Coronavirus Disease 2019 Myocarditis: Insights into Pathophysiology and Management

The world is dealing with a global pandemic of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, is overwhelming healthcare systems around the world. Although the main clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are respiratory symptoms, several reports have noted myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias and cardiac arrests as COVID-19 complications. Here, the authors highlight the current understanding of the pathophysiology of myocarditis related to COVID-19 and its management

Inkjet-printed electrochemical devices for bioelectronics

In recent years, inkjet printing has received increasing attention from academic and industrial communities as a rapid prototyping and cost-effective tool for manufacturing a wide variety of electronic devices. The printed electronic field has great application in biosensors since printed sensors are cheap, small, portable and flexible. Therefore, substantial efforts have been devoted to the improvement of this powerful technology to render it suitable for microscale fabrication with the prospect of practical applications. The purpose of this research is to create a new alternative platform for developing diagnostic tools with high sensitivity and low cost. In this dissertation, I propose an alternative approach for sensitive detection of disease biomarkers and cardiac action potential using printed technology. This alternative approach is based on three main elements (i) controlled bioreceptor immobilization using photonic immobilization technique, (ii) signal amplification using electrochemical redox cycling, (iii) novel printing methodology. The first is achieved by combining a rapid and simple printing scheme with the photonic immobilization technique for site-specific immobilization of antibodies. Pho-tonic immobilization, which is easy and fast to perform, is presented on printed chips for the first time, achieving a higher sensitivity and better limit of detection compared to the conventional immobilization approaches. In the first application, I targeted the determination of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the presence of human serum. The second element, which is signal amplification using electrochemical redox cycling, is realized by repetitive cycling of redox probes between two adjacent electrodes. The sensitivity of a redox cycling sensor depends on the distance between the two electrodes. In other words, a short distance between the electrodes in the micro- or even nanometer regime is required to achieve an effective redox cycling amplification. Therefore, I developed a new scheme for fabricating micro-gap electrodes with in-plane displacement, as well as porous nano-gap electrodes with out-of-plane displacement, using inkjet printing and without prior surface patterning. As a proof of concept, I demonstrated the use of micro-gap redox cycling sensors for the detection of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) using peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) immobilized on the carbon microelectrodes. The developed genosensors were then applied to the detection of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) marker sequence encoding of HIV-1 nef gene. The third element, namely the development of novel printing methodology for high-resolution printing, is accomplished by exploring the different physical, chemical and hydro-dynamical properties of an ink droplet that interacts with the substrate surface. I provide the first demonstration for fabricating microelectrode arrays (MEA) in a rapid prototyping approach based on inkjet printing. The printed MEAs on flexible substrates resulted in a high-resolution outcome with good electrical and outstanding electrochemical characteristics, suitable for cellular recording and stimulation. I cultured Hl-1 cells on MEAs printed using gold and carbon inks on flexible substrates. Using the MEAs, the propagating action potentials were recorded across the cellular network with high signal-to-noise ratios. The benefits of having a transparent and flexible printed MEA are well appreciated when it comes to in-vivo applications, such as neuronal implants. With such an application in mind, I printed high resolution MEAs on soft materials such as PDMS, agarose, and gelatin-based substrates including gummy bears. A series of in-vitro extracellular recordings of action potentials were recorded from cardiac HL-1 cells and the results demonstrate that inkjet printing can be used for fabricating functional cell-device interfaces on soft materials in a rapid prototyping approach. Hereafter, this dissertation contributes significantly to the vision I have for providing healthcare system with sensitive biosensors and soft MEA platforms that avoid expensive fabrication utilities, towards rapid prototyping of ultra-low-cost medical devices

Assessment of telepsychiatry services provided by Okasha Institute of Psychiatry during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background Telemedicine has a great role in delivering clinical services when distance and time are critical factors. Although this tool does not replace a medical examination, it was inevitably needed service during COVID-19 pandemic as it avoided the need for a patient’s visit, particularly at times when confinement measures are being enforced. As technology is sweeping the earth, the role of telemedicine should be evaluated precisely as an ongoing service with great emphasis on patient’s satisfaction. Patients and methods Participants of telepsychiatric services using Ain Shams University platform for three consecutive months (July, August, and September 2021) were enrolled in the study. Data were collected using Google form, and patients were approached via telephone calls. De novo questionnaire for assessing patient’s satisfaction was conducted in Arabic to assess patient satisfaction. Results A total of 104 participants receiving video consultation. Positive attitude towards remote consultations was concluded, where 80.8% (84) of the patients were satisfied from telepsychiatry services. Conclusion Our study highlights high degree of satisfaction among patients receiving telepsychiatry consultations provided by Okasha Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University, Egypt

Method for producing a memory cell having a porous dielectric and use of the memory cell

A method for producing a memory cell includes providing a non-conductive substrate, mounting a first conductor track made of conductive material on the non-conductive substrate, mounting a porous dielectric with or without redox-active molecules in a form of points on the first conductor track, and mounting a second conductor track orthogonally to the first conductor track, wherein the first and second conductor tracks have an electrode function at their intersection point, and wherein the porous dielectric is arranged between the electrodes. The method further includes mounting a passivation layer on the substrate, the first conductor track, the dielectric, and the second conductor track, so that the conductor track remains contactable. The first and the second conductor track form a memory at their intersection point with the dielectric arranged between them, in which the redox reaction of the redox-active molecules is configured to be driven by a voltage

Fully Printed μ-Needle Electrode Array from Conductive Polymer Ink for Bioelectronic Applications

Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are widely used platforms in bioelectronics to study electrogenic cells. In recent years, the processing of conductive polymers for the fabrication of three-dimensional electrode arrays has gained increasing interest for the development of novel sensor designs. Here, additive manufacturing techniques are promising tools for the production of MEAs with three-dimensional electrodes. In this work, a facile additive manufacturing process for the fabrication of MEAs that feature needle-like electrode tips, so-called μ-needles, is presented. To this end, an aerosol-jet compatible PEDOT:PSS and multiwalled carbon nanotube composite ink with a conductivity of 323 ± 75 S m–1 is developed and used in a combined inkjet and aerosol-jet printing process to produce the μ-needle electrode features. The μ-needles are fabricated with a diameter of 10 ± 2 μm and a height of 33 ± 4 μm. They penetrate an inkjet-printed dielectric layer to a height of 12 ± 3 μm. After successful printing, the electrochemical properties of the devices are assessed via cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The μ-needles show a capacitance of 242 ± 70 nF at a scan rate of 5 mV s–1 and an impedance of 128 ± 22 kΩ at 1 kHz frequency. The stability of the μ-needle MEAs in aqueous electrolyte is demonstrated and the devices are used to record extracellular signals from cardiomyocyte-like HL-1 cells. This proof-of-principle experiment shows the μ-needle MEAs’ cell-culture compatibility and functional integrity to investigate electrophysiological signals from living cells