Determination of the predictive factors for diagnostic positivity of nucleic acid amplification tests for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major threat to human health, and TB diagnostic methods remain unsatisfactory. Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) show higher sensitivity compared with culture for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB (PTB). However, NAATs are expensive and cannot be easily implemented outside major medical centers. To improve the sensitivity of NAATs for PTB diagnosis, we investigated the predictive factors that might optimize NAAT utilization. Methods: A total of 1263 patients with suspected PTB were enrolled for evaluation. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of methods including smear-microbiology, culture of Mtb and NAAT for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) detection in sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples were compared. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess variables that might be associated with positive NAAT results for sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from patients with suspected PTB. Results: NAAT showed higher sensitivity for Mtb detection (61.1%) when compared with smear (9.0%) and Mtb culture (47.8%). We found that an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, the presence of cavities, and positive interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) results were indicative of positive Mtb detection by NAAT. Moreover, individuals who had all three of these characteristics showed an 86% diagnostic positivity for PTB from Mtb detection by NAAT. Conclusions: Our study suggests that an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, a positive IGRA result, and the presence of pulmonary cavities are helpful factors for predicting positive Mtb detection by NAAT. Patients with the three positive clinical markers should undergo NAAT for Mtb detection because they are the most likely individuals to be bacteriologically confirmed as having TB.

Antiviral drugs arbidol and interferon alpha-1b contribute to reducing the severity of COVID-19 patients: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of antiviral drugs in reducing the risk of developing severe illness in patients with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 403 adult patients with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia who were admitted to Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, China. The antiviral drugs arbidol, interferon alpha-1b, lopinavir-ritonavir and ribavirin were distributed to the patients for treatment. The primary endpoint of this study was the time to develop severe illness. RESULTS: Of the 462 patients admitted, 403 had moderate COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission and were included in this study. 90 of the 403 (22.3%) patients progressed to severe illness. The use of arbidol was associated with a lower severity rate 3.5% compared to control group 30.5%, p-value < 0.0001; the adjusted hazard ratio was 0.28 (95% CI: 0.084-0.90, p = 0.033). The use of interferon alpha-1b was associated with a lower severity rate 15.5% compared to control group 29.3%, with p-value < 0.0001; the adjusted hazard ratio was 0.30 (95% CI: 0.15-0.58, p =  0.0005). The use of lopinavir-itonavir and ribavirin did not show significant differences in adjusted regression models. Early use of arbidol within 7 days of symptom onset was significantly associated with a reduced recovery time of - 5.2 days (IQR - 3.0 to - 7.5, p = 4e-06) compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: Treatment with arbidol and interferon alpha-1b contributes to reducing the severity of illness in patients with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. Early use of arbidol may reduce patients' recovery time.

Fe2O3/NiO Interface for the Electrochemical Oxygen Evolution in Seawater and Domestic Sewage.

Hydrogen production from the electrolysis of seawater and domestic sewage is more attractive than that from pure water, especially in regions where freshwater resources are scarce. However, under such harsh conditions, higher requirements are put forward for the catalytic activity and adaptability of a catalytic electrode. Herein, we advance an ultrasimple dipping-and-heating method to engineer the surface of Ni foam (NF) into an interface-rich FeNi oxide layer and realize an exceptional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. It only requires overpotentials of 182 and 267 mV to achieve current densities of 10 and 1000 mA cm-2 in 1 M KOH, respectively, which are significantly lower than those of the recently reported catalysts. The as-prepared FNE300||MoNi4/MoO2 electrolyzer realizes the industrial demand of 500 mA cm-2 at low voltages of ∼1.75 V for overall alkaline natural seawater and domestic sewage electrolysis, as well as satisfactory stability. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that modifying the electronic structure so as to optimize the intermediate adsorption is well achieved by constructing the interfaces between NiO and Fe2O3. The interaction of Fe with oxygen intermediates can be optimized by e--e- repulsion between Ni2+ and oxygen intermediates. This work provides a facile approach to fabricate an electrocatalyst for seawater and domestic sewage electrolysis, which is of great significance to the synergetic development of hydrogen economy and environmental science.

Phosphorus and Yttrium Codoped Co(OH)F Nanoarray as Highly Efficient and Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Overall Water Splitting.

Rational design and synthesis of bifunctional electrocatalysts with high efficiency and low-cost for overall water splitting is still a challenge. A simple approach is reported to prepare a phosphorus and yttrium codoped cobalt hydroxyfluoride (YP-Co(OH)F) nanoarray on nickel foam, which displays high-performance for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline solution. The codoping of yttrium and phosphorus into Co(OH)F leads to a tuned electronic environment and favorable electron transfer, thus resulting in superior water splitting activity. The YP-Co(OH)F electrode only requires an overpotential of 238 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm-2 (η10 ), much smaller than RuO2 (302 mV). Moreover, it displays an overpotential of 55 mV at η10 for HER, similar to that of Pt/C. When YP-Co(OH)F is used as both anode and cathode in a two-electrode configuration, it only demands a cell potential of 1.54 V at η10 , lower than the IrO2 ||Pt/C couple (1.6 V) as well as other recently reported electrocatalysts. It even maintains stable water splitting for 300 h. Such a two-electrode device can be easily driven by a 1.5 V silicon solar cell in sunlight, proving the potential of the promising catalyst for large-scale electrolytic water splitting.

Ultra fast ultrasound-assisted decopperization from copper anode slime.

An ultra fast decopperization method from the anode slime has been developed based on the ultrasound-assisted leaching. The effects of parameters such as ultrasound power, leaching time, sulfuric acid concentration and liquid/solid ratio were investigated. Under optimum conditions, the concentration of Cu in residue was only 2.64%. The removal efficiency increases considerably and the decopperization time was significantly shortened comparing with conventional method (>10%, 24h). Se and Te have not been detected in lixivium, indicating the selective leaching of Cu. In addition, the mineralogical characteristics of the untreated anode slime and the residues after ultrasound-assisted decopperization are investigated. The results revealed that the increasing of decopperization efficiency was attributed to the change of the phase composition and the morphology and size of samples during ultrasound-assisted decopperization.