Guidance for dental treatment of patients with disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic

People with disabilities are challenged managing their oral hygiene and more often burdened with oral diseases. They often require immediate dental treatment for severe pain and greater precautions are needed to cope with COVID-19. The potential for COVID-19 infection can be relatively high in patients with disabilities due to concomitant systemic diseases, unique individual circumstances, relationship with caregivers and the living conditions of long-term care facilities, which make them vulnerable to the virus. For behavior management, dental treatment is often provided under general anesthesia with meticulous preoperative evaluation and the use of high-quality viral filters. In response to COVID-19, additional considerations should be taken for dental procedures on patients with special needs. These recommendations for dental treatment of the disabled are based on 6 months of authors COVID-19 pandemic experience

Charge Transfer Induced Molecular Hole Doping into Thin Film of Metal-Organic-Frameworks

Despite the highly porous nature with significantly large surface area, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) can be hardly used in electronic, and optoelectronic devices due to their extremely poor electrical conductivity. Therefore, the study of MOF thin films that require electron transport or conductivity in combination with the everlasting porosity is highly desirable. In the present work, thin films of Co3(NDC)3DMF4 MOFs with improved electronic conductivity are synthesized using layer-by-layer and doctor blade coating techniques followed by iodine doping. The as-prepared and doped films are characterized using FE-SEM, EDX, UV/Visible spectroscopy, XPS, current-voltage measurement, photoluminescence spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and incident photon to current efficiency measurements. In addition, the electronic and semiconductor property of the MOF films are characterized using Hall Effect measurement, which reveals that in contrast to the insulator behavior of the as-prepared MOFs, the iodine doped MOFs behave as a p-type semiconductor. This is caused by charge transfer induced hole doping into the frameworks. The observed charge transfer induced hole doping phenomenon is also confirmed by calculating the densities of states of the as-prepared and iodine doped MOFs based on density functional theory. Photoluminescence spectroscopy demonstrate an efficient interfacial charge transfer between TiO2 and iodine doped MOFs, which can be applied to harvest solar radiations.Comment: Main paper (19 pages, 6 figures) and supplementary information (15 pages, 10 figures), accepted in ACS Appl. Materials & Interface

RBFOX3 regulates Claudin-1 expression in human lung tissue via attenuation of proteasomal degradation

RBFOX3, a nuclear RNA-binding protein, is well known as a regulator of alternative pre-mRNA splicing during neuronal development. However, other functions of RBFOX3 are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the function of RBFOX3 in the cytoplasm with respect to regulation of Claudin-1 expression. In human lung tissue, Claudin-1 is higher in RBFOX3-positive cells than in RBFOX3-negative cells. Immunostaining and mRNA quantification revealed that protein levels, but not mRNA levels, of Claudin-1 are increased by RBFOX3. In addition, cycloheximide treatment of human lung cancer cells revealed that RB-FOX3 increases the stability of Claudin-1 through attenuation of its ubiquitination. Our study provides insights into the molecular mechanisms by which RBFOX3 regulates Claudin-1 expression in human lung tissue

Učinak dodataka prehrani acetaminofena i vitamina C na stres i upalni odgovor u korejske autohtone pasmine goveda cijepljene protiv slinavke i šapa - kratko priopćenje

This study evaluated the effect of a combination of acetaminophen and vitamin C (CAV) for reduction of stress and inflammatory responses in calves vaccinated with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine. Twenty-five calves were divided into five groups of 5 calves. The negative control was non-vaccination and non-drug treatment. The positive control, and experimental groups I, II and III were vaccinated with FMD vaccine and treated with CAV at concentrations of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 kg/ton feed, respectively, for five consecutive days post-vaccination. On day 5 post-treatment, serum cortisols and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were significantly decreased in all treatment groups compared with the positive control (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in serum cortisol and TNF-α levels between experimental groups I and II and the negative control. The results from this study suggest that CAV may be a useful drug for control of the stress and inflammation caused by FMD vaccination in calves.U ovom se radu istražuje učinak kombinacije acetaminofena i vitamina C (CAV) na smanjenje stresa i upalnog odgovora u teladi cijepljene protiv slinavke i šapa. Ukupno 25 životinja podijeljeno je u pet skupina po pet životinja. Životinje u negativnoj kontrolnoj skupini nisu cijepljene i nisu dobile dodatke prehrani. Životinje u pozitivnoj kontrolnoj skupini i pokusnim skupinama I, II i III cijepljene su cjepivom protiv slinavke i šapa i dobile su dodatak prehrani CAV u koncentracijama od 0,0, 0,5, 1,0 i 2,0 kg/toni hrane, pet uzastopnih dana poslije cijepljenja. Peti dan nakon tretmana serumski kortizol i faktor nekroze tumora alfa (TNF-α) bili su znakovito smanjeni u svim pokusnim skupinama u usporedbi s pozitivnom kontrolnom skupinom (P<0,05). Nije bilo znakovite razlike u vrijednostima serumskog kortizola i TNF-α između pokusne skupine 1 i 2 i negativne kontrolne skupine. Rezultati ovoga istraživanja upućuju na to da bi CAV mogao biti koristan u kontroli stresa i upale uzrokovane cjepivom protiv slinavke i šapa u teladi

A highly sensitive and selective viral protein detection method based on RNA oligonucleotide nanoparticle

Globally, approximately 170 million people (representing approximately 3% of the population worldwide), are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and at risk of serious liver disease, including chronic hepatitis. We propose a new quantum dots (QDs)-supported RNA oligonucleotide approach for the specific and sensitive detection of viral protein using a biochip. This method was developed by immobilizing a HCV nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) on the surface of a glass chip via the formation of a covalent bond between an amine protein group and a ProLinker™ glass chip. The QDs-supported RNA oligonucleotide was conjugated via an amide formation reaction from coupling of a 5′-end-amine-modified RNA oligonucleotide on the surface of QDs displaying carboxyl groups via standard EDC coupling. The QDs-conjugated RNA oligonucleotide was interacted to immobilized viral protein NS5B on the biochip. The detection is based on the variation of signal of QDs-supported RNA oligonucleotide bound on an immobilized biochip. It was demonstrated that the value of the signal has a linear relationship with concentrations of the HCV NS5B viral protein in the 1 μg mL−1 to 1 ng mL−1 range with a detection limit of 1 ng mL−1. The major advantages of this RNA-oligonucleotide nanoparticle assay are its good specificity, ease of performance, and ability to perform one-spot monitoring. The proposed method could be used as a general method of HCV detection and is expected to be applicable to other types of diseases as well

Psychotic Features as the First Manifestation of 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

The 22q11.2 deletion is a genetic disorder which is characterized by abnormalities in cardiac functioning, facial structure, neurobehavioral development, T cell functioning, and velopharyngeal insufficiencies. In the presented case study, 22q11.2 deletion was found in a patient who has psychotic symptoms only. A 25-year-old woman with a history of hypoparathyroidism and hypothyroidism presented with auditory hallucinations and persecutory delusions. After three months of treatment with antipsychotic medications, the patient was readmitted with generalized tonic-clonic seizures. The following week, the patient went into sepsis. A fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis revealed the presence of a 22q11.2 microdeletion. This case study suggests that psychotic symptoms can develop prior to the typical symptoms of a 22q11.2 deletion. As such, psychiatrists should test for genetic abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia when these patients present with seizures and immunodeficiencies