Two-dimensional half-metallicity in transition metal atoms decorated Cr2Ge2Te6

As one of the first experimentally found and naturally stable two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials, the monolayer Cr2Ge2Te6 has garnered great interest due to its potential hires in electronics and spintronics. Yet, the Curie temperature of monolayer Cr2Ge2Te6 is lower than the ambient temperature, severely restricting the creation of valuable devices. Using the first-principle calculations, we explored how the adsorption of 3d transition metals affects the electronic and magnetic properties of the monolayer Cr2Ge2Te6 (from Sc to Zn). Our findings indicate that depending on the 3d transition metals to be adsorbed, the electronic properties of the Cr2Ge2Te6 adsorption system may be adjusted from semiconductor to metal/half-metal. We found that the adsorption of Ti and Fe leads to a transformation from semiconductor to metal. While in Cr2Ge2Te6@Sc, V, Co, Ni, and Cu, the absorption realizes the changes from semiconductor to half metal. Moreover, adsorption may modify the magnetic moment and Curie temperature of the adsorbed system to enhance the ferromagnetic stability of the monolayer Cr2Ge2Te6. Furthermore, we are able to modulate the half-metallic of Cr2Ge2Te6@Mn by means of electric fields. Hence, adsorption is a viable method for modulating the ferromagnetic half-metallic of 2D ferromagnets, paving the door for the future development of nano-electronic and spintronic devices with enhanced performance for 2D ferromagnetic materials

Tutorial introdutório do Port4NooJ

Background: Plakophilin2 (PKP2) is a desmosome-related protein with numerous armadillo repeats and has been linked to arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Fatal arrhythmias resulting in sudden death also occur in the absence of morphologic cardiac abnormalities at autopsy, and have been linked to ion channel mutations in a subset of cases, but so far not to PKP2.Methods and Results: We sequenced all 14 exons of PKP2 in DNA extracted from postmortem heart tissues of 25 patients dying from ARVC and 25 from sudden unexpected death with negative autopsy (SUDNA). the primers were designed using the Primer Express 3.0 software. Direct sequencing for both sense and antisense strands was performed with a BigDye Terminator DNA sequencing kit on a 3130XL Genetic Analyzer. Mutation damage prediction was made using Mutation Taster, Polyphen and SIFT software. in 6 of the 25 ARVC samples, 6 PKP2 mutations were identified, 4 of which were likely significant, and 3 of which were novel (p.N641del, p.L64PfsX22, p.G269R). in 6 of the 25 cases of SUDNA samples, 6 PKP2 mutations were identified, 3 of which were likely significant, and 4 of which were not previously described (p.P665S, p.Y217TfsX45, p.E540, p.S615T).Conclusions: PKP2 mutations are not specific for ARVC and may result in SUDNA. the link between ARVC and desmosomal mutations may not be causal but related to an association between defective desmosomal proteins and arrhythmias. (Circ J 2012; 76: 189-194

A Comparative Study on the Psychological Health of Frontline Health Workers in Wuhan Under and After the Lockdown

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and a 3-month lockdown of Wuhan may have had a long-term impact on the mental health of frontline healthcare workers (HWs). However, there is still a lack of comparative studies on the mental health of front-line HWs in the initial phase of the lockdown and 1 month after the lifting of the lockdown.Methods: We recruited 1717 HWs during the initial phase of the lockdown and 2214 HWs 1 month after the lifting of the lockdown, and their baseline characteristics and psychiatric health in these two phases were compared. Furthermore, Pearson's Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine the possible risk factors associated with depressive symptoms in the front-line HWs.Results: Compared with the initial phase of the lockdown, the proportion of HWs with anxiety symptoms and stress decreased, while the proportion of HWs with depressive symptoms increased a month after the lifting of the lockdown. Male sex, exercise habit, comorbidities, and having family members or relatives with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection were significantly related to the increased incidence of depressive symptoms during the initial phase of the lockdown. Comorbidities, negative effect of media coverage, working >4 days a week, lower annual household income, and deteriorating relationships with family members were associated with depressive symptoms a month after the lifting of the lockdown.Conclusion: The increased proportion of HWs with depressive symptoms 1 month after the lifting of the lockdown suggested that mental health of front-line HWs should be a top-priority issue, not only during, but also after the pandemic

International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

PLI-VINS: Visual-Inertial SLAM Based on Point-Line Feature Fusion in Indoor Environment

In indoor low-texture environments, the point feature-based visual SLAM system has poor robustness and low trajectory accuracy. Therefore, we propose a visual inertial SLAM algorithm based on point-line feature fusion. Firstly, in order to improve the quality of the extracted line segment, a line segment extraction algorithm with adaptive threshold value is proposed. By constructing the adjacent matrix of the line segment and judging the direction of the line segment, it can decide whether to merge or eliminate other line segments. At the same time, geometric constraint line feature matching is considered to improve the efficiency of processing line features. Compared with the traditional algorithm, the processing efficiency of our proposed method is greatly improved. Then, point, line, and inertial data are effectively fused in a sliding window to achieve high-accuracy pose estimation. Finally, experiments on the EuRoC dataset show that the proposed PLI-VINS performs better than the traditional visual inertial SLAM system using point features and point line features

Chitin Synthase Genes Are Differentially Required for Growth, Stress Response, and Virulence in Verticillium dahliae

Crop wilt disease caused by Verticillium dahliae usually leads to serious yield loss. Chitin, an important component of most fungal cell walls, functions to maintain the rigidity of cell walls and septa. Chitin synthesis mainly relies on the activity of chitin synthase (CHS). Eight CHS genes have been predicted in V. dahliae. In this study, we characterized the functions of these genes in terms of growth, stress responses, penetration, and virulence. Results showed that VdCHS5 is important for conidia germination and resistance to hyperosmotic stress. Conidial production is significantly decreased in Vdchs1, Vdchs4, and Vdchs8 mutants. VdCHS1, VdCHS2, VdCHS4, VdCHS6, VdCHS7, and VdCHS8 genes are important for cell wall integrity, while all mutants are important for cell membrane integrity. All of the VdCHS genes, except for VdCHS3, are required for the full pathogenicity of V. dahliae to Arabidopsis thaliana and cotton plants. The in vitro and in vivo penetration of Vdchs1, Vdchs4, Vdchs6, and Vdchs7 mutants was impaired, while that of the other mutants was normal. Overall, our results indicate that the VdCHS genes exert diverse functions to regulate the growth and development, conidial germination, conidial production, stress response, penetration, and virulence in V. dahliae

Diagnostic errors in fatal medical malpractice cases in Shanghai, China: 1990–2015

Abstract Background Medical disputes remain unabated in China. Previous studies have shown the changes of diagnostic discrepancy over time in developed countries, but diagnostic discrepancy remains understudied in China, especially in the setting of medical disputes. We sought to describe the year-based changes of diagnostic discrepancies in medical disputes, and to identify factors associated with classes of diagnostic discrepancy. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all medically disputed cases from 1990 through 2015 in Shanghai, China, with use of necropsy as the gold standard for diagnosis. Cases were grouped based on national legislative eras. Diagnostic discrepancy was classified as major errors (class I and II), minor errors (class III and IV), no discrepancy (class V) and undetermined (class VI) based on discrepancy severity. Results There were 482 medical disputes. Cases were predominantly males (male: female = 1.6:1) and concentrated in patients less than 10 years old or between 50 and 70 years. Major and minor discrepancy accounted for 51.7 and 34.8%, respectively. Fifty-five cases (11.2%) were non-discrepant (Class V). The dispute rate remained high before the first round of legislation (mean 0.31 per 1 million patients) but declined dramatically afterwards (R2 = − 0.82, p < 0.001 for time trends). Over the national legislative eras, the annual number of cases with diagnostic errors declined steadily. Incidence rates of discrepancy decreased significantly for class I (R2 = − 0.73, p = 0.024), II (R2 = − 0.48, p = 0.013), III (R2 = − 0.69, p < 0.0001), IV (R2 = − 0.69, p < 0.0001) and V discrepancy (R2 = − 0.58, p = 0.0018). Diseases from the respiratory system had significantly lower risks of any diagnostic errors (OR = 0.48, 95% 0.24–0.95, p = 0.036). A neoplasm carrier increased by 92% the risk of any diagnostic error (OR = 1.92; 95%CI 1.18–3.14; p = 0.009) and hypertension reduced by 78% the risk of minor errors (OR = 0.22, 95%CI 0.06–0.91, p = 0.036). Severity of discrepancy relieved over years and associated with ageing in patients with cardiovascular diseases (p = 0.01). Conclusions The rate of fatal medical disputes and diagnostic discrepancy declined after stepwise legislations in China. Respiratory diseases, neoplasm carrier and hypertension could be independent predictors for assessing diagnostic errors

Right ventricular dilatation score: a new assessment to right ventricular dilatation in adult patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot

Abstract Background Patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF) experience long-term chronic pulmonary valve regurgitation resulting in right ventricular (RV) dilatation. According to current guidelines, the evaluation of patients with rTOF for RV dilatation should be based on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). However, for many asymptomatic patients, routine CMR is not practical. Our study aims to identify screening methods for CMR based on echocardiographic data, with the goal of establishing a more practical and cheap method of screening for severity of RV dilatation in patients with asymptomatic rTOF. Methods Thirty two rTOF patients (mean age, 21(10.5) y, 21 males) with moderate to severe pulmonary regurgitation (PR) were prospectively recruited. Each patient received CMR and echocardiogram examination within 1 month prior to operation and collected clinical data, and then received echocardiogram examination at discharge and 3–6 months post-surgery. Results RV moderate-severe dilatation was defined as right ventricular end-diastolic volume index (RVEDVI) ≥ 160 ml/m2 or right ventricular end-systolic volume index (RVESVI) ≥ 80 ml/m2 in 15 of 32 patients (RVEDVI, 202.15[171.51, 252.56] ml/m2, RVESVI, 111.99 [96.28, 171.74] ml/m2). The other 17 (RVESDI, 130.19 [117.91, 139.35] ml/m2, RVESVI = 67.91 [63.35, 73.11] ml/m2) were defined as right ventricle mild dilatation, i.e., RVEDVI  2.35 were diagnosed with RV moderate-severe dilatation (AUC = 0,882; Sensitivity = 94.1%; Specificity = 77.3%). Conclusions RV moderate-severe dilatation is associated with worse preoperative cardiac function and short-term prognosis after PVR in rTOF patients with moderate to severe PR. The RV dilatation score is an effective screening method. When RV dilatation score > 2.35, the patient is indicated for further CMR examination and treatment