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Abstract Objective This cross‐sectional study aimed to determine the epidemiology of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions related to COVID‐19 in China. Methods This study was conducted by 45 tertiary Grade‐A hospitals in China. Online and offline questionnaire data were obtained from patients infected with COVID‐19 between December 28, 2022, and February 21, 2023. The collected information included basic demographics, medical history, smoking and drinking history, vaccination history, changes in olfactory and gustatory functions before and after infection, and other postinfection symptoms, as well as the duration and improvement status of olfactory and gustatory disorders. Results Complete questionnaires were obtained from 35,566 subjects. The overall incidence of olfactory and taste dysfunction was 67.75%. Being female or being a cigarette smoker increased the likelihood of developing olfactory and taste dysfunction. Having received four doses of the vaccine or having good oral health or being a alcohol drinker decreased the risk of such dysfunction. Before infection, the average olfactory and taste VAS scores were 8.41 and 8.51, respectively; after infection, they decreased to 3.69 and 4.29 and recovered to 5.83 and 6.55 by the time of the survey. The median duration of dysosmia and dysgeusia was 15 and 12 days, respectively, with 0.5% of patients having symptoms lasting for more than 28 days. The overall self‐reported improvement rate was 59.16%. Recovery was higher in males, never smokers, those who received two or three vaccine doses, and those that had never experienced dental health issues, or chronic accompanying symptoms. Conclusions The incidence of dysosmia and dysgeusia following infection with the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus is high in China. Incidence and prognosis are influenced by several factors, including sex, SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccination, history of head‐facial trauma, nasal and oral health status, smoking and drinking history, and the persistence of accompanying symptoms.

Abstract Aliphatic allylic amines are common in natural products and pharmaceuticals. The oxidative intermolecular amination of C(sp3)-H bonds represents one of the most straightforward strategies to construct these motifs. However, the utilization of widely internal alkenes with amines in this transformation remains a synthetic challenge due to the inefficient coordination of metals to internal alkenes and excessive coordination with aliphatic and aromatic amines, resulting in decreasing the reactivity of the catalyst. Here, we present a regioselective Cu-catalyzed oxidative allylic C(sp3)-H amination of internal olefins with azodiformates to these problems. A removable bidentate directing group is used to control the regiochemistry and stabilize the π-allyl-metal intermediate. Noteworthy is the dual role of azodiformates as both a nitrogen source and an electrophilic oxidant for the allylic C-H activation. This protocol features simple conditions, remarkable scope and functional group tolerance as evidenced by >40 examples and exhibits high regioselectivity and excellent E/Z selectivity.

Objective To explore the possibility of using human skin and oral microorganisms to estimate the geographic origin of an individual through the sequencing analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Methods Microbial DNA was extracted from the palm and oral microorganisms of the Han population in Shanghai and Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, and the composition and diversity of the microbiota were analyzed by full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Then, differential species were screened and a geographic location prediction model was constructed. Results The compositions of palm and oral microorganisms between Shanghai and Chifeng samples were both different. The abundance and uniformity of palm side skin microorganisms were higher in Chifeng samples than in Shanghai samples, while there was no significant difference in oral microorganisms. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance （PERMANOVA） confirmed that the β-diversity between the samples from the two places were statistically significant, and the coefficients of determination （R2） for skin and oral samples were 0.129 and 0.102, respectively. Through principal co-ordinates analysis （PCoA）, the samples from the two places could be preliminarily distinguished. The predictive model had the accuracies of 0.90 and 0.83 for the geographic origin using the skin and oral samples, respectively. Conclusion There are differences in the compositions of palm and oral microbiota between Han populations in Shanghai and Chifeng. The prediction model constructed by the random forest algorithm can trace the unknown individuals from the above two places.

Project-based learning is widely used in organic laboratories. This goal-oriented and inquiry-based learning model complements student-centered training. Such models focus on complicated issues or real-world problems on the frontier of chemistry. Students progress through three project phases: preproject, during the project, and postproject. Herein, we combined organic synthesis, electrochemistry, and green chemistry to improve students' understanding of organic reactions and mechanisms and exposed them to a new method of organic synthesis, which is electrochemistry. Moreover, we integrated the concept of green chemistry into the study of organic chemistry, and student assessment indicated substantial improvement in the understanding of this concept. Students designed a simple electrochemical reactor and accomplished the synthesis of (±)-muscone. Meanwhile, student competencies were comprehensively improved. The project included a literature review, experimental procedures, and essay writing. Overall, responses from students regarding the project experience were highly affirming.

Objective:. To examine the association between the performance of mapping biopsies and surgical outcomes postexcision of extramammary Paget’s disease (EMPD). Background:. Primary EMPD is a rare entity associated with poorly defined surgical margins and difficult-to-access sites of lesions. Surgical resection with clear margins remains the preferred management method. The use of mapping biopsies might be beneficial, particularly in lowering disease recurrence. Methods:. Available literature was reviewed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology before a fixed-effect meta-analysis was performed to identify the presence of a correlation between performing mapping biopsies and positive margins on permanent sections as well as disease-free survival. Additional study results not included in the quantitative assessment were qualitatively assessed and reported. Results:. A total of 12 studies were shortlisted for final analysis. 294 patients who underwent mapping biopsies and 48 patients who did not undergo mapping biopsies were included in the assessment. Forest plot analysis revealed a pooled rate ratio of 0.50 (95% CI, 0.32–0.77) in the prevalence of positive margins in patients with mapping biopsies performed as compared to patients without. The pooled rate ratio of the prevalence of disease-free survival in patients with mapping biopsies performed as compared to patients without was 1.38 (95% CI, 1.03–1.84). Qualitative assessment of the remaining selected studies revealed equivocal results. Conclusions:. Mapping biopsies are able to improve EMPD surgical excision outcomes but given the rarity of the disease and heterogeneity of mapping biopsy procedures, further confirmation with randomized controlled trials or a larger patient pool is necessary.

In recent years, with the increasingly serious problem of environmental pollution, people′s awareness of environmental protection has gradually strengthened. In addition to the monitoring of conventional pollutants such as heavy metals and pesticides, the monitoring scope has been extended to emerging contaminants (ECs), which have the potential to cause known or suspected adverse for ecological or human health effects. Recently, a new group of compounds has been added to the anthropological-based pollutants, which are illicit drugs. The main source of these residues is from consumers. After ingestion of the illicit drug dose, active parent compounds and their metabolites are excreted through urine, entering urban wastewater and reaching wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). These substances may have low removal efficiencies and persist in the treated wastewater. Though the concentrations of emerging contaminants in environment are low, the risks for human health and environment cannot be excluded. Considering the serious threat posed by these substances, our country has clearly put forward the work deployment of “paying attention to the treatment of new pollutants”. Current analytical methods developed for the determination of trace level of compound in wastewater samples usually include pre-concentration steps, the most common being those based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) and online-SPE. However, there are many disadvantages of SPE, such as laborious, time-consuming, cost-consuming and needing specialized instrumentation. Therefore, the convenient and fast methods need to be developed, which can meet the high-sensitivity analysis requirements of wastewater detection. Here, a method of micro-direct-injection ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the rapid screening of 50 emerging contaminants. The wastewater samples were centrifuged at 13 500 r/min for 3 min, the supernatants were filtered through PTFE filters before injection into the UPLC-MS/MS system. A Waters Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (100 mm×2.1 mm×1.8 μm) was used, the mobile phases were 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate-0.01% formic acid (A) and acetonitrile (B). The result showed that the limits of detection (LODs) of 50 targets were 0.1-5 ng/L, the extraction recovery was 65.4%-113.9%, and the matrix effect was 64.8%-139.8%. The methamphetamine, codeine, morphine, ketamine, tramadol, O-demethyltramadol and 2-fluoro-deschloroketamine were detected in the real wastewater sample. This method can rapidly and simply screen the trace amounts of a variety of emerging contaminants in wastewater samples.

Chemokines are cytokines with chemoattractant capacities that exert their physiological functions through the binding of chemokine receptors. Thus, chemokine and receptor complexes exert important roles in regulating development and homeostasis during routine immune surveillance and inflammation. Compared to mammals, the physiology and structure of chemokine receptors in fish have not been systematically studied. Furthermore, the salmonid-specific whole genome duplication has significantly increased the number of functional paralogs of chemokine receptors. In this context, in the current study, trout exhibited 17 cxcr genes, including 12 newly identified and 5 previously identified receptors. Interestingly, gene expression of brain cxcr1 and cxcr4, kidney cxcr3 and cxcr4, and spleen cxcr3, cxcr4, and cxcr5 subtypes were altered by bacterial infection, whereas brain cxcr1, kidney cxcr1 and cxcr7, and liver cxcr2, cxcr3, and cxcr4 subtypes were changed in response to environmental changes. Based on protein structures predicted by ColabFold, the conserved amino acids in binding pockets between trout CXCR4.1 subtypes and human CXCR4 were also analyzed. Our study is valuable from a comparative point of view, providing new insights into the identification and physiology of salmonid chemokine receptors.

The utilization of metalloligands as building blocks for assembling heteronuclear metallocages or heterometallic coordination polymers has garnered increasing attention, yet its utilization for assembling Ag(I) alkynyl nanoclusters remains limited. In this study, we present the synthesis of two new Ag(I) alkynyl nanoclusters, namely, Mo2Ag8 and Mo2Ag12, employing a MoVIO2R-anchored (R = O or OEt) thiacalix[4]arene (TC4A) as a metalloligand. Through detailed structural analyses, their distinct sandwich geometries were revealed. Mo2Ag8 features a square Ag4(tBuC≡C)4 core enclosed between two {MoAg2–TC4A} units, with two MoO2(OEt) units suspended on each side. Mo2Ag12 features a hexagonal Ag6(tBuC≡C)6 core sandwiched between two {MoAg3–TC4A} units, with two MO3 units acting as oxygen anion templates, directly interacting with Ag(I) ions. In addition, we demonstrated the electrocatalytic application of Ag–Mo bimetallic clusters for CO2 reduction. The catalytic analysis results show that the binding mode of MO3 units considerably influences the electrochemical CO2 reduction activity and competitive hydrogen evolution reaction activity of the clusters. Notably, Mo2Ag12 achieved an impressive Faradaic efficiency of 60.85% for CO production at a voltage of −0.8 V (vs. RHE).

(1) Background: Fluorescein sodium (Na-Fl) has been described as a safe and useful neurosurgical adjunct in adult neurooncology. However, its use has yet to be fully established in children. We designed a study to investigate the use of intraoperative Na-Fl in pediatric brain tumor surgery. (2) Methods: This is a single-institution study for pediatric brain tumor patients managed by the Neurosurgical Service, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Inclusion criteria consists of patients undergoing surgery for suspected brain tumors from 3 to 19 years old. A predefined intravenous dose of 2 mg/kg of 10% Na-Fl is administered per patient. Following craniotomy, surgery is performed under alternating white light and YELLOW-560 nm filter illumination. (3) Results: A total of 21 patients with suspected brain tumours were included. Median age was 12.1 years old. For three patients (14.3%), there was no significant Na-Fl fluorescence detected and their final histologies reported a cavernoma and two radiation-induced high grade gliomas. The remaining patients (85.7%) had adequate intraoperative fluorescence for their lesions. No adverse side effects were encountered with the use of Na-Fl. (4) Conclusions: Preliminary findings demonstrate the safe and efficacious use of intraoperative Na-Fl for brain tumors as a neurosurgical adjunct in our pediatric patients.

Ion mobility (IM) coupled mass spectrometry (MS) is a versatile tool for analytical separations, characterization, and detection by measuring collision cross-sections and mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios. Traveling wave (TW)-based structures for lossless ion manipulations (TW-SLIM) is an innovative ion drift tube for complex gas phase ion manipulations, which is the key component of traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS). TW-SLIM combines flexible ion path design and traveling wave technology. The traveling wave pulse power supply is used to provide an oscillatory electric fields. Ions in TWIMS are propelled and separated by traveling wave. The operating pressure, TW amplitude and TW frequency of TW pulse have effect on ion motion in TWIMS. In this work, a traveling wave pulse power supply was developed, which mainly consisted of field programmable gate array (FPGA), half-bridge gate driver integrated circuit (IC), metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), adjustable high voltage module and external trigger signal. The frequency of TW pulse power supply was up to 100 kHz, both rising edge and falling edge were less than 20 ns. The influence of TW amplitude and TW frequency on ions transmission and separation was explored on the home-built instrument platform. The experimental results presented here provide a fundamental understanding of the transmission and separation mechanism in TWIMS. The maximum signal intensity of hexakis (2, 2-difluoroethoxy) phosphazene was at amplitude of 35 V and frequency of 10 kHz. As the traveling wave frequency increased at a fixed traveling wave amplitude, signal intensity of hexakis (2, 2-difluoroethoxy) phosphazene decreased. Ions separations was positively related to frequency when traveling wave amplitude was fixed, while traveling wave amplitude was opposite. The development of traveling wave pulse power supply is valuable for research and development of high resolution TWIMS instrument.

Background: Various biomarkers are used to define peanut allergy (PA). We aimed to observe changes in PA resolution and persistence over time comparing biomarkers in PA and peanut sensitised but tolerant (PS) children in a population‐based cohort. Methods: Participants were recruited from the EAT and EAT‐On studies, conducted across England and Wales, and were exclusively breastfeed babies recruited at 3 months old and followed up until 7–12 years old. Clinical characteristics, skin prick test (SPT), sIgE to peanut and peanut components and mast cell activation tests (MAT) were assessed at 12 months, 36 months and 7–12 years. PA status was determined at the 7–12 year time point. Results: The prevalence of PA was 2.1% at 7–12 years. Between 3 and 7–12 year, two children developed PA and one outgrew PA. PA children had larger SPT, higher peanut‐sIgE, Ara h 2‐sIgE and MAT (all p <.001) compared to PS children from 12 months onwards. SPT, peanut‐sIgE, Ara h 2‐sIgE and MAT between children with persistent PA, new PA, outgrown PA and PS were statistically significant from 12 months onwards (p <.001). Those with persistent PA had SPT, peanut‐sIgE and Ara h 2‐sIgE that increased over time and MAT which was highest at 36 months. New PA children had increased SPT and peanut‐sIgE from 36 months to 7–12 years, but MAT remained low. PS children had low biomarkers across time. Conclusions: In this cohort, few children outgrow or develop new PA between 36 months and 7–12 years. Children with persistent PA have raised SPT, peanut‐sIgE, Ara h 2‐sIgE and MAT evident from infancy that consistently increase over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weft-knitted fabric is formed by interlocking loops, which results in an unstable and easily deformable structure. In particular, fancy weft-knitted fabric exhibits diverse structural variations and uneven distribution, leading to more prominent characteristics of instability and deformation. Achieving the desired pattern effect and dimensions often requires drawing multiple designs. In this work, to obtain the geometric model of fancy fabric, mesh-loop models with movement vectors are established based on the basic structure of four stitch types: plain stitch, tuck, float, and loop transfer. The cubic Catmull–Rom spline curves are used to fit the geometric centerline of the yarn. The movement vectors are used to represent the changes in the position of the key points of the standard loops in the fancy fabric, which are derived from the analysis of the pattern grid. A physical model is established based on the force analysis of the yarn, and the positions of yarn control points are determined by solving the Euler–Lagrange dynamic equations. Through iterative calculations, the deformation effects of the fabric are obtained, enabling the simulation of fancy weft-knitted fabric. The proposed algorithms were implemented using Visual C++. The reliability and accuracy of the simulation method are demonstrated by comparing the contours of the simulation results with the actual samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disturbance of the cholinergic system plays a crucial role in the pathological progression of neurological diseases that cause dyskinesia-like behaviors. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this disturbance remain elusive. Here, we showed that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) was reduced in cholinergic neurons of midbrain according to the single-nucleus RNA sequencing analysis. Serum levels of CDK5 also decreased in patients with Parkinson’s disease accompanied by motor symptoms. Moreover, Cdk5 deficiency in cholinergic neurons triggered paw tremors, abnormal motor coordination, and motor balance deficits in mice. These symptoms occurred along with cholinergic neuron hyperexcitability and increases in the current density of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (BK channels). Pharmacological inhibition of BK channels restrained the excessive intrinsic excitability of striatal cholinergic neurons in Cdk5-deficient mice. Furthermore, CDK5 interacted with BK channels and negatively regulated BK channel activity via phosphorylation of threonine-908. Restoration of CDK5 expression in striatal cholinergic neurons reduced dyskinesia-like behaviors in ChAT-Cre;Cdk5f/f mice. Together, these findings indicate that CDK5-induced phosphorylation of BK channels involves in cholinergic-neuron-mediated motor function, providing a potential new therapeutic target for treating dyskinesia-like behaviors arising from neurological diseases.

Assessing collective drug consumption based on the species and concentrations of illicit drugs and their metabolites in wastewater is an objective, real-time, accurate, convenient and effective monitoring technology. In order to establish a rapid screening and confirmation method for the abuse of opioids, amphetamines and benzodiazepines in wastewater, solid phase extraction was used to pretreat the wastewater sample, and ultra-high liquid chromatography tandem high resolution mass spectrometry was used to screen and confirm 36 kinds of analytes. Moreover, the method was applied to real wastewater samples collected from different wastewater treatment plants. Different HPLC columns and mobile phases were tested for optimization of the method. The peak shapes, retention time, separation and sensitivity of the chromatographic procedure were evaluated. Finally, an Accucore Hypersil Gold column (100 mm×2.1 mm×1.9 μm), and the mobile phases of ultrapure water with 2 mmol/L ammonium formate 0.1%-formic acid (A) and acetonitrile-methanol (1∶1, V/V) with 2 mmol/L ammonium formate and 0.1% formic acid were applied because of good peak shapes and separation. TraceFinder software was selected for rapid screening, and retention time, molecular mass, fragment ions and isotope distribution were collected as the screening basis. A substance could be judged as positive if it all met these 4 screening conditions. Therefore, the results obtained were more authentic and reliable. The LODs ranged from 5 to 20 ng/L. The extraction recoveries were higher than 70% for all compounds in wastewater, and the matrix effect ranged from -24.4% to 21.2%. In the real wastewater samples, 4 opioids of morphine, codeine, pethidine, tramadol, 1 amphetamine of methamphetamine and 4 benzodiazepines of diazepam, nordazepam, estazolam, alprazolam were detected, and the error of all compounds were less than 5×10-6. There are many kinds of abused substances in wastewater, and the regional prevalence is also different. The method established in this article can be used for rapid and accurate screening and confirmation abused substances in wastewater.