Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Assessment of the Synergistic Effect of Seven Antimicrobial Combinations on Extensively Drug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Strains

Background: To solve the difficulty in determining the appropriate treatment regimen for patients infected with extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDRAB), it is necessary to develop various strategies to increase the therapeutic effect of antimicrobial agents. The purpose of this study was to select the treatment combination showing the greatest antimicrobial effect among seven candidate antimicrobial substances. Methods: Seven strains of XDRAB were used in this study. The composition of the treatment consisted of colistin as the base and one of the seven antimicrobial substances, doripenem, minocycline, tigecycline, linezolid, fusidic acid, vancomycin, or alyteserin E4K peptide. The interaction between the drugs in each combination was evaluated by measuring the synergy rates using time-kill analysis. Results: The synergy rates of the seven combinations tested in the time-kill assay in this study were as follows, in descending order from the combination with the highest synergy rate: colistin + minocycline (57.1%), colistin + alyteserin E4K (50.0%), colistin + tigecycline (42.9%), colistin + vancomycin (28.6%), colistin + doripenem (14.3%), colistin + fusidic acid (14.3%), and colistin + linzolid (0%). None of the combinations showed antagonism. The three combinations showing bactericidal activity and the rates of their bactericidal activity were colistin + alyteserin E4K combination (33.3%), colistin + minocycline (14.3%), and colistin + vancomycin (14.3%). Conclusion: The colistin + minocycline and colistin + alyteserin E4K treatment combinations, which showed high synergy rates, can be considered as promising candidates for future in vivo experiments evaluating combination therapies

Multiferroic properties in Fe-site engineered PbFe1/2Nb1/2O3 with distinct antisymmetric spin interaction

Multiferroic Fe-site engineered lead iron niobate [Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O-3, PFN] was prepared by partially substituting Fe with Ni, Co, and Cr, which comprise distinct Bohr magnetons, to investigate the effect of the variation in spin configurations on magnetic and multiferroic properties. All the studied compositions exhibited a single-phase perovskite structure, wherein the lattice constant decreased with increasing substitutions. The inherent ferroelectric order was preserved when Ni or Co ions were introduced, while the introduction of Cr made the samples too lossy, which prevented the verification of the possible ferroelectricity. Substitution of Fe with different transition metals in PFN, which is originally paramagnetic at room temperature, resulted in oriented spin configurations that led to distinct magnetic orders: soft ferromagnetic, hard ferromagnetic, and antiferromagnetic orders for Ni, Co, and Cr, respectively. This distinction mainly stems from the interspin distance and the spin moment, both of which are important factors during the spin exchange interaction. The interspin distance of pristine and Cr-substituted PFN is too long and short, respectively, to induce ferromagnetic properties. Moreover, at room temperature, magnetic-field-dependent magnetoelectric coupling was observed only for the Ni- and Co-substituted PFN owing to their asymmetric spin configuration. This research could lead to a general method for modulating the magnetic properties of multiferroic perovskite oxides

Duodenal amyloidosis secondary to ulcerative colitis

Amyloidosis is defined as the extracellular deposition of non-branching fibrils composed of a variety of serum-protein precursors. Secondary amyloidosis is associated with several chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatologic or intestinal diseases, familial Mediterranean fever, or chronic infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis. Although the association of amyloidosis with inflammatory bowel disease is known, amyloidosis secondary to ulcerative colitis (UC) is rare. A 36-year-old male patient with a 15-year history of UC presented with nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. He had been treated with infliximab for 6 years. At the time of admission, he had been undergoing treatment with mesalazine and adalimumab since the preceding 5 months. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed mucosal erythema, edema, and erosions with geographic ulcers at the 2nd and 3rd portions of the duodenum. Duodenal amyloidosis was diagnosed using polarized light microscopy and Congo red stain. Monoclonal gammopathy was not detected in serum and urine tests, while the serum free light chain assay result was not specific. An increase in plasma cells in the bone marrow was not found. Secondary amyloidosis due to UC was suspected. The symptoms were resolved after glucocorticoid therapy

A Study of Skin Reflectance Using Kubelka-Munk Model

빛은 피부에서 개개인마다 상이한 반사, 흡수 및 산란 등의 광학적 거동을 보여준다. 특히, 피부에서 빛의반사는 분광반사율이라는 물리량 측정을 통해 개인의 피부 밝기지표로 널리 활용되어 왔다. 따라서 피부에서빛의 반사 거동 연구는 개인 맞춤형 화장품, 특히 메이크업 제품 개발에 있어 좀 더 효율적인 처방 개선에 기여하거나 새로운 평가법에 활용될 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 Kubelka-Munk 모델을 이용하여 개인의 피부 특성에 따른 빛의 분광반사율 거동에 대해 다각적인 분석을 수행하였다. 또한, 상기 모델과 기존에 알려진 문헌 정보를이용하여 개인의 피부 분광반사율에 영향을 줄 수 있는 피부 두께 및 헤모글로빈 등의 다양한 파라미터들에 대한기여도 분석을 수행하였다. 이를 통해, 일반적인 여성의 피부에서의 분광반사율 이론치를 계산하였고, 분광반사율 실측을 통해 이론치와 실측치 간의 유사성을 확인하였다. Kubelka-Munk 모델을 이용한 피부 분광반사율연구는 향후 새로운 개인 맞춤형 메이크업 화장품 개발에 유용하게 이용될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다. Light shows various optical behaviors such as reflection, absorption, and scattering on skin for individuals. In particular, reflection of light from the skin has been widely used as the brightness index of the skin of individuals through the measurement of the physical quantity of spectral reflectance. Therefore, the study of light behavior on skin would be useful for the preparation of new evaluation method in the development stage of make-up products. In this study, multi-dimensional analysis for spectral reflectance behavior of light on individual skin was performed using Kubelka-Munk model. Also, we analyzed the contribution of skin parameters such as skin thickness and hemoglobin, which could affect the spectral reflectance, using above model and literature information. Base on this, we calculated the theoretical reflectance of normal women for visual light, which showed good agreement with the measured reflectance. Our study of light propagation in skin based on Kubelka-Munk model provides useful insight for the development of personalized cosmetic in the near future.22Nkc

Thermal Percolation Behavior in Thermal Conductivity of Polymer Nanocomposite with Lateral Size of Graphene Nanoplatelet

In this study, the thermal percolation behavior for the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites according to the lateral size of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) was studied. When the amount of GNPs reached the critical concentration, a rapid increase in thermal conductivity and thermal percolation behavior of the nanocomposites were induced by the GNP network. Interestingly, as the size of GNPs increased, higher thermal conductivity and a lower percolation threshold were observed. The in-plane thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite containing 30 wt.% M25 GNP (the largest size) was 8.094 W/m·K, and it was improved by 1518.8% compared to the polymer matrix. These experimentally obtained thermal conductivity results for below and above the critical content were theoretically explained by applying Nan’s model and the percolation model, respectively, in relation to the GNP size. The thermal percolation behavior according to the GNP size identified in this study can provide insight into the design of nanocomposite materials with excellent heat dissipation properties

Unripe Black Raspberry (Rubus coreanus Miquel) Extract and Its Constitute, Ellagic Acid Induces T Cell Activation and Antitumor Immunity by Blocking PD-1/PD-L1 Interaction

Rubus coreanus Miquel (R. coreanus) is a unripen fruit of black raspberry native to eastern Asia. It is used as traditional oriental medicine and supplementary foods for centuries. Previous studies have shown that the R. coreanus extract (RCE) and its main constitute ellagic acid possess diverse biological activities. However, the effects of RCE on antitumor immunity and T cell function were not fully understood. The present study describes the anti-tumor effect of RCE in humanized PD-1 mice by blocking PD-1/PD-L1 interaction. Competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and pull down assay were performed to elucidate the binding properties of RCE in vitro. Cellular PD-1/PD-L1 blockade activities were measured by T cell receptor (TCR)-induced nuclear factor of activated T cells-luciferase activity in co-cultured cell models with PD-1/NFAT Jurkat and PD-L1/aAPC CHO-K1 cells. The in vivo efficacy of RCE was confirmed in humanized PD-1 mice bearing MC38 colorectal tumor. RCE and ellagic acid dose-dependently block the binding of PD-1 to PD-L1. Moreover, oral administration of RCE showed the potent anti-tumor activity similar to anti-PD-1 antibody. The present study suggests that RCE possesses potent anti-tumor effect via PD-1/PD-L1 blockade, and ellagic acid is the main compound in RCE. Thus, we provide new aspects of RCE as an immunotherapeutic agent