Unraveling the Molecular Size Effect on Surface Engineering of Perovskite Solar Cells.

Surface engineering in perovskite solar cells, especially for the upper surface of perovskite, is widely studied. However, most of these studies have primarily focused on the interaction between additive functional groups and perovskite point defects, neglecting the influence of other parts of additive molecules. Herein, additives with -NH3 + functional group are introduced at the perovskite surface to suppress surface defects. The chain lengths of these additives vary to conduct a detailed investigation into the impact of molecular size. The results indicate that the propane-1,3-diamine dihydroiodide (PDAI2 ), which possesses the most suitable size, exhibited obvious optimization effects. Whereas the molecules, methylenediamine dihydroiodide (MDAI2 ) and pentane-1,5-diamine dihydroiodide (PentDAI2 ) with unsuitable size, lead to a deterioration in device performance. The PDAI2 -treated devices achieved a certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.81% and the unencapsulated devices retained over 80% of their initial PCE after 600 h AM1.5 illumination.

Aspirin boosts the synergistic effect of EGFR/p53 inhibitors on lung cancer cells by regulating AKT/mTOR and p53 pathways.

The regimen of afatinib and vinorelbine has been used to treat breast or lung cancer cells with some limitations. Aspirin alone or in combination with other agents has shown unique efficacy in the treatment of cancer. We designed a preclinical study to investigate whether the triple therapy of aspirin, afatinib, and vinorelbine could synergistically inhibit the growth of p53 wild-type nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Three NSCLC cells A549, H460, and H1975 were selected to study the effect of triple therapy on cell proliferation and apoptosis. Compared to single agents, triple therapy synergistically inhibited the proliferation of lung cancer cells with combination index <1. Meanwhile, the therapeutic index of triple therapy was superior to that of single agents, indicating a balance between efficacy and safety in the combination of three agents. Mechanistic studies showed that triple therapy significantly induced apoptosis by decreasing mitochondrial membrane potential, increasing reactive oxygen species, and regulating mitochondria-related proteins. Moreover, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) downstream signaling proteins including JNK, AKT, and mTOR were dramatically suppressed and p53 was substantially increased after NSCLC cells were exposed to the triple therapy. We provided evidence that the triple therapy of aspirin, afatinib and vinorelbine synergistically inhibited lung cancer cell growth through inactivation of the EGFR/AKT/mTOR pathway and accumulation of p53, providing a new treatment strategy for patients with p53 wild-type NSCLC.

Corrigendum: Resilience and caregiving ability among caregivers of people with stroke: the mediating role of uncertainty in illness.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.788737.].

Resilience and caregiving ability among caregivers of people with stroke: The mediating role of uncertainty in illness.

Background: In China, stroke survivors are usually cared for by their family members. However, the caregiving ability of these informal caregivers remain inadequate during the hospitalization of their family members following a sudden onset of a stroke, and this sudden need for care overwhelms caregivers even after the hospital discharge. Therefore, research is required to identify predictors of caregiving ability that could be targeted in future interventions aimed at improving caregiving skills and reducing the burden on caregivers who care for stroke survivors. Materials and methods: From August 2019 to February 2020, stroke survivors were hospitalized for the first time, and their family caregivers were registered via convenience sampling. Caregiver demographic information, resilience status, uncertainty in illness, caregiving ability, and patients' severity of stroke were measured using standardized questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model, where caregiver resilience and stroke severity predicted caregiving ability directly, and uncertainty in illness mediated the association between caregiver resilience and caregiving ability. Results: A total of 306 dyads were included in the study. The tested model fit the data well (χ2 = 118.2, df = 64, RMSEA = 0.053, CFI = 0.946, TLI = 0.923). Statistically significant pathways linked caregivers' resilience status to uncertainty in illness (ß = -0.558, S.E. = 0.022, P < 0.01), caregivers' resilience to the status of caregiving ability (ß = -0.269, S.E. = 0.013, P < 0.01) and caregivers' uncertainty about the illness to caregiving ability (ß = 0.687, S.E. = 0.051, P < 0.01). We also found that caregivers' uncertainty in illness mediated the association between caregivers' resilience and caregiving ability (ß = -0.384, S.E. = 0.061, P < 0.01). Conclusions: Our structural equation modeling result identified resilience and uncertainty about the illness as predictors of the caregiving ability of informal family caregivers who suffered from care burdens. Supporting family caregivers to build their resilience and reduce illness uncertainty may improve caregiving for stroke survivors.

A nomogram for evaluation and analysis of difficulty in retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy: A single-center study with prospective validation using LASSO-logistic regression.

Background: While it is known that inaccurate evaluation for retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy (RPLA) can affect the surgical results of patients, no stable and effective prediction model for the procedure exists. In this study, we aimed to develop a computed tomography (CT) -based radiological-clinical prediction model for evaluating the surgical difficulty of RPLA. Method: Data from 398 patients with adrenal tumors treated by RPLA in a single center from August 2014 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into sets. The influencing factors were selected by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model (LASSO). Additionally, the nomogram was constructed. A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to analyze the prediction efficiency of the nomogram. The C-index and bootstrap self-sampling methods were used to verify the discrimination and consistency of the nomogram. Result: The following 11 independent influencing factors were selected by LASSO: body mass index, diabetes mellitus, scoliosis, hyperlipidemia, history of operation, tumor diameter, distance from adrenal tumor to upper pole of kidney, retro renal fat area, hyperaldosteronism, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, and myelolipoma. The area under the curve (AUC) of the training set was 0.787, and 0.844 in the internal validation set. Decision curve analyses indicated the model to be useful. An additional 117 patients were recruited for prospective validation, and AUC was 0.848. Conclusion: This study developed a radiological-clinical prediction model proposed for predicting the difficulty of RPLA procedures. This model was suitable, accessible, and helpful for individualized surgical preparation and reduced operational risk. Thus, this model could contribute to more patients' benefit in circumventing surgical difficulties because of accurate predictive abilities.

Integrating physiology, genetics, and transcriptome to decipher a new thermo-sensitive and light-sensitive virescent leaf gene mutant in cucumber.

Chloroplasts are the material basis of photosynthesis, and temperature and light severely affect chloroplast development and thus influence photosynthetic efficiency. This study identified a spontaneous virescent leaf mutant, SC311Y, whose cotyledons and true leaves were yellow and gradually turned green. However, temperature and light affected the process of turning green. In addition, this mutant (except at the seedling stage) had ruffled leaves with white stripes, sterile males, and poorly fertile female flowers. Genetic characteristics analysis revealed that the recessive gene controlled the virescent leaf. Two F2 populations mapped v-3 to the interval of 33.54-35.66 Mb on chromosome 3. In this interval, BSA-Seq, RNA-Seq, and cDNA sequence analyses revealed only one nonsynonymous mutation in the Csa3G042730 gene, which encoded the RNA exosome supercomplex subunit resurrection1 (RST1). Csa3G042730 was predicted to be the candidate gene controlling the virescent leaf, and the candidate gene may regulate chloroplast development by regulating plastid division2 (PDV2). A transcriptome analysis showed that different factors caused the reduced chlorophyll and carotenoid content in the mutants. To our knowledge, this study is the first report of map-based cloning related to virescent leaf, male-sterile, and chloroplast RNA regulation in cucumber. The results could accelerate the study of the RNA exosome supercomplex for the dynamic regulation of chloroplast RNA.

The Separation of Chlorobenzene Compounds from Environmental Water Using a Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Chitosan Membrane.

In this work, a magnetic molecularly imprinted chitosan membrane (MMICM) was synthesized for the extraction of chlorobenzene compounds in environmental water using the membrane separation method. The optimal extraction amount for chlorobenzene (9.64 mg·L-1) was found to be a 1:2 solid to liquid ratio, with a 20 min extraction time and 35 °C extraction temperature. This method proved to be successfully applied for the separation and trace quantification of chlorobenzene compounds in environmental water, with the limit of detection (LOD) (0.0016-0.057 ng·L-1), limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.0026-0.098 ng·L-1), and the recoveries ranging (89.02-106.97%).

The relationship between bladder storage function and frequent micturition after TURP.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between preoperative bladder function and frequent micturition after transurethral resection of prostate in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. METHODS: We retrospectively included 80 eligible patients aged 54-87 years (mean age 69.8 years) who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate at our hospital from January 2019 to October 2021. Patients were divided into detrusor overactivity positive and negative groups, and according to bladder compliance, they were divided into: low (G1), normal (G2), and high (G3) bladder compliance groups. RESULTS: The incidence and score of postoperative frequent micturition in the detrusor overactivity positive group were higher than those in the detrusor overactivity negative group. The incidence and score of postoperative frequent micturition in the low bladder compliance group were higher than those in the normal and high bladder compliance groups. There was no significant difference in the score of frequent micturition between the normal and high bladder compliance groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that frequent micturition was significantly correlated with detrusor overactivity, bladder compliance, maximum cystometric capacity, and maximum flow rate. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that patients with abnormal bladder storage functions (detrusor instability and low bladder compliance) before transurethral resection of the prostate were likely to have frequent and severe urination after transurethral resection of the prostate. Therefore, preoperative urodynamic examination to evaluate the urinary storage function of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia is of great significance to predict the occurrence and degree of postoperative frequent micturition.

Different Agglomeration Processes Induced by the Varied Interaction of Fe-Fe Analogues with Differently Charged Surfactants.

The catalytic activity of Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) is mainly tuned via the control of material sizes and morphologies. However, the shapes and sizes of many PBAs are difficult to control. In this work, a facile approach is demonstrated using differently charged surfactants to tune the catalytic activity of PBAs. Fe-Fe PBAs prepared with non-ionic P123, cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate are chosen to study the effect of surfactant charges on the catalytic activity. The transesterification of propylene carbonate to dimethyl carbonate by methanol is selected as a model reaction. Owing to the different agglomeration processes of PB particles after modified with differently charged surfactants, significantly varied shapes and sizes were observed. Accordingly, the catalytic activity is greatly varied by adding surfactants. The different catalytic activities may arise from the different behaviors of agglomeration of PB particles after surfactant modification as well as the material size and shape changes. Besides, apparent activation energies for PBs adding different surfactants were derived. Finally, the agglomeration mechanism of PB particles in the presence of differently charged surfactants was proposed.

Recent Advances on Synthesis of CoCO3 with Controlled Morphologies.

Cobalt carbonates and derivatives represent most promising cost-effective materials for energy storage, conversion and upgrading. Morphology determines the performances, as size, shape and electronic configuration are key factors for tunable properties in the area of batteries, catalysis, magnetics and plasmonics. However, there is lack of insights in literature on morphological control of cobalt carbonates during hydrothermal and solvothermal conditions. Therefore, this review provides detailed discussion on synthesis, formation mechanism and morphological control of nanosheets, wires, spheres and cubes of cobalt carbonates. Furthermore, the influence of experimental conditions and plausible mechanism which govern the growing processes were further discussed in details. The outcome of this short review will offer insights into rational design of inexpensive metal carbonates for numerous other energy and environment applications.

The impact of watching real-time videos of flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy on anxiety and depression in patients.

PURPOSE: This study examines the effect of intraoperative doctor-patient communication with real-time videos in flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy on patients' anxiety and depression. METHODS: Patients with upper urinary tract calculi were randomised into four groups. Group A (n = 29) watched the real-time operation video, but did not accept the relevant explanation during the operation; Group B (n = 31) received an explanation about the operation process during the operation alone. Patients in Group C (n = 33) watched the real-time operation video and received an explanation about the operation process during the operation. Group D (n = 31) neither watched the operation video nor received an explanation about the operation process. The self-rated anxiety and depression scores of the patients were evaluated using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and the self-rating depression scale (SDS) before and after the operation. RESULTS: The clinical and demographic profiles (average age, gender distribution, educational level, body mass index, stone size, the position of stones in each groups, the length of stayand the numbers of severe postoperative complications) of the for groups showed no preoperation difference (P > 0.05). The preoperative anxiety scores and the preoperative depression scores showed no significant difference in the four groups (P > 0.05). The scores of postoperative anxiety and depression in groups A (n = 29), B (n = 31), and C (n = 33) were significantly lower than those in Group D (n = 31), (P < 0. 05). Compared to groups A and B, the scores of anxiety and depression in Group C were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: During flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy, doctor-patient communication combined with real-time video can significantly reduce patients' postoperative anxiety and depression, and contribute to their physical and mental health recovery.

Perioperative factors influencing the difficulty of retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy: a single-center retrospective study.

PURPOSE: Identifying patients in whom adrenalectomy may be more difficult can help with surgical decision-making. This study investigated the perioperative factors affecting the difficulty of retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy (RLA). METHODS: Sixty-eight patients who underwent RLA at our hospital between December 1, 2020 and May 1, 2021 were included. The difficulty of RLA was assessed by operating time and intraoperative blood loss. We analyzed the relationship between surgical difficulty and patient sex, age, and body mass index, pathological type, tumor side, tumor size, distance from the lower pole of the adrenal tumor to the upper pole of the kidney (DAK), and distance from the lower pole of the adrenal tumor to the renal pedicle (DARP). RESULTS: Mean operating time was 105.38 ± 33.31 min and mean intraoperative blood loss was 32.28 ± 22.88 ml. Univariate linear regression analysis showed that age (P = 0.047), tumor size (P = 0.002), DAK (P = 0.002), and DARP (P < 0.001) were significantly correlated with a longer operating time. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that DARP (P = 0.001), DAK (P = 0.001), tumor size (P = 0.002), and age (P = 0.033) were significantly correlated with a longer operating time. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that DARP (OR 5.341; 95% CI 1.704-16.739; P = 0.004), and tumor size (OR 4.433; 95% CI 1.434-13.709; P = 0.010) were independent predictors of operating time. CONCLUSION: Age, tumor size, DAK, and DARP were predictors of the difficulty of RLA. Older age, lower DARP and DAK, and a larger tumor size were associated with a longer operating time. DARP and tumor size were independent predictors of surgical difficulty.

The Transcriptome and Metabolome Reveal Stress Responses in Sulfur-Fumigated Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.).

Sulfur (S) fumigation is a commonly used sterilization method in horticultural facilities against fungal diseases. S fumigation damaged cucumber leaves, although the response mechanism is unclear. This study analyzes the growth, transcriptome, and metabolomic profiles of young and mature leaves, ovaries, and commercial cucumber fruits to decipher the mechanism of cucumber stress response under S fumigation. S fumigation significantly changed the photosynthetic efficiency and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in leaves, but not fruit development, fruit mass, and peel color. Transcriptome analysis indicated that S fumigation strongly regulated stress defense genes. The weighted gene co-expression network analysis revealed that S fumigation regulated ASPG1, AMC1 defense genes, LECRK3, and PERK1 protein kinase. The abscisic acid (ABA)-mediated model of regulation under S fumigation was constructed. Metabolome analysis showed that S fumigation significantly upregulated or downregulated the contents of amino acids, organic acids, sugars, glycosides, and lipids (VIP > 1 and P-value < 0.05). The opposite Pearson's correlations of these differential metabolites implied that cucumber had different metabolic patterns in short-term and long-term S fumigation. Besides, the elevated levels of proline and triglyceride indicated that stress-responsive mechanisms existed in S-fumigated cucumber. Moreover, the comprehensive analysis indicated that S fumigation elevated secondary S-containing metabolites but decreased sulfate absorption and transportation in cucumber. Overall, our results provided a comprehensive assessment of S fumigation on cucumber, which laid the theoretical foundation for S fumigation in protected cultivation.

Inhibition of edge stenosis of endografts in swine iliac arteries by a novel endograft with biodegradable coating at both ends.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of a novel endograft with a biodegradable coating at both ends in preventing edge stenosis in swine iliac arteries. The biodegradable coating was composed of polylactide and paclitaxel. METHODS: Four types of endograft were implanted in the iliac arteries of healthy swine: an endograft without coating (control group) and endografts with polylactide and paclitaxel coating containing 0.1, 0.3, or 3.6 µg/mm2 of paclitaxel. The edge stenosis of these endografts in swine iliac arteries was assessed using angiographic image data at 30, 90, and 180 days after the operation. After terminal angiography, histologic evaluation of the treated arteries was performed. The treated sections of iliac arteries and blood samples were obtained at 1, 7, 30, 90, and 180 days for pharmacokinetic analysis. RESULTS: The results of angiographic and histologic evaluation demonstrated that intimal hyperplasia contributed to edge stenosis and polylactide-paclitaxel coating effectively inhibited edge stenosis. At 30 days, edge stenosis was observed at both the proximal and distal edges of the endograft without coating. At 90 days, edge stenosis was detected for the endograft coated with 0.1 µg/mm2 paclitaxel, and ectasia dilation occurred at the proximal and distal edges of the endograft coated with 3.6 µg/mm2 paclitaxel. No edge stenosis or other adverse effects were observed at 90 and 180 days for the endograft coated with 0.3 µg/mm2 paclitaxel. In addition, for the endograft coated with 0.3 µg/mm2 paclitaxel, a pharmacokinetic analysis showed that the paclitaxel concentration of treated segments decreased from 14 264 ± 1020 ng/g at day 1 to 80 ± 70 ng/g at day 90, and 20 ± 40 ng/g at day 180. The plasma paclitaxel concentration was low at day 1 and no longer detected after 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Polylactide and paclitaxel coating containing 0.3 µg/mm2 paclitaxel at both ends of endografts effectively and safely inhibits edge stenosis in swine iliac arteries.

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis on Flavonoid Distribution in Different Floral Parts of 42 Hemerocallis Accessions.

The Hemerocallis accessions is widely consumed as nutritious vegetable and traditional medicine in eastern Asia and used as an ornamental flower worldwide. Compared with most other horticultural products, its flower is richer in polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. Therefore, the flower has strong antioxidant activity that inhibits cancer cell proliferation, which could used for health and pharmaceutical purposes. The flavonoids composition and distribution in the flowers, and the content varied between different accssions is still unclear. In this context, eight flavonols, two flavones, and two anthocyanins were determined in Hemerocallis flower by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with photodiode array and mass spectrometric detectors. Rutin was the most abundant flavonols and cyanidin 3,5-glucoside and cyanidin 3-rutinoside were the major anthocyanins in Hemerocallis tepals, resulting in flower petal coloration, and their content in the petal was higher than that of the sepal. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the 42 accessions into four groups, and they were significantly different (p < 0.05) from each other in the ten significant compounds by One-way ANOVA. Overall, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoid constituents in six floral parts of 42 Hemerocallis accessions were elucidated, which could be helpful for the food and pharmaceutical industries, and lay the foundation for the Hemerocallis flower color research.

Cross-Sectional Survey to Assess Health-Care Workers' Grief Counseling for Bereaved Families of COVID-19 Victims in Wuhan, China.

OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to examine health-care workers' grief counseling for bereaved families of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) victims in China. Our research may provide a new opportunity to stimulate development of grief counseling in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 724 health-care workers selected by convenience sampling from 7 hospitals in Wuhan. Data collection tools included a sociodemographic questionnaire, the skills of grief counseling scale (SGCS), and the attitudes of grief counseling scale (AGCS). RESULTS: The average SGCS score was 18.96 ± 4.66, whose influencing factors consisted of sense of responsibility, frequency of contact with bereaved families, and relevant training (P < 0.05). The average AGCS score was 33.36 ± 8.70, whose influencing factors consisted of other grief counseling skills, communication skills, education background, and relevant training (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The skills and attitudes toward grief counseling among health-care workers combating COVID-19 were at a lower level in Wuhan, China, indicating the need to build a comprehensive grief counseling system, establish a standardized training course, and strengthen the popularization of grief counseling services to the public.

Genome-wide identification of CLE gene family and their potential roles in bolting and fruit bearing in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.).

BACKGROUND: Signal peptides are essential for plant growth and development. In plants, biological processes including cell-cell communication, cellular proliferation and differentiation, cellular determination of self-incompatibility, and defensive responses, all depend heavily on peptide-signaling networks such as CLE (CLAVATA3/Embryo surrounding region-related). The CLEs are indispensable in different periods of plant growth and development, especially in maintaining the balance between proliferation and differentiation of stem cells in various meristematic tissues. The working system of CLE genes in cucumber, an important economical vegetable (Cucumis sativus L.), has not been fully studied yet. The distributional patterns of chromosome-level genome assembly in cucumber provide a fundamental basis for a genome-wide comparative analysis of CLE genes in such plants. RESULTS: A total of 26 individual CLE genes were identified in Chinese long '9930' cucumber, the majority of which belong to unstable short alkaline and hydrophilic peptides. A comparative analysis showed a close relationship in the development of CLE genes among Arabidopsis thaliana, melon, and cucumber. Half of the exon-intron structures of all CsCLEs genes are single-exon genes, and motif 1, a typical CLE domain near the C-terminal functioning in signal pathways, is found in all cucumber CLE proteins but CsCLE9. The analysis of CREs (Cis-Regulatory Elements) in the upstream region of the 26 cucumber CLE genes indicates a possible relationship between CsCLE genes and certain functions of hormone response elements. Cucumber resulted closely related to Arabidopsis and melon, having seven and 15 orthologous CLE genes in Arabidopsis and melon, respectively. Additionally, the calculative analysis of a pair of orthologous genes in cucumber showed that as a part of the evolutionary process, CLE genes are undergoing a positive selection process which leads to functional differentiation. The specific expression of these genes was vigorous at the growth and development period and tissues. Cucumber gene CLV3 was overexpressed in Arabidopsis, more than half of the transformed plants in T1 generation showed the phenomena of obvious weakness of the development of growing point, no bolting, and a decreased ability of plant growth. Only two bolted strains showed that either the pod did not develop or the pod was short, and its development was significantly inferior to that in the wild type. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, 26 CLE genes were identified in Chinese long '9930' cucumber genome. The CLE genes were mainly composed of alkaline hydrophilic unstable proteins. The genes of the CLE family were divided into seven classes, and shared close relationships with their homologs in Arabidopsis and melon. The specific expression of these genes was evaluated in different periods of growth and tissue development, and CLV3, which the representative gene of the family, was overexpressed in Arabidopsis, suggesting that it has a role in bolting and fruit bearing in cucumber.

The physical and mental health of the medical staff in Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital during COVID-19 epidemic: A Structural Equation Modeling approach.

INTRODUCTION: Early in the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019, the Chinese government recruited a proportion of healthcare workers to support the designated hospital (Huoshenshan Hospital) in Wuhan, China. The majority of front-line medical staff suffered from adverse effects, but their real health status during COVID-19 epidemic was still unknown. The aim of the study was to explore the latent relationship of the physical and mental health of front-line medical staff during this special period. METHODS: A total of 115 military medical staff were recruited between February 17th and February 29th, 2020 and asked to complete questionnaires assessing socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, self-reported sleep status, fatigue, resilience and anxiety. RESULTS: 55 medical staff worked within Intensive Care and 60 worked in Non-intensive Care, the two groups were significantly different in reported general fatigue, physical fatigue and tenacity (P<0.05). Gender, duration working in Wuhan, current perceived stress level and health status were associated with significant differences in fatigue scores (P<0.05), the current perceived health status (P<0.05) and impacted on the resilience and anxiety of participants. The structural equation modeling analysis revealed resilience was negatively associated with fatigue (ß=-0.52, P<0.01) and anxiety (ß=-0.24, P<0.01), and fatigue had a direct association with the physical burden (ß=0.65, P<0.01); Fatigue mediated the relationship between resilience and anxiety (ß=-0.305, P=0.039) as well as resilience and physical burden (ß=-0.276, P=0.02). CONCLUSION: During an explosive pandemic situation, motivating the effect of protective resilience and taking tailored interventions against fatigue are promising ways to protect the physical and mental health of the front-line medical staff.

The Effects of Age, Period, and Cohort on the Mortality of Cervical Cancer in Three High-Income Countries: Canada, Korea, and Italy.

BACKGROUND: As the second most common gynecologic cancer worldwide, cervical cancer has led to morbidity and mortality in thousands of women. Our study is aimed at comparing the long-term trends of mortality rates for cervical cancer in three high-income countries-Canada, Korea, and Italy-and analyzing the detached effects of chronological age, time period, and birth cohort by age-period-cohort (APC) analysis. METHODS: Joinpoint regression was used in this study, and the age-period-cohort model combined with the intrinsic estimator method was also applied to estimate the detached effect of each age, time period, and birth cohort on cervical cancer mortality. RESULTS: For the overall trends of ASMRs for cervical cancer, the rates for Canada and Italy generally decreased during the whole observation periods while the rate for Korea exhibited a significant increase from 1986 to 2003. The APC analysis suggested that the cancer mortality risks consistently increased with age in the age groups including women aged 20 to 50 years in all areas. The period effect exhibited a general upward trend for both Korea and Italy, while a decreased trend was observed for Canada during the whole observation period. The mortality risk generally decreased with birth cohort, except there was a slight increase for younger generations in the three countries. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that the overall decrease in the cohort effect may have contributed to the reduced mortality rate for Italy and Canada, and the increased period effects and cohort effect in younger generations may have led to the increase in cancer mortality rate for Korea.

Catalytic Deoxygenation of Xylitol to Renewable Chemicals: Advances on Catalyst Design and Mechanistic Studies.

Xylitol is commonly known as one of the top platform intermediates for biomass conversion. Catalytic deoxygenation of xylitol provides an atomic and energetic efficient way to produce a variety of renewable chemicals including ethylene glycol, 1,2-propanediol, lactic acid and 1,4-anhydroxylitol. Despite a few initial attempts in converting xylitol into those products, improving catalyst selectivity towards C-O and C-C cleavage reactions remains a grand challenge in this area. To our best knowledge, there is lack of comprehensive review to summarize the most recent advances on catalyst design and mechanisms in deoxygenation of xylitol, offering important perspective into future development of xylitol transformation technologies. Therefore, in this mini-review, we have critically discussed the conversion routes involved in xylitol deoxygenation over solid catalyst materials, the nanostructures of supported metal catalysts for C-H, C-C and C-O bond cleavage reactions, and mechanistic investigation for xylitol conversion. The outcome of this work provides new insights into rational design of effective deoxygenation catalyst materials for upgrading of xylitol and future process development in converting hemicellulosic biomass.