socio-demográficos, la Escala de Estrés en el Trabajo y el Maslach Burnout Inventory- Health Services en 37 residentes entre Abril y Junio de 2011. Valores de pOBJETIVO: identificar a associação entre alto estresse e Burnout em residentes multiprofissionais de uma universidade federal do Rio Grande do Sul. MÉTODO: trata-se de estudo analítico, transversal, quantitativo. Aplicaram-se um formulário de dados socio demográficos, a Escala de Estresse no Trabalho e o Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) em 37 residentes entre abril e junho de 2011. Valores de

The Functions of Grainy Head-Like Proteins in Animals and Fungi and the Evolution of Apical Extracellular Barriers

The Grainy head (GRH) family of transcription factors are crucial for the development and repair of epidermal barriers in all animals in which they have been studied. This is a high-level functional conservation, as the known structural and enzymatic genes regulated by GRH proteins differ between species depending on the type of epidermal barrier being formed. Interestingly, members of the CP2 superfamily of transcription factors, which encompasses the GRH and LSF families in animals, are also found in fungi – organisms that lack epidermal tissues. To shed light on CP2 protein function in fungi, we characterized a Neurospora crassa mutant lacking the CP2 member we refer to as grainy head-like (grhl). We show that Neurospora GRHL has a DNA-binding specificity similar to that of animal GRH proteins and dissimilar to that of animal LSF proteins. Neurospora grhl mutants are defective in conidial-spore dispersal due to an inability to remodel the cell wall, and we show that grhl mutants and the long-known conidial separation-2 (csp-2) mutants are allelic. We then characterized the transcriptomes of both Neurospora grhl mutants and Drosophila grh mutant embryos to look for similarities in the affected genes. Neurospora grhl appears to play a role in the development and remodeling of the cell wall, as well as in the activation of genes involved in defense and virulence. Drosophila GRH is required to activate the expression of many genes involved in cuticular/epidermal-barrier formation. We also present evidence that GRH plays a role in adult antimicrobial defense. These results, along with previous studies of animal GRH proteins, suggest the fascinating possibility that the apical extracellular barriers of some animals and fungi might share an evolutionary connection, and that the formation of physical barriers in the last common ancestor was under the control of a transcriptional code that included GRH-like proteins