Prevalence and factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a cross-sectional survey

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant threats to both the physical and psychological health of healthcare workers working in the front-line combating COVID-19. However, studies regarding the medium to long term impact of COVID-19 on mental health among healthcare workers are limited. Therefore, we conducted this cross-sectional survey to investigate the prevalence, factors and impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 8 months after the end of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.MethodsA web-based questionnaire was delivered as a link via the communication application WeChat to those healthcare workers who worked at several COVID-19 units during the outbreak (from December 2019 to April 2020) in Wuhan, China. The questionnaire included questions on social-demographic data, the post-traumatic stress disorder checklist-5 (PCL-5), the family care index questionnaire (Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection and Resolve, APGAR), and the quality-of-life scale (QOL). The prevalence, risk and protective factors, and impact of PTSD on healthcare workers were subsequently analyzed.ResultsAmong the 659 participants, 90 healthcare workers were still suffering from PTSD 8 months after the end of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, in which avoidance and negative impact were the most affected dimensions. Suffering from chronic disease, experiencing social isolation, and job dissatisfaction came up as independent risk factors for PTSD, while obtaining COVID-19 related information at an appropriate frequency, good family function, and working in well-prepared mobile cabin hospitals served as protective factors. The impact of PTSD on COVID-19 exposed healthcare workers was apparent by shortened sleeping time, feeling of loneliness, poorer quality of life and intention to resign.ConclusionsEight months after the end of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, the level of PTSD in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 was still high. Apart from the commonly recognized risk factors, comorbid chronic disease was identified as a new independent risk factor for developing PTSD. For countries where the pandemic is still ongoing or in case of future outbreaks of new communicable diseases, this study may contribute to preventing cases of PTSD in healthcare workers exposed to infectious diseases under such circumstances

Shewanella irciniae sp nov., a novel member of the family Shewanellaceae, isolated from the marine sponge Ircinia dendroides in the Bay of Villefranche, Mediterranean Sea

Strain UST040317-058(T), comprising non-pigmented, rod-shaped, facultatively anaerobic, Gram-negative cells that are motile by means of single polar flagella, was isolated from the surface of a marine sponge (Ircinia dendroides) collected from the Mediterranean Sea. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis placed the strain in a separate cluster with the recognized bacterium Shewanella algae IAM 14159(T), with which it showed a sequence similarity of 95.0 %. The sequence similarity between strain UST040317-058(T) and its other (six) closest relatives ranged from 91.6 to 93.8 %. Strain UST040317-058(T) showed oxidase, catalase and gelatinase activities. The typical respiratory quinones for shewanellas, menaquinone MK-7 and ubiquinones Q-7 and Q-8, were also detected. The predominant fatty acids in strain UST040317-058(T) were i15 : 0, 16 : 0, 17 : 1omega8c and summed feature 3 (comprising i15 : 0 2-OH and/or 16 : 1omega7c), altogether representing 56.9 % of the total. The DNA G+C content was 39.9 mol%. The strain could be differentiated from other Shewanella species by its inability to reduce nitrate or produce H(2)S and by 10-22 additional phenotypic characteristics. On the basis of the phylogenetic and phenotypic data presented in this study, strain UST040317-058(T) represents a novel species in the genus Shewanella, for which the name Shewanella irciniae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is UST040317-058(T) (=JCM 13528(T)=NRRL B-41466(T))

Reactivity of 3‑Imino-Functionalized Indoles with Rare-Earth-Metal Amides: Unexpected Substituent Effects on C–H Activation Pathways and Assembly of Rare-Earth-Metal Complexes

The reactivities of different 3-imino-functionalized indoles with rare-earth-metal amides [(Me₃Si)₂N]₃RE­(μ-Cl)­Li­(THF)₃ were studied to reveal unexpected substituent effects on C–H bond activation pathways, leading to the formation of unusual rare-earth-metal complexes. The reactions of 3-(<i>tert-</i>butylimino)­indole with [(Me₃Si)₂N]₃RE­(μ-Cl)­Li­(THF)₃ produced tetranuclear rare-earth-metal complexes {[η¹:(μ₂-η¹:η¹):η¹-3-(<i>t</i>BuNCH)­C₈H₄N]­RE₂­(μ₂-Cl)₂(THF)­[N­(SiMe₃)₂]­(η¹:η¹-[μ-η⁵:η²<i>-</i>3-(<i>t</i>BuNCH)­C₈H₅N]₂Li)}₂ (RE = Ho (<b>1a</b>), Er (<b>1b</b>)), incorporating a unique indolyl-1,2-dianion through sp² C–H activation bonded with the central metal in η¹:(μ₂-η¹:η¹) mode. The reactions of 3-(phenylimino)­indole with [(Me₃Si)₂N]₃RE­(μ-Cl)­Li­(THF)₃ afforded novel binuclear complexes formulated as {3-[PhNCH­(CH₂SiMe₂)­N­(SiMe₃)]­C₈H₅NRE­(THF)­(μ₂-Cl)­Li­(THF)₂}₂ (RE = Y (<b>2a</b>), Sm (<b>2b</b>), Dy (<b>2c</b>), Yb (<b>2d</b>)) through an unexpected sp³ C–H bond activation with subsequent C–C bond coupling reactions. Treatment of 3-(2-methylphenylimino)­indole or 3-(4-methylphenylimino)­indole with [(Me₃Si)₂N]₃­Yb­(μ-Cl)­Li­(THF)₃ generated the corresponding dinuclear rare-earth-metal amido complexes {3-[(2-MePh)­NCH­(CH₂SiMe₂)­N­(SiMe₃)]­C₈H₅NYb­(THF)­(μ₂-Cl)­Li­(THF)₂}₂ (<b>3</b>) and {3-[(4-MePh)­NCH­(CH₂SiMe₂)­N­(SiMe₃)]­C₈H₅NYb­(THF)­(μ₂-Cl)­Li­(THF)₂}₂ (<b>4</b>), following the same pathway for the formation of complexes <b>2a</b>–<b>d</b>. Treatment of 3-(4-<i>tert</i>-butylphenylimino)­indole with [(Me₃Si)₂N]₃RE­(μ-Cl)­Li­(THF)₃ afforded new hexanuclear rare-earth-metal complexes {3-[(4-^<i>t</i>Bu-Ph)­NHCH­(CH₂SiMe₂)­N­(SiMe₃)]­C₈H₅NREN­(SiMe₃)₂}₆ (RE = Dy (<b>5a</b>), Ho (<b>5b</b>), Er (<b>5c</b>)) via sp³ C–H bond activation followed by C–C bond coupling reactions. In contrast, under the same conditions as those for the preparation of <b>5</b>, the reaction with the corresponding yttrium complex provided the new heterohexayttrium complex {3-[(4-<i>t</i>Bu-Ph)­NCH­(CH₂SiMe₂)­N­(SiMe₃)]­C₈H₅NYN­(SiMe₃)₂­Li­(THF)}₆ (<b>6</b>), having a 4-<i>t</i>Bu-anilido moiety. All of these complexes were fully characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic methods, and X-ray structure analysis. Plausible pathways for the formation of these different rare-earth-metal complexes were proposed

Flexible Method for Generating Arbitrary Vector Beams Based on Modified Off-Axis Interference-Type Hologram Encoding

A novel experimental setup for the generation of arbitrary vector beams is proposed. The system major includes two reflective liquid crystal spatial light modulators (RLC-SLM) and a polarizing beam splitting prism. Moreover, this method is not limited by the wavelength of light wave and the pixel size of SLM. Theoretical analysis shows that when Gaussian beam or a plane beam is illuminated on a computer-generated hologram (CGH) specially designed in this work, the complex amplitudes of the vector field’s two orthogonal polarization components may be changed by modifying the encoding parameters, resulting in a vector beam with arbitrary complex amplitude and polarization in the output field. The experimental results also show that the two independent coding channels of the device have good polarization-selective imaging ability, which greatly improves the flexibility of generating arbitrary vector beams

Copper-Catalyzed Electrophilic Amination of Organoaluminum Nucleophiles with <i>O</i>‑Benzoyl Hydroxylamines

A copper-catalyzed electrophilic amination of aryl and heteroaryl aluminums with <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-dialkyl-<i>O</i>-benzoyl hydroxylamines that affords the corresponding anilines in good yields has been developed. The catalytic reaction proceeds very smoothly under mild conditions and exhibits good substrate scope. Moreover, the developed catalytic system is also well suited for heteroaryl aluminum nucleophiles, providing facile access to heteroaryl amines