Keithpham0894

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging disease caused by the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which leads to severe respiratory infections in humans. COVID-19 was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan city, a populated area of the Hubei province in China. As of now, Wuhan and other cities nearby have become safe places for locals. The rapid control of the spread of COVID-19 infection was made possible due to several interventions and measures that were undertaken in Wuhan. This narrative review study was designed to evaluate the emerging literature on the combined measures taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan city. Science Direct, Springer, Web of Science, and the PubMed data repositories were searched for studies published between December 1, 2019, and June 07, 2020. The referred "preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses" (PRISMA) protocol was used to conduct this narrative review. A total of 330 research studies were found as a result of the initial search based on exclusion and inclusion criteria, and 30 articles were chosen on final evaluation. It was discovered that the combined measures to control the spread of COVID-19 in Wuhan included cordon sanitaire, social distancing, universal symptom surveys, quarantine strategies, and transport restrictions. Based on the recommendations presented in this review study, existing policies with regard to combined measures and public health policies can be enforced by other countries to implement a rapid control procedure to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.Cell culture medium, nasopharyngeal and sera samples spiked with SARS-CoV-2 were subjected to heat inactivation for various periods of time, ranging from 30 s to 60 min. Our results showed that SARS-CoV-2 could be inactivated in less than 30 min, 15 min, and 3 min at 56 °C, 65 °C, and 95 °C, respectively. These data could help laboratory workers to improve their protocols by handling the virus in biosafety conditions.Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a large number of COVID-19-related reports have been published in journals or submitted to preprint platforms. In this study, we search the COVID-19-related literature officially published and included in the Web of Science (WOS) database or submitted to four preprint platforms bioRxiv, medRxiv, Preprints, and SSRN. Using data on the number of reports, author institution, country, and research category, we analyze global trends in COVID-19 research, including institution distribution and research hotspots. The results show that a large number of COVID-19-related reports have been produced; the United States has contributed the most published literature, followed by China. The United States has published the most reports included in the WOS in the categories of non-pharmaceutical interventions, treatment, and vaccine-related reports, while China has published the most literature in the categories of clinical features and complications, virology and immunology, epidemiology, and detection and diagnosis. Publication countries are concentrated in Asia, North America, and Europe, while South America and Africa have less literature. In conclusion, many scientific research issues related to COVID-19 need to be further clarified and COVID-19 research urgently needs global cooperation.Silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) represent one of many types of nanomaterials, where the origin of emission is difficult to assess due to a complex interplay between the core and surface chemistry. Band-gap tunability in Si-NPs is predicted to span from the infrared to the ultraviolet spectral range, which is rarely observed in practice. In this work, we directly assess the size dependence of the optical band gap using a single-dot correlative microscopy tool, where the size of the individual NPs is measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the optical band gap is evaluated from single-dot photoluminescence measured on the very same NPs. We analyze 2-8 nm alkyl-capped Si-NPs prepared by a sol-gel method, followed by annealing at 1300 °C. Surprisingly, we find that the optical band gap is given by the amorphous shell, as evidenced by the convergence of the optical band gap size dependence toward the amorphous Si band gap of ∼1.56 eV. We propose that the structural disorder might be the reason behind the often reported limited emission tunability from various Si-NPs in the literature. We believe that our message points toward a pressing need for development and broader use of such direct correlative single-dot microscopy methods to avoid possible misinterpretations that could arise from attempts to recover size-band gap relation from ensemble methods, as practiced nowadays.Improving the interface stability for nanosized thin films on brittle substrates is crucial for technological applications such as microelectronics because the so-called brittle-ductile interfaces limit their overall reliability. By tuning the thin film properties, interface adhesion can be improved because of extrinsic toughening mechanisms during delamination. In this work, the influence of the film microstructure on interface adhesion was studied on a model brittle-ductile interface consisting of nanosized Cu films on brittle glass substrates. Therefore, 110 nm thin Cu films were deposited on glass substrates using magnetron sputtering. While film thickness, residual stresses, and texture of the Cu films were maintained comparable in the sputtering processes, the film microstructure was varied during deposition and via isothermal annealing, resulting in four different Cu films with bimodal grain size distributions. The interface adhesion of each Cu film was then determined using stressed Mo overlayers, which triggered Cu film delaminations in the shape of straight, spontaneous buckles. The mixed-mode adhesion energy for each film ranged from 2.35 J/m2 for the films with larger grains to 4.90 J/m2 for the films with the highest amount of nanosized grains. This surprising result could be clarified using an additional study of the buckles using focused ion beam cutting and quantification via confocal laser scanning microscopy to decouple and quantify the amount of elastic and plastic deformation stored in the buckled thin film. It could be shown that the films with smaller grains exhibit the possibility of absorbing a higher amount of energy during delamination, which explains their higher adhesion energy.Preeclampsia remains a challenge without an effective therapy. Evidence supports targetability of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and soluble endoglin (sEng), which are released excessively from the placenta under ischemic and hypoxic stresses. We compared four trophoblast cell lines, BeWo, Jar, Jeg-3, and HTR-8/SVneo, in order to identify a suitable model for drug screening. Cultured trophoblasts were exposed to 1% oxygen vs. normoxia for 24-48 hr; human umbilical vein and aortic endothelial cells were included for comparison. Supernatant sFlt-1 and sEng concentrations were measured by ELISA, and sFlt-1 mRNA expression determined by RT-PCR. Cellular responses to experimental therapeutics were explored. All four trophoblast lines secreted sEng, which did not increase by hypoxia. BeWo, Jar, and Jeg-3 exhibited significantly enhanced expression of sFlt-1 i13 and e15a mRNA in response to hypoxia; however, only BeWo released a detectable level of sFlt-1 protein, which was doubled by hypoxia. In contrast, hypoxia decreased sFlt-1 mRNA expression and protein release in HTR-8/SVneo, similarly to endothelial cells. The cellular mechanism involved HIFα. BeWo responded to representative agents similarly to human primary placental tissues in the literature. These data support that the BeWo-hypoxia model mimics a key pathogenic mechanism of preeclampsia and has potential value for translational drug discovery.N-type (CaV2.2) calcium channels are key for action potential-evoked transmitter release in the peripheral and central nervous system. Previous studies have highlighted the functional relevance of N-type calcium channels at both the peripheral and central level. In the periphery, the N-type calcium channels regulate nociceptive and sympathetic responses. At the central level, N-type calcium channels have been linked to aggression, hyperlocomotion, and anxiety. Among the areas of the brain that are involved in anxiety are the basolateral amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and ventral hippocampus. These three areas share similar characteristics in their neuronal circuitry, where pyramidal projection neurons are under the inhibitory control of a wide array of interneurons including those that express the peptide cholecystokinin. This type of interneuron is well-known to rely on N-type calcium channels to release GABA in the hippocampus, however, whether these channels control GABA release from cholecystokinin-expressing interneurons in the basolateral amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex is not known. Here, using mouse models to genetically label cholecystokinin-expressing interneurons and electrophysiology, we found that in the basolateral amygdala, N-type calcium channels control ~50% of GABA release from these neurons onto pyramidal cells. By contrast, in the medial prefrontal cortex N-type calcium channels are functionally absent in synapses of cholecystokinin-expressing interneurons, but control ~40% of GABA release from other types of interneurons. Our findings provide insights into the precise localization of N-type calcium channels in interneurons of brain areas related to anxiety.The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has strained health care systems and personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies globally. We hypothesized that a collaborative robot system could perform health care worker effector tasks inside a simulated intensive care unit (ICU) patient room, which could theoretically reduce both PPE use and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exposures. We planned a prospective proof-of-concept feasibility and design pilot study to test 5 discrete medical tasks in a simulated ICU room of a COVID-19 patient using a collaborative robot push a button on intravenous pole machine when alert occurs for downstream occlusion, adjust ventilator knob, push button on ICU monitor to silence false alerts, increase oxygen flow on wall-mounted flow meter to allow the patient to walk to the bathroom and back (dial-up and dial-down oxygen flow), and push wall-mounted nurse call button. Feasibility was defined as task completion robotically. A training period of 45 minutes to 1 hour was needed to program the system de novo for each task. In less than 30 days, the team completed 5 simple effector task experiments robotically. Selected collaborative robotic effector tasks appear feasible in a simulated ICU room of the COVID-19 patient. Theoretically, this robotic approach could reduce PPE use and staff SARS-CoV-2 exposure. It requires future validation and health care worker learning similar to other ICU device training.The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created an extremely disruptive challenge for health care leaders that required a rapid, dynamic, and innovative response. The purpose of this manuscript is to share the leadership actions and decisions at Mayo Clinic in Florida during the first 6 months of the pandemic (February to July 2020). We note 4 strategies that contributed to an effective response (1) leverage experience with disaster preparedness and mobilize regional and national networks; (2) use surge models to anticipate and to address supply chain issues as well as practical and financial effects of the pandemic; (3) adapt creatively to establish new safety and procedural protocols in various areas for various populations; and (4) communicate timely information effectively and be the common source of truth. Mayo Clinic in Florida was able to address the surges of patients with COVID-19, to provide ongoing tertiary care, and to restore function within the first 6 months with new, strengthened practices and protocols.