Alpha oscillatory activity is causally linked to working memory retention.

Although previous studies have reported correlations between alpha oscillations and the "retention" subprocess of working memory (WM), causal evidence has been limited in human neuroscience due to the lack of delicate modulation of human brain oscillations. Conventional transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is not suitable for demonstrating the causal evidence for parietal alpha oscillations in WM retention because of its inability to modulate brain oscillations within a short period (i.e., the retention subprocess). Here, we developed an online phase-corrected tACS system capable of precisely correcting for the phase differences between tACS and concurrent endogenous oscillations. This system permits the modulation of brain oscillations at the target stimulation frequency within a short stimulation period and is here applied to empirically demonstrate that parietal alpha oscillations causally relate to WM retention. Our experimental design included both in-phase and anti-phase alpha-tACS applied to participants during the retention subprocess of a modified Sternberg paradigm. Compared to in-phase alpha-tACS, anti-phase alpha-tACS decreased both WM performance and alpha activity. These findings strongly support a causal link between alpha oscillations and WM retention and illustrate the broad application prospects of phase-corrected tACS.

Changes of internet behavior of adolescents across the period of COVID-19 pandemic in China.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, internet use and gaming of adolescents had been elevated. On the one hand, internet use and gaming in the period was a good approach to killing quarantined time. However, the increased use of the internet and game of adolescents may also increase the risk of internet addiction. This study aimed to describe the internet behavior changes of adolescents and to understand the impact of clinical features on internet addiction after the adolescents back to school in COVID-19 period. We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study using data collected through online investigation in China. Six hundred and twenty-five adolescents completed the online survey. Results indicated that internet addiction, having gaming use behaviors, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Conduct subscale scores and the SDQ Prosocial subscale scores before the COVID-19 outbreak were significant in predicting the internet addiction after the adolescents back to school. The proportion of internet addiction and gaming behaviors among adolescents in China was changed across the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical features before the COVID-19 pandemic could predict Internet addiction risk after the adolescents back to school.

[Randomized Controlled Study on the Improvement of Community Residents' Mental Health Literacy Through Online Popular Science Program].

Objective: To explore the effects of online mental health promotion intervention consisting of popular science articles and short videos on the level of mental health literacy (MHL), the MHL competency rate, and depression and anxiety levels of local residents. Methods: Local residents in Shanghai were recruited for the study and assigned to a control group ( n=53) and a study group ( n=53) with a random number table. The study group participated in a 12-session mental health promotion intervention program that was carried out over the course of 4 weeks, while the control group did not receive any intervention. The subjects were assessed for their MHL, depression and anxiety by questionnaire surveys at the baseline (T1), after intervention (T2), and three months after intervention (T3). Results: At T2, there was significant difference in the rate of MHL competency between the study group (43.40%) and the control group (18.87%) ( P=0.006). There was no significant difference between the two groups at T1 ( P=0.787) or T3 ( P=0.840). The results of repeated measures analysis of variance of the total score of the MHL Questionnaire showed that the interaction effect was statistically significant ( F=9.708, P<0.001), the simple effect of grouping was statistically significant at T2 ( F=10.935, P=0.001), and the total score of MHL of the study group (134.321±20.123) was significantly higher than that of the control group (123.811±20.224) for the corresponding point of time. The simple effect of time in the study group was statistically significant ( F=23.233, P<0.001). The subjects in the study group scored significantly higher at T2 and T3 than they did at T1, or the baseline ( P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the T2 and the T3 scores ( P=0.847). Conclusion: The 12-session online mental health promotion intervention can effectively improve the subjects' MHL level and the rate of MHL competency immediately after the invention was completed, and the effect endures 3 months after intervention.

Unilateral buphthalmos, corneal staphyloma and corneal fistula caused by pathogenic variant in the PITX3 gene: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: PITX3 has been reported to be associated with congenital cataracts, anterior segment mesenchymal dysgenesis, Peters' anomaly, and microphthalmia. In this case, an infant with unilateral buphthalmos, corneal staphyloma and corneal fistula carrying a variant in PITX3 was reported. CASE DESCRIPTION: We describe a 4-month-old female infant who was referred to our Eye Clinic because of gradual enlargement of the eyeball in the right eye and whitish opacity in both eyes. Buphthalmos with long axial length (22.04 mm), macrocornea with diffuse corneal oedema and opacity (14.50 mm*14.50 mm) and high intraocular pressure (23.78 mmHg) were detected in the right eye. Microphthalmia with short axial length (16.23 mm), microcornea with diffuse corneal oedema and opacity (7.50 mm*6.50 mm) were detected in the left eye. A 360° trabeculotomy was performed for the right eye. However, corneal staphyloma and corneal fistula in the right eye were detected 6 months after the surgery. A variant in exon 4 of PITX3 (c.640_656dup (p. Gly220Profs*95)) was identified in the proband but was not detected in her healthy parents. CONCLUSION: A novel phenotype characterized by unilateral buphthalmos, corneal staphyloma and corneal fistula in an infant were reported to be associated with PITX3 in our study. Our study expands the scope of the clinical heterogeneity of PITX3 variants. It also improves our understanding and increases the attention given to patients with PITX3 variants.

miR-577 Regulates TGF-ß Induced Cancer Progression through a SDPR-Modulated Positive-Feedback Loop with ERK-NF-κB in Gastric Cancer.

Transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), playing vital roles in cancer metastasis. The crosstalk between microRNAs (miRNAs) and TGF-ß are frequently observed and involved in TGF-ß-induced EMT. Here, we determine that miR-577 is significantly upregulated in gastric cancer (GC). miR-577 expression is positively correlated with GC metastasis status and poor patient prognosis. Functional assays demonstrate that miR-577 promotes metastasis and chemoresistance by inducing EMT and stemness-like properties. Moreover, TGF-ß promotes the expression of miR-577, and miR-577 participates TGF-ß-mediated cancer metastasis. Mechanistically, TGF-ß activates miR-577 via NF-κB-mediated transcription, and miR-577 enhances TGF-ß signaling by targeting the serum deprivation protein response (SDPR), which directly interacts with ERK to inactivate the ERK-NF-κB pathway, hence forming a feedback loop to drive tumor metastasis. A plausible mechanism of EMT induction by the TGF-ß network is elucidated. Our findings suggest that the TGF-ß-miR-577-SDPR axis may be a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target against cancer metastasis in GC.

Effectiveness of music therapy on improving treatment motivation and emotion in female patients with methamphetamine use disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether Group Music Therapy (GMT) could enhance the treatment motivation and change the negative emotion among female patients with methamphetamine use disorder in a randomized clinical trial. Methods: Participants (N = 60) were randomized to the group of GMT combined with treatment as usual (TAU) or the group with TAU only. Questionnaire of Motivation for Abstaining from Drugs was used to measure the motivation for abstaining from drugs of the female patients. And Self-Rating Depression Scale and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale were used to measure negative emotion of participants. The measurements were conducted at T0 (baseline), T1 (post 13 sessions of intervention) and T2 (3-month follow-up after T1) by the independent trained researcher. Results: The postintervention and 3-month follow-up results according to the intention-to-treat principle indicated that GMT + TAU intervention showed significantly positive group-by-time effect on the scores of the subscale-tending to rehabilitation-internal motivation (p = 0.01) and avoiding abuse-external motivation (p = 0.04). In 3-month follow-up, total scores of the questionnaire of motivation for abstaining from drugs (p = 0.02), scores of avoiding abuse-internal motivation subscale (p = 0.05), and scores of confidence of abstaining from drugs subscale (p = 0.01) in GMT + TAU were also presented with significantly positive group x time effect. The changes of total score of Questionnaire of Motivation for Abstaining from Drugs (from baseline to 3-month follow-up) was significantly positive association with the changes of scores of SAS in GMT + TAU group (r = -0.55, p = 0.00). Conclusions: The present study suggests that GMT could be used as an effective treatment strategy to enhance treatment motivation of female patients with methamphetamine use disorder.

Heterogeneity in strategy use during arbitration between experiential and observational learning.

To navigate our complex social world, it is crucial to deploy multiple learning strategies, such as learning from directly experiencing action outcomes or from observing other people's behavior. Despite the prevalence of experiential and observational learning in humans and other social animals, it remains unclear how people favor one strategy over the other depending on the environment, and how individuals vary in their strategy use. Here, we describe an arbitration mechanism in which the prediction errors associated with each learning strategy influence their weight over behavior. We designed an online behavioral task to test our computational model, and found that while a substantial proportion of participants relied on the proposed arbitration mechanism, there was some meaningful heterogeneity in how people solved this task. Four other groups were identified: those who used a fixed mixture between the two strategies, those who relied on a single strategy and non-learners with irrelevant strategies. Furthermore, groups were found to differ on key behavioral signatures, and on transdiagnostic symptom dimensions, in particular autism traits and anxiety. Together, these results demonstrate how large heterogeneous datasets and computational methods can be leveraged to better characterize individual differences.

Virtual agents among participants with methamphetamine use disorders: Acceptability and usability study.

INTRODUCTION: While the potential future role of virtual agents (VAs) in treating addiction is promising, participants' attitudes toward the use of VAs in psychotherapy remain insufficiently investigated. This lack of investigation could pose barriers to the adoption of VA-led psychotherapy for people with substance use disorders (SUD). This research aims to explore the acceptability and usability of VAs for people with methamphetamine use disorder. METHODS: Following a single session of psychotherapy led by VAs through the Echo-app, a group of 49 individuals actively seeking treatment for current DSM-V substance dependence (with a mean age of 39.06 ± 8.02) completed self-administered questionnaires and participated in focus group interviews. These questionnaires aimed to investigate participants' preference regarding the type of psychotherapy and their willingness to engage in VA-led psychotherapy, taking into account their diverse psychological needs. RESULTS: Quantitative data were subjected to analysis through both descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Interestingly, participants exhibited a significantly higher acceptability for traditional face-to-face psychotherapy compared to email-based psychotherapy (p = 0.042), but there was no statistically significant difference between their acceptance of traditional psychotherapy and VA-led psychotherapy (p = 0.059). The questionnaire outcomes indicated participants' willingness to engage in VA-led psychotherapy for purposes such as relapse prevention intervention, addressing emotional issues, managing somatic experiences, and facilitating social and family functional recovery. Furthermore, the participants' attitudes toward VA-led psychotherapy were predicted by factors including the need for anxiety-focused psychotherapy (p = 0.027; OR [95%CI] = 0.14[0.03,0.80]), the presence of chronic somatic diseases (p = 0.017; OR [95%CI] = 13.58[1.59,116.03]), and marital status (p = 0.031; OR [95%CI] = 5.02[1.16,21.79]). DISCUSSION: Through the interviews, the study uncovered the factors that either supported or hindered participants' experiences with VA-led psychotherapy, while also gathering suggestions for future improvements. This research highlights the willingness and practicality of individuals with SUD in embracing VA-led psychotherapy. The findings are anticipated to contribute to the refinement of VA-led tools to better align with the preferences and needs of the users.

Smartphone-based gaze estimation for in-home autism research.

Atypical gaze patterns are a promising biomarker of autism spectrum disorder. To measure gaze accurately, however, it typically requires highly controlled studies in the laboratory using specialized equipment that is often expensive, thereby limiting the scalability of these approaches. Here we test whether a recently developed smartphone-based gaze estimation method could overcome such limitations and take advantage of the ubiquity of smartphones. As a proof-of-principle, we measured gaze while a small sample of well-assessed autistic participants and controls watched videos on a smartphone, both in the laboratory (with lab personnel) and in remote home settings (alone). We demonstrate that gaze data can be efficiently collected, in-home and longitudinally by participants themselves, with sufficiently high accuracy (gaze estimation error below 1° visual angle on average) for quantitative, feature-based analysis. Using this approach, we show that autistic individuals have reduced gaze time on human faces and longer gaze time on non-social features in the background, thereby reproducing established findings in autism using just smartphones and no additional hardware. Our approach provides a foundation for scaling future research with larger and more representative participant groups at vastly reduced cost, also enabling better inclusion of underserved communities.

Feasibility of a Brief Intervention to Decrease Harmful Alcohol Use Among Methadone Maintenance Treatment Clients in Shanghai: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence of alcohol consumption among methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) clients in Shanghai and to determine whether a brief intervention (BI) affects drinking among them. METHODS: A total of 837 clients from 14 local MMT clinics were invited to complete the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). One hundred one were included in the study and randomly assigned to the BI group or the control group. Clients in the BI group received a BI and general health education, whereas clients in the control group received the general health education only. Baseline and postintervention assessments were conducted by using the AUDIT, the Drinking Attitude Questionnaire, the Depression Module of the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and the General Well-Being Schedule. RESULTS: Two hundred fifty-nine (30.9%) reported drinking during the last year, and 103 (12.3%) met the criteria for harmful use. At the 3-month follow-up, the AUDIT scores of the 2 groups were significantly decreased, and the time effect was statistically significant ( F = 6.224, P = 0.018), but there was no group difference in AUDIT scores ( F = 1.953, P = 0.172). Both groups had a main time effect of time on the improvement of depression ( F = 8.044, P = 0.008), anxiety ( F = 9.650, P = 0.004), and general well-being ( F = 5.056, P = 0.033). However, there was no statistical difference between the 2 groups ( P > 0.05), and no statistical difference in the time ( F = 1.738, P = 0.198) and group ( F = 0.658, P = 0.424) effect of drinking attitude. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol consumption is common among MMT clients in China. Brief intervention, in its current form, could not effectively help them reduce their alcohol consumption.

Test-Retest Reliability of Resting Brain Small-World Network Properties across Different Data Processing and Modeling Strategies.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with graph theoretical modeling has been increasingly applied for assessing whole brain network topological organization, yet its reproducibility remains controversial. In this study, we acquired three repeated resting-state fMRI scans from 16 healthy controls during a strictly controlled in-laboratory study and examined the test-retest reliability of seven global and three nodal brain network metrics using different data processing and modeling strategies. Among the global network metrics, the characteristic path length exhibited the highest reliability, whereas the network small-worldness performed the poorest. Nodal efficiency was the most reliable nodal metric, whereas betweenness centrality showed the lowest reliability. Weighted global network metrics provided better reliability than binary metrics, and reliability from the AAL90 atlas outweighed those from the Power264 parcellation. Although global signal regression had no consistent effects on the reliability of global network metrics, it slightly impaired the reliability of nodal metrics. These findings provide important implications for the future utility of graph theoretical modeling in brain network analyses.

Virtual Digital Psychotherapist App-Based Treatment in Patients With Methamphetamine Use Disorder (Echo-APP): Single-Arm Pilot Feasibility and Efficacy Study.

BACKGROUND: Substance use disorder is one of the severe public health problems worldwide. Inequitable resources, discrimination, and physical distances limit patients' access to medical help. Automated conversational agents have the potential to provide in-home and remote therapy. However, automatic dialogue agents mostly use text and other methods to interact, which affects the interaction experience, treatment immersion, and clinical efficacy. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe the design and development of Echo-APP, a tablet-based app with the function of a virtual digital psychotherapist, and to conduct a pilot study to explore the feasibility and preliminary efficacy results of Echo-APP for patients with methamphetamine use disorder. METHODS: Echo-APP is an assessment and rehabilitation program developed for substance use disorder (SUD) by a team of clinicians, psychotherapists, and computer experts. The program is available for Android tablets. In terms of assessment, the focus is on the core characteristics of SUD, such as mood, impulsivity, treatment motivation, and craving level. In terms of treatment, Echo-APP provides 10 treatment units, involving awareness of addiction, motivation enhancement, emotion regulation, meditation, etc. A total of 47 patients with methamphetamine dependence were eventually enrolled in the pilot study to receive a single session of the Echo-APP-based motivational enhancement treatment. The outcomes were assessed before and after the patients' treatment, including treatment motivation, craving levels, self-perception on the importance of drug abstinence, and their confidence in stopping the drug use. RESULTS: In the pilot study, scores on the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale and the questionnaire on motivation for abstaining from drugs significantly increased after the Echo-APP-based treatment (P<.001, Cohen d=-0.60), while craving was reduced (P=.01, Cohen d=0.38). Patients' baseline Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 assessment score (ß=3.57; P<.001; 95% CI 0.80, 2.89) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS)-motor impulsiveness score (ß=-2.10; P=.04; 95% CI -0.94, -0.02) were predictive of changes in the patients' treatment motivation during treatment. Moreover, patients' baseline Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 assessment score (ß=-1.607; P=.03; 95% CI -3.08, -0.14), BIS-attentional impulsivity score (ß=-2.43; P=.004; 95% CI -4.03, -0.83), and BIS-nonplanning impulsivity score (ß=2.54; P=.002; 95% CI 0.98, 4.10) were predictive of changes in craving scores during treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Echo-APP is a practical, accepted, and promising virtual digital psychotherapist program for patients with methamphetamine dependence. The preliminary findings lay a good foundation for further optimization of the program and the promotion of large-scale randomized controlled clinical studies for SUD.

The preliminary efficacy of virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment (Echo app v2.0) in patients with alcohol use disorders: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common substance use disorders. People with AUD are in great need of highly accessible and comprehensive management, involving medicine, exercise, and psychotherapy. However, due to limited resources, providing comprehensive treatment for every patient is challenging. Virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment can improve the accessibility of comprehensive management. Objectives: This randomized controlled trial aims to test whether the virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment (Echo-app-v2.0) plus treatment as usual (TAU) has greater efficacy than only TAU in AUD. Methods: One hundred participants with AUD will be recruited and randomly assigned to either TAU or virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment plus TAU based on the 1:1 ratio. The virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment is delivered by the Echo app v2.0 developed by our research team. Participants will be assessed at baseline, week 4 of treatment, one month, and three months after the end of treatment. The primary outcome is the participants' craving for alcohol, measured by Visual Analogue Scale. Other outcomes include the use of alcohol, motivation for treatment, coping style, depression, anxiety, impulsivity, stress, and sleep quality. Discussion: The virtual agent, with vivid human image, high privacy, and the ability to interact with users, has the potential to play an important role in the delivery of digital psychotherapy. The development of Echo app v2.0 has the possibility to raise the availability of comprehensive treatment for people with AUD.

Techno-economic feasibility analysis of an extreme heat flux micro-cooler.

An estimated 70% of the electricity in the United States currently passes through power conversion electronics, and this percentage is projected to increase eventually to up to 100%. At a global scale, wide adoption of highly efficient power electronics technologies is thus anticipated to have a major impact on worldwide energy consumption. As described in this perspective, for power conversion, outstanding thermal management for semiconductor devices is one key to unlocking this potentially massive energy savings. Integrated microscale cooling has been positively identified for such thermal management of future high-heat-flux, i.e., 1 kW/cm2, wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices. In this work, we connect this advanced cooling approach to the energy impact of using WBG devices and further present a techno-economic analysis to clarify the projected status of performance, manufacturing approaches, fabrication costs, and remaining barriers to the adoption of such cooling technology.

SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine requires signal peptide to induce antibody responses.

New SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to prevail worldwide, and effective vaccines are needed to prevent an epidemic. mRNA vaccines are gradually being applied to the prevention and control of infectious diseases with significant safety and effectiveness. The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 is the main target of mRNA vaccine design, but the impact of the signal peptide (SP), transmembrane region (TM), and cytoplasmic tail (CT) on mRNA vaccine remains unclear. In this study, we constructed three forms of mRNA vaccines related to the S protein: full-length, deletion of the TM and CT, and simultaneous deletion of the SP, TM and CT, and compared their immunogenicity. Our experimental data show that full-length S protein and deletion of the TM and CT could effectively induce neutralizing antibody production in mice, while S protein without the SP and TM could not. This indicates that the S protein SP is necessary for the design of mRNA vaccine.

Partitioning of airborne PAEs on indoor impermeable surfaces: A microscopic view of the sorption process.

Organic films were widely found on indoor impermeable surfaces exposed to gaseous organic compounds, but few studies have addressed the film growth details on different indoor substrates. In this study, we observed the topography evolution of phthalic acid ester (PAE) organic films on three impermeable substrates: polished glass (G-P), mirror-polished stainless steel (SS-M) and drawn stainless steel (SS-D). PAE organic films were preferentially formed upon the flat surface with sparse inherent nano-peaks of substrate G-P and in valleys of substrate SS-M and SS-D. Surface uniformity of substrates and viscosity of PAE molecules were inferred as critical parameters determining the surface average adhesion forces. We obtained the partition coefficients of DEP, DnBP, BBP and DEHP on substrate G-P, SS-M and SS-D by fitting the initial monolayer adsorption process. Organic films continuously grew instead of reaching adsorption equilibrium after long-term PAE exposure, indicating that multilayer adsorption may occur. The organic film growth rates in saturated gas-phase PAE concentrations were quantified as about one-tenth of the results in previous studies where substrates were simultaneously exposed to multiple pollutants. To sum up, the results outline PAE adsorption details on impermeable materials and provide a reference for better estimation on PAE exposure assessment.

Erratum: Mental health needs of the COVID-19 patients and staff in the Fangcang shelter hospital: a qualitative research in Wuhan, China - ERRATUM.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2021.23.].

Internet behavior patterns of adolescents before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected the mental health of adolescents. To describe the Internet behavior-changing patterns of adolescents and to understand the impact of clinical features on changing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study using data collected through online investigation in China. A total of 625 adolescents completed the online survey from May 15 to June 7, 2020. The adolescents were asked to retrospect to the Internet behaviors and game behaviors of three time periods as follows: before the COVID-19 outbreak in China, during the COVID-19 outbreak in China, and back to school. The clinical variables of the demographic data, family functionality, and emotional and behavioral symptoms were also collected. According to the Internet behaviors and game behaviors patterns across the three time periods, the subjects will be sub-grouped. Results: Four Internet behavior-changing patterns during the COVID-19 was identified: (1) Continuous Normal Group (55.52%); (2) Normal to Internet Addiction Group (5.28%); (3) Internet Addiction to Normal Group (14.56%); and (4) Continuous Internet Addiction Group (24.64%). Years of education, academic score ranking, family functionality, and emotional and behavioral symptoms were different across the four groups. Proportions of game behaviors, scores of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and SDQ subscale during the period before the COVID-19 outbreak were significant in predicting changing patterns. Conclusion: The Internet behavior patterns of adolescents during the COVID-19 period were various. Clinical features before the COVID-19 pandemic may predict changing patterns. The heterogeneity in characteristics between different changing patterns should be considered when intervening in adolescents' problematic Internet behavior.

A novel hardmask-to-substrate pattern transfer method for creating 3D, multi-level, hierarchical, high aspect-ratio structures for applications in microfluidics and cooling technologies.

This letter solves a major hurdle that mars photolithography-based fabrication of micro-mesoscale structures in silicon. Conventional photolithography is usually performed on smooth, flat wafer surfaces to lay a 2D design and subsequently etch it to create single-level features. It is, however, unable to process non-flat surfaces or already etched wafers and create more than one level in the structure. In this study, we have described a novel cleanroom-based process flow that allows for easy creation of such multi-level, hierarchical 3D structures in a substrate. This is achieved by introducing an ultra-thin sacrificial silicon dioxide hardmask layer on the substrate which is first 3D patterned via multiple rounds of lithography. This 3D pattern is then scaled vertically by a factor of 200-300 and transferred to the substrate underneath via a single shot deep etching step. The proposed method is also easily characterizable-using features of different topographies and dimensions, the etch rates and selectivities were quantified; this characterization information was later used while fabricating specific target structures. Furthermore, this study comprehensively compares the novel pattern transfer technique to already existing methods of creating multi-level structures, like grayscale lithography and chip stacking. The proposed process was found to be cheaper, faster, and easier to standardize compared to other methods-this made the overall process more reliable and repeatable. We hope it will encourage more research into hybrid structures that hold the key to dramatic performance improvements in several micro-mesoscale devices.

Mental health needs of the COVID-19 patients and staff in the Fangcang shelter hospital: a qualitative research in Wuhan, China.

BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Fangcang shelter hospitals were opened in Wuhan, China, to isolate and care for patients with mild or moderate symptoms. The patients and staff in the hospitals faced mental health challenges. This paper reports the experiences and mental health needs from them. METHOD: Following the qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the EastWest Lake Fangcang Shelter Hospital, Wuhan on March 2020. Data collection and analysis was based on grounded theory. Open coding was adapted and a structured codebook was developed through coding seminars. The themes and subthemes were then confirmed through thematic analysis. The findings were further explained and integrated in a theoretical framework. RESULTS: A total of 10 COVID-19 patients and 13 staff, including doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, and policemen participated in the interviews. They have common needs, as well as their own needs. The perspectives from the staff also did complement for needs of the patients. The mental health needs were generalized into four themes, that is, basic needs, information and communication, emotional needs, and social support, each with several subthemes. In addition, there were some external factors that regulated the internal needs, which were summarized in a theoretical framework. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates the directions on hospital management, mental health services, policy making, and social work to meet the mental health needs of the inpatients and staff from temporary shelter hospitals like Fangcang in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic.