Clusterization-Triggered Emission Enhanced by Energy Transfer in the Layered Metal Halide Hybrid Material (TET)2[Pb4Cl16].

Clusterization-triggered emission (CTE) of nonconventional chromophores has recently attracted increased interest for its synergetic photophysical properties and promising applications, such as optical anticounterfeiting, white-light emission devices, or molecular sensing. Many studies have been conducted on pure organic clusteroluminogens (CLgens), but very few have explored organic-inorganic hybrid (OIH) materials. This work deals with optical properties of a new OIH compound (TET)2[Pb4Cl16] (TET = N,N'-bis(2-aminoethyl)-1,3-propanediamine (C7N4H24)), which presents an unprecedented two-dimensional perovskitoid structure formed by strongly distorted [Pb4Cl16] layers of corner and edge-sharing [PbCl6] octahedra, separated by TET tetra-ammonium cations. Under UV-visible excitations, (TET)2[Pb4Cl16] exhibits white-light emission, tunable excitation-wavelength-dependent emission, and green afterglow room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) lasting for more than 0.63 s, all of which are direct signatures of CTE. The optical interpretations are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the band structure. Two mechanisms are involved in the emission process: resonant energy transfer (RET) between the organic and the inorganic components, and clusteroluminescence (CL) governed by a rigid conformation of the organic cations and extended electron delocalization over supramolecular organic clusters confined within the interlayer spacing. The different features of CLgens in (TET)2[Pb4Cl16] are discussed, and the role of the organic nonconjugated molecule in the emission process is emphasized.

Isolated Right Ventricular Air Embolism.

Vascular air embolism (VAE) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening event often associated with various procedures and diagnostic tests. Understanding this challenging incident will enable physicians to evaluate, diagnose and manage this incident successfully. We present a case of a 73-year-old male who developed air in the right ventricle after intravenous contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) imaging. We aim at highlighting this challenging clinical scenario and emphasizing ways to assess the risks and implement means to prevent and treat accordingly.

Factors influencing the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination: A cross-sectional study from Malaysia.

Background: With the surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide, vaccines against COVID-19 are also developing across the countries. However, the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination among general people is questionable. The availability of several vaccines' options against COVID-19 has perplexed people regarding individual vaccines' efficacy and safety. Therefore, we aim to determine the acceptance, preferences, impact factors of future COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia and the factors influencing the COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among vaccine demand and vaccine delay groups. Material and methods: An online-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among Malaysian residents 18 years and above of either gender using the snowball sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was made available to participants through various social media networks, email, and telegram. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Association between background characteristics and respondents were analyzed using the Chi-square test in the vaccine delay group and vaccine acceptance group. Results: Total of 1282 responses were considered for the study, mainly from male respondents (71%). Among the respondents, 95.9% thought that vaccination would be an effective way to prevent and control COVID-19, and 96% would accept vaccination if the COVID-19 vaccine were successfully developed and approved for listing in the future. Essential factors influencing vaccination decisions were vaccine convenience (95.7%) and doctor's recommendation (97.3%). Bivariate analysis revealed that age less than 24 years, Malay race, living in urban areas, tertiary education, students, single marital status, family income (Malaysian ringgits) RM 4,850 to RM 10,959 and >RM 10,960 were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance of COVID19 vaccination. Conclusion: All the factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates throughout the country should be studied on a larger scale, and appropriate steps to ensure vaccine acceptance among the public should be meticulously devised by the government and related authorities.

Antecedentes: Con el aumento de casos de COVID-19 en todo el mundo, las vacunas contra la COVID-19 también están en desarrollo en todos los países. Sin embargo, la aceptabilidad de la vacuna COVID-19 entre la gente en general es cuestionable. La disponibilidad de varias opciones de vacunas contra COVID-19 ha dejado perpleja a la gente con respecto a la eficacia y seguridad de las vacunas individuales. Por lo tanto, tenemos como objetivo determinar la aceptación, las preferencias y los factores de impacto de las futuras vacunas COVID-19 en Malasia y los factores que influyen en la aceptación de la vacunación COVID-19 entre la demanda de vacunas y los grupos de demora de la vacuna. Material y métodos: Se realizó una encuesta transversal en línea entre residentes de Malasia de 18 años o más de cualquier género utilizando la técnica de muestreo de bola de nieve. Se puso a disposición de los participantes un cuestionario autoadministrado a través de varias redes sociales, correo electrónico y telegrama. Los datos obtenidos de la encuesta se analizaron con el programa SPSS versión 25.0. La asociación entre las características de fondo y los encuestados fueron analizados usando la prueba de χ2 en el grupo de demora de la vacuna y el grupo de aceptación de la vacuna. Resultados: Se consideró un total de 1.282 respuestas para el estudio, principalmente de hombres encuestados (71%). Entre los encuestados, el 95,9% pensó que la vacunación sería una forma eficaz de prevenir y controlar la COVID-19, y el 96% aceptaría la vacunación si la vacuna COVID-19 se desarrollara con éxito y se aprobara para su inclusión en el futuro. Factores esenciales que influyeron en las decisiones de vacunación fueron la conveniencia de la vacuna (95,7%) y la recomendación del médico (97,3%). El análisis bivariado reveló que la edad < 24 años, la raza malaya, la vida en áreas urbanas, educación terciaria, estudiantes, estado civil soltero, ingresos familiares RM 4,850 a RM 10,959 y > RM 10,960 (en ringgits, moneda malaya), se asociaron significativamente con la aceptación de la vacuna COVID-19. Conclusión: Todos los factores que influyen en las tasas de aceptación de la vacuna COVID-19 en todo el país deben estudiarse a mayor escala, y el gobierno y las autoridades relacionadas deben diseñar meticulosamente los pasos apropiados para asegurar la aceptación de la vacuna entre el público.

A Comparative Study of High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein and Metabolic Variables in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with and without Nephropathy.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic nephropathy is a serious chronic complication of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) which impairs the quality of life, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. The high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an acute phase reactant which acts as a non-specific systemic marker of inflammation. AIM: To find out the relationship between serum hs-CRP and metabolic variables in Type 2 diabetic patients with and without nephropathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group consists of 96 subjects that include non-diabetic healthy controls, Type 2 diabetic patients without any complications and patients with diabetic nephropathy. The study group was composed of both genders, aged 31-70 years, who reported after 10-12 hours overnight fasting; then, venous blood and fresh urine samples were collected, in the morning from all the study subjects. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Independent t-test was used to compare between the groups and Chi square test was used to find out the relationship between serum hs-CRP and metabolic variables. RESULTS: The results showed a significantly (p<0.05) increasing trend of serum hs-CRP with the degree of microalbumin excretion and the severity of nephropathy in Type 2 diabetic patients. The result showed a significant (p<0.05) relationship between hs-CRP and the metabolic variables like Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG), Post Prandial Blood Glucose (PPBG), Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG), LDL-Cholesterol (LDL-C), TC:HDL-Cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio and estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) and no significance (p>0.05) between hs-CRP and HDL-Cholesterol in both diabetic and diabetic nephropathy subjects. CONCLUSION: Hs-CRP was strongly associated with the metabolic variables and predictors of cardiovascular risk in Type 2 diabetes mellitus with and without nephropathy. The hs-CRP might be considered as a predictor or illness indicator for the development of nephropathy and cardiovascular risk in Type 2 diabetic patients.

Comparison of commercial analytical techniques for measuring chlorine dioxide in urban desalinated drinking water.

Most drinking water industries are closely examining options to maintain a certain level of disinfectant residual through the entire distribution system. Chlorine dioxide is one of the promising disinfectants that is usually used as a secondary disinfectant, whereas the selection of the proper monitoring analytical technique to ensure disinfection and regulatory compliance has been debated within the industry. This research endeavored to objectively compare the performance of commercially available analytical techniques used for chlorine dioxide measurements (namely, chronoamperometry, DPD (N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine), Lissamine Green B (LGB WET) and amperometric titration), to determine the superior technique. The commonly available commercial analytical techniques were evaluated over a wide range of chlorine dioxide concentrations. In reference to pre-defined criteria, the superior analytical technique was determined. To discern the effectiveness of such superior technique, various factors, such as sample temperature, high ionic strength, and other interferences that might influence the performance were examined. Among the four techniques, chronoamperometry technique indicates a significant level of accuracy and precision. Furthermore, the various influencing factors studied did not diminish the technique's performance where it was fairly adequate in all matrices. This study is a step towards proper disinfection monitoring and it confidently assists engineers with chlorine dioxide disinfection system planning and management.

The intriguing prion disorders.

Prion diseases are among the most intriguing illnesses. Despite their rare incidence, they have captured enormous attention from the scientific community and general public. One of the most hotly debated issues in these diseases is the nature of the infectious material. In recent years increasing evidence has emerged supporting the protein-only hypothesis of prion transmission. In this model PrPSc (the pathological isoform of the prion protein, PrPC) represents the sole component of the infectious particle. However, uncertainties about possible additional factors involved in the conversion of PrPC into PrPSc remain despite extensive attempts to isolate and characterize these elusive components. In this article, we review recent developments concerning the protein-only hypothesis as well as the possible involvement of cellular factors in PrPC to PrPSc conformational change and their influence on the pathogenesis of prion diseases.

Relating foliar dehydration tolerance of mycorrhizal Phaseolus vulgaris to soil and root colonization by hyphae.

Mycorrhizal symbiosis can modify plant response to drying soil, but little is known about the relative contribution of soil vs. root hyphal colonization to drought resistance of mycorrhizal plants. Foliar dehydration tolerance, characterized as leaf and soil water potential at the end of a lethal drying episode, was measured in bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) colonized by Glomus intraradices or by a mix of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi collected from a semi-arid grassland. Path analysis modeling was used to evaluate how colonization rates and other variables affected these lethal values. Of several plant and soil characteristics tested, variation in dehydration tolerance was best explained by soil hyphal density. Soil hyphal colonization had larger direct and total effects on both lethal leaf water potential and soil water potential than did root hyphal colonization, root density, soil aggregation, soil glomalin concentration, leaf phosphorus concentration or leaf osmotic potential. Plants colonized by the semi-arid mix of mycorrhizal fungi had lower lethal leaf water potential and soil water potential than plants colonized by G. intraradices. Our findings support the assertion that external, soil hyphae may play an important role in mycorrhizal influence on the water relations of host plants.

Compatible host/mycorrhizal fungus combinations for micropropagated sea oats. I. Field sampling and greenhouse evaluations.

Micropropagation technology promises to improve the supply of sea oats for restoring Florida's eroded beaches, but concerns about genetic diversity need to be addressed. These dune plants are colonized by a wide array of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, yet little is know of the diversity of these fungal communities. Our goal was to test the level of functional diversity that exists among communities of AM fungi that are present in divergent Florida dunes. Community pot cultures were established from samples collected from ten transects in two Gulf coast and two Atlantic coast locations in Florida, and these were used to conduct two greenhouse studies. The objective of the first study was to evaluate within-location variance in the mycorrhizal function of different AM fungal communities associated with endemic sea oats. The objective of the second study was to evaluate among-location responses of plant and fungal ecotypes using selected combinations obtained from the first experiment. Within locations, the AM fungal community had significant impacts on shoot mass and shoot-P contents, confirming a range of symbiotic effectiveness exists within the beach-dune system. Among locations, there was a tendency for greater root colonization between host clones and fungal communities from the same location, indicating a degree of specificity between host ecotypes and their symbiotic fungi. Relative to plant growth response, one fungal community was superior across plant genotypes from all locations, while one plant genotype tended to have the best response across all fungal communities. These data suggest that while it is possible to select effective AM fungal-host combinations for outplanting, origin of host and AM fungi have little predictive value in screening these combinations.

Detection of the negative-strand hepatitis C virus RNA in tissues: implications for pathogenesis.

The replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is believed to occur via its transcription into a complementary, genomic-length RNA, the so-called negative-strand HCV RNA. This is based on the comparison with the replication of other members of the Flaviviridae family. Detection of the negative-strand HCV RNA in human tissues by semi-quantitative, strand-specific RT-PCR has contributed to the understanding of the HCV cell tropism and of the pathogenesis of HCV-associated disease manifestations. In particular, it was shown that the levels of intrahepatic HCV RNA are not correlated to the extent of the necroinflammation, but that a significant correlation was found with the liver steatosis. These results suggest that most liver disease associated with HCV infection is mediated by the host immune response. However, in some patients, most notably those infected with HCV genotype 3, HCV may cause a cytopathic effect, consisting in the lipid accumulation within hepatocytes.

Hepatocyte steatosis is a cytopathic effect of hepatitis C virus genotype 3.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) often have liver steatosis, suggesting the possibility of a viral cytopathic effect. The aim of this study was to correlate the occurrence and severity of liver steatosis with HCV RNA type, level and sequence of the core-encoding region. METHODS: We scored the liver steatosis in 101 HCV-infected individuals carefully selected to exclude other risk factors of a fatty liver. Results were compared with HCV RNA genotype and level in serum and liver. In selected patients, we assessed the effect of antiviral therapy on steatosis and the relationship between nucleocapsid sequence heterogeneity and fat infiltration. RESULTS: Steatosis was found in 41 (40.6%) patients, irrespective of sex, age or route of infection. HCV genotype 3 was associated with higher steatosis scores than other genotypes. A significant correlation between steatosis score and titer of intrahepatic HCV RNA was found in patients infected with genotype 3, but not in those infected with genotype 1. In selected patients, response to alpha-interferon was associated with the disappearance of steatosis. Analysis of the nucleocapsid of 14 HCV isolates failed to identify a sequence specifically associated with the development of steatosis. CONCLUSIONS: We provide virological and clinical evidence that the steatosis of the liver is the morphological expression of a viral cytopathic effect in patients infected with HCV genotype 3. At variance with published evidence from experimental models, the HCV nucleocapsid protein does not seem to fully explain the lipid accumulation in these patients.

A novel hepatitis C virus (HCV) subtype from Somalia and its classification into HCV clade 3.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) sequences from throughout the world have been grouped into six clades, based on recently proposed criteria. Here, the partial sequences and clade assignment are reported for three HCV isolates from chronic hepatitis C patients from Somalia, for whom conventional assays failed to identify the genotype. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences of the core, envelope 1 and part of the non- structural 5b regions suggests that all three isolates belong to a distinct HCV genetic group, tentatively classified as subtype 3h. This novel HCV subtype shows the highest sequence similarity with HCV isolates from Indonesia. Despite the fact that these patients were infected with HCV clade 3, none of them responded to standard interferon treatment.