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Aim: To determine the factors that influence nurses' fear of COVID-19 and professional quality of life as well as their attitudes towards COVID-19 in four different countries., Background: The emergence of COVID-19 has affected the psychological and professional quality of life of the frontline health care workers, especially nurses., Design: An online cross-sectional multicultural study., Methods: A total of 1071 nurses from Turkey, Brazil, Spain and Italy were selected by convenience sampling. All participants were invited to complete the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and Professional Quality of Life Scale through online form from October 2020 to January 2021., Results: It has been seen that nurses' fear of COVID-19 has been above the average and their professional quality of life has been affected negatively during the pandemic. Almost one out of three nurses (28.6%) thought of quitting their job during the pandemic. The majority of nurses (91.0%) thought their professional quality of life changed during the pandemic. The mean score of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale is higher in nurses who are working in Brazil, are female, have a chronic illness and are working in an outpatient clinic. Professional quality of life is even lower in nurses who are younger than 40, have a professional experience of less than 15 years, are working in Brazil and have concerns about themselves and their relatives because of COVID-19., Conclusions: It was determined that there was a relationship between fear of COVID-19 and professional quality of life subscales of nurses., Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse leaders have an important role in supporting nurses actively during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and providing them with good working conditions, sufficient resources and rewards. In order for nurses to be able to cope with the challenges brought about by the pandemic, particularly the fear of COVID-19, and to avoid thoughts of quitting the profession, it would be beneficial to take certain administrative measures on institutional and territorial basis. It is recommended that employees with a chronic disease work in low-risk clinics, the number of nurses be increased in busier clinics, working hours be reduced and nurses be provided with psychosocial support by experts to cope with stress. On the other hand, effective infection control, personal protective measures and implementing institutional policies and protocols can help to reduce the fear of COVID-19 and increase their professional quality of life., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: The aim of this prospective study was to analyze dosimetric impact of modifying bladder filling on dose distribution in organs at risk (OARs) when using contrast in the small bowel of patients under adjuvant therapy with high-dose-rate vaginal cuff brachytherapy (HDR-VCB) for endometrial cancer., Material and Methods: This research included 19 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery. They were treated with HDR-VCB and 2.5-3.5 cm diameter cylinders. Two successive computerized tomography (CT) scans were performed, with empty bladder and with bladder filled with 180 cc of saline solution. Bladder, rectum, sigmoid, and small bowel were delineated as OARs. Oral barium contrast was used to clearly visualize small bowel loops. Prescription dose was 7 Gy. Dose-volume histograms were generated for each OAR, with full and empty bladder to compare doses received., Results: Bladder distension had no dosimetric impact on the bladder, rectum, or sigmoid, unlike the small bowel. With full bladder, mean minimum dose at 2 cc (D 2cc ) was not significantly higher for full vs. empty bladder (5.56 vs. 5.06 Gy, p = 0.07), whereas there was a significant reduction in the small bowel (1.68 vs. 2.70 Gy, p < 0.001). With full bladder, the dose increased to 50% of the volume (D 50% ) of the bladder (2.11 vs. 1.28 Gy, p < 0.001), and decreased in the small bowel (0.70 vs. 1.09 Gy, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: The present study describes the dose received by organs at risk during HDR-VCB, making it possible to define the dose received by small bowel loops, when visualized with oral barium contrast. In patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery, a full bladder during HDR-VCB reduces the dose to the small bowel without a clinically relevant dose increase in the bladder, and no dose increase in other OARs., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Termedia.)

The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 led the Spanish government to impose a national lockdown in an attempt to control the spread of the infection. Mobility restrictions and the requirement of a medical prescription for serological testing for COVID-19 were included among the control measures. Under this scenario, between April 15th and June 15th, 2020, we performed an observational study including 449 individuals allowed to be tested according to the governmental restrictions, i.e. fulfilling the following prescription requirements: manifestation of COVID-19-compatible symptoms, contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient, or employment as an essential worker, including health care workers, firefighters and public safety personnel such as police. Importantly, a relevant feature of the studied cohort was that none of the participants had been hospitalized. We analyzed SARS-CoV-2 IgG seropositivity in this specific cohort, uncovering intrinsic features of great demographic interest. The overall rate of IgG seropositivity was 33.69% (95% CI: 29.27-38.21). This frequency was comparable among the different participant occupations. A RT-PCR positive test, contact with a household member previously tested positive and the presence of COVID-19-compatible symptoms were positively associated with IgG + results. Among these symptoms, ageusia/anosmia was positively and independently associated with SARS-CoV-2 IgG seropositivity, while odynophagia was inversely associated. However, fever, ageusia/anosmia and asthenia were the most frequent symptoms described by IgG + subjects. Therefore, our data illustrate how specific cohorts display particular characteristics that should be taken into account when studying population-wide SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and key defining symptoms of COVID-19., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: Multiple familial trichoepithelioma type 1 (MFT1; MIM 601606), a rare monogenic skin disease with autosomal dominant inheritance, is characterized by the development of multiple skin-colored papules on the central area of the face, frequently occurring in the nasolabial area. The disease is associated with various mutations in the cylindromatosis (CYLD; MIM 605018) gene that are also responsible for familial cylindromatosis (FC) and Brooke-Spiegler syndrome (BSS)., Methods: Recently we have identified a Spanish MFT1 pedigree with two affected family members (father and daughter). Direct sequencing of the CYLD gene revealed a worldwide recurrent heterozygous nonsense mutation (c.2272C/T, p.R758X) in the patients., Results: This mutation has already been detected in patients with all three clinical variants - BSS, FC and MFT1 - of the CYLD-mutation spectrum. Haplotype analysis was performed for the Spanish patients with MFT1, Dutch patients with FC and an Austrian patient with BSS, all of whom carry the same heterozygous nonsense p.R758X CYLD mutation., Conclusions: Our results indicate that this position is a mutational hotspot on the gene and that patients carrying the mutation exhibit high phenotypic diversity.

A telescoped process for the preparation of 2-methoxy-3-methyl-[1,4]benzoquinone is disclosed. When this novel process is compared to the prevailing method that utilizes Na2Cr2O7 as the oxidant, the novel process represents a high yielding (95%), green, and environmentally benign alternative with H2O2 and HNO3 as the oxidants and CH3COOH as the reaction medium.

[Reaction: see text]. Mechanistic investigations and protocols for the synthesis of 2-nitrobiphenyls and 2,2'-dinitrobiphenyls are disclosed. It is revealed that obstacles appear during the transmetalation step when the phenylboronic acid is substituted with a nitro group in the 2-position, whereas when substituted in the 3- or 4-positions, the reaction follows similar patterns as found in the electrophilic substitution of nitrobenzenes, an observation that may be attributed to the elimination step of the catalytic cycle.

A novel deoxygenation process for N-heteroarene N-oxides is described. The deoxygenation process has been carried out by utilizing some short C-chain alcohols, benzyl alcohol, or 1-phenylethanol as the solvent in the presence of a base, such as sodium alkoxide or sodium hydroxide. A series of N-heteroarene N-oxides was submitted to the developed conditions to provide the corresponding N-heteroarenes with high yield and excellent selectivity. When the deoxygenation is carried out with benzyl alcohol or 1-phenylethanol as the reaction medium, the process can be performed under very mild conditions, at only 30 degrees C. The deoxygenation process is in contrast to several other methods performed without the presence of any transition metal as a catalyst or stoichiometric reagent. DFT calculations suggest that the alkoxide performs a nucleophilic attack on the N-heteroarene in the ortho or para position. This bond is cleaved homolytically with the overall result being that a single electron-transfer step has occurred. The products of this process are an N-heteroarene N-oxide radical anion and an alkoxyl or benzyloxy radical, depending on the solvent that has been used. Successive steps of the mechanism result in an oxygen transfer from the N-oxide to give the deoxygenated N-heteroarene and 1 equiv of the aldehyde, which is the oxidation product of the solvent alcohol.

Separation of etodolac enantiomers, which exhibit different biological activity and pharmacokinetic profiles, has been achieved using the randomly substituted (2-hydroxy)propyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) as chiral selector in capillary electrophoresis. The selection of this CD was made after screening of different CD derivatives of neutral and anionic nature. The effect on the enantioresolution of the buffer concentration and of the degree of substitution (DS) and concentration of the CD as well as of instrumental parameters, such as the capillary temperature and the separation voltage, were studied. The highest resolution of etodolac enantiomers was around 2.5 using 100 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 20 mM HP-beta-CD (DS approximately 4.2) and UV detection at 225 (10) nm with a reference wavelength at 360 (50) nm. Validation of the chiral method in terms of selectivity, linearity, precision (instrumental repeatability, method repeatability, intermediate precision), and the limits of detection and quantitation allowed to evaluate its quality to the analysis of etodolac enantiomers in different pharmaceutical preparations containing racemic etodolac.

A novel synthetic process leading to the framework of benzo[c]cinnoline has been discovered and investigated. The process is composed of two separate reactions, the first of which is a partial reduction of the nitro groups of the 2,2'-dinitrobiphenyl, a process that we believe proceeds via a SET mechanism to yield the hydroxyamino and nitroso groups. In the following step the cyclization takes place under formation of the -N=N- bond. We believe that this process take place via a radical mechanism through the nitroso radical anion. The novel process affords either benzo[c]cinnoline or benzo[c]cinnoline N-oxide, both in high yields, 93% and 91%, respectively. To obtain benzo[c]cinnoline, the reaction is conducted with an alcohol as solvent and an alkoxide as the base, while for benzo[c]cinnoline N-oxide, water is used as solvent with sodium hydroxide as the base. To establish the latter procedure, statistical experimental design and multivariate modeling were utilized to reveal the response surface for the reaction and to determine the optimal conditions for the reaction. A proposal for the complex reaction mechanism is given. During the corroboration of the mechanism, a new deoxygenation reaction for converting benzo[c]cinnoline N-oxide into benzo[c]cinnoline was discovered. The reaction is conducted by treating the N-oxide with sodium ethoxide at elevated temperature to achieve near-quantitative conversion into benzo[c]cinnoline in a yield of 96%.