Profile of patients with a positive HCV viral load in a large French psychiatric hospital (2019-2021): A case-control study.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is highly prevalent in people with mental disorders (PWMDs). However, in the international context of HCV elimination, no previous study has explored the features of seropositive PWMDs with vs. without a positive viral load (VL). We retrospectively retrieved all HCV serology results of patients hospitalized in 2019, 2020 and 2021 in the second-largest psychiatric hospital of France. Using the medical records of all patients found seropositive for HCV, the following data were collected: sex (male, female), age (in years), previous history of illicit drug use except cannabis (yes or no) and previous history of incarceration (yes or no). We conducted a case-control comparison of these variables between the PWMDs who had and did not have a positive VL, thus providing odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (ORs [95% CI]). In a total of 13,276 inpatients, 2540 (19.1%) underwent at least one HCV serology; 55 of them (2.16%) were found positive. A VL count was performed for 48 of them, finding 15 (31.3%) individuals with active HCV. Compared with those with a negative VL, these 15 individuals were less likely to have previous documented illicit drug use (OR = 0.18; 95% CI [0.05-0.68]) and to have been previously incarcerated (OR = 0.23; 95% CI [0.06-0.99]); age and sex did not statistically differ. In the context of HCV elimination, PWMDs yet to be treated for HCV are more likely to be those with no identified risk factor for HCV, which supports a strategy of systematic screening for HCV among PWMDs.

Adsorption of xyloglucan and cellulose nanocrystals on natural fibres for the creation of hierarchically structured fibres.

Green treatment of natural fibres is a major issue in paper, textile and biocomposites industries to design innovative and eco-friendly products. In this work, hierarchical structuring of flax woven fabrics by the adsorption of xyloglucan (XG) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) is studied. Indeed, CNC have high mechanical properties, high specific surface area and great potential for functionalization. The adsorption of XG and CNC has been investigated in terms of localization by confocal and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and quantification through adsorption isotherms. Adhesion force measurements have also been performed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). XG and CNC are homogeneously adsorbed on flax fabric and adsorption isotherms reach plateau values around 20 mg /gfibres for both. The pre-adsorption of XG on flax fabric influences the amount of adsorbed CNC in the high concentrations and also creates entanglements and strong interactions between XG and CNC with the formation of an extensible network.

Formation of a methide derivative upon photolysis of thymidine bromohydrins.

Reaction of bromine with thymidine in aqueous solution produces, in high yield, the corresponding 5-bromo-6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydroderivative (thymidine bromohydrins). UVC photolysis of thymidine bromohydrins gives rise to a reactive intermediate that is converted into 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine upon incubation in water. When the former compound is left in methanol, ethanol, or propanol, the corresponding 5-alkoxymethyl derivatives are produced. The proposed structure for the primary photolysis product of thymidine bromohydrins is a methide derivative of the thymine ring. This compound could be an interesting intermediate in the synthesis of methyl-substituted thymidine.

Formation of 2'-deoxyuridine hydrates upon exposure of nucleosides to gamma radiation and UVC-irradiation of isolated and cellular DNA.

The two diastereoisomers of 6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydro-2'-deoxyuridine (dUrd hydrates) are produced upon deamination of the related 2'-deoxycytidine derivatives. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify dUrd hydrates. Their rate constant of formation within UVC-irradiated solutions of dCyd was first determined. Their formation was also shown to occur within solutions of either dUrd or dCyd exposed to gamma-rays in the absence of oxygen. dUrd hydrates were then quantified within isolated and cellular DNA exposed to UVC light. In both cases, their yield of formation was found to be, at least, 2 orders of magnitude lower than the overall yield of bipyrimidine photoproducts such as cyclobutane dimers and (6-4) photoproducts.