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Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAuthors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has so far led to innumerable deaths worldwide. The risk factors so far that have been most studied as poor prognostic factors are old age, individuals with multiple comorbidities and immunocompromised patients. Amongst the chronic lung diseases, most patients with COVID-19 reported so far had asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and interstitial lung disease. Herein, we discuss the significance of restrictive lung disease during the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential risk factor via an example of a patient with kyphoscoliosis who succumbed to death due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

Our society is critically dependent on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) as a power source for portable electronic gadgets. One of the major problems with these batteries is the degradation of the materials inside them. In addition to the reduced cell life, building-up of these degraded products inside the cells is very detrimental to the safe operation. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a novel thiourea-based room temperature ionic liquid (IL), 3-heptyl-1-(3-(3-heptyl-3-phenylthioureido)propyl)-1 H -imidazole-3-ium hexafluorophosphate. Its electrochemical and thermal properties including transport phenomena have been studied. It is proposed to be used as a nominal additive to commercially used electrolytes, ethylene carbonate and di-methyl carbonate mixtures. The comparative performance characteristics of the LIBs in the presence and the absence of this IL additive have been demonstrated with a traditional lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide cathode (NMC111), a graphite anode, and an ethylene carbonate and di-methyl carbonate (1:1, v/v) electrolyte. It is further demonstrated that use of this electrolyte additive in batteries helps to address some of the major concerns of the conventional electrolytes such as safety issues and cycling performance as well as coulombic efficiency with enhanced discharge capacities., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.)

A novel dicationic room temperature ionic liquid, 1,1'-(5,14-dioxo-4,6,13,15-tetraazaoctadecane-1,18-diyl) bis(3-(sec-butyl)-1H-imidazol-3-ium) bis((trifluoromethyl)-sulfonyl) imide has been synthesized and fully characterized. Its thermal and electrochemical analyses along with transport properties have been studied. We propose it as a potential nominal additive to the commonly used conventional organic carbonate electrolyte mixture and study its adaptability in Lithium-ion batteries which are the prime power sources for ultraportable electronic devices. We have compared the performance characteristics of the full cells made without and with this ionic liquid. The cells comprise lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide cathode, graphite anode and ethylene carbonate - dimethyl carbonate (1:1, v/v + LiPF 6 ) mixture electrolyte with nominal amount of ionic liquid as additive. The major concern with conventional electrolytes such as degradation of the materials inside batteries has been addressed by this electrolyte additive. Additionally, this additive is safer at relatively higher temperature. In its presence, the overall battery life is enhanced and it shows good cycling performance and coulombic efficiency with better discharge capacities (22% higher) after 100 cycles. Even after the increase in current rate from 10 mA/g to 100 mA/g, the cell still retains around 73% of capacity.

Neurological manifestations in patients with COVID-19 are more frequently being reported. Cerebrovascular events have been reported in around 3% of patients. In this review we summarize the published literature on cerebrovascular events in patients with COVID-19 as available on the PubMed database. So far, 3 studies have reported cerebrovascular events. Cerebrovascular events were identified on screening patients with decreased consciousness or in the presence of focal neurological deficits. These events were common in elderly, critically ill patients and in patients with prior cardio-cerebrovascular comorbidities. The diagnosis of cerebrovascular events was confirmed with computed tomography of the brain in most studies reporting neurological events. Multiple pathological mechanisms have been postulated regarding the process of neurological and vascular injury among which cytokine storm is shown to correlate with mortality. Patients with severe illness are found to have a higher cardio- cerebrovascular comorbidity. With an increasing number of cases and future prospective studies, the exact mechanism by which these cerebrovascular events occur and attribute to the poor outcome will be better understood.

The spread of COVID-19 has already taken a pandemic form, affecting over 180 countries in a matter of three months. The full continuum of disease ranges from mild, self-limiting illness to severe progressive COVID-19 pneumonia, multiorgan failure, cytokine storm and death. Younger and healthy population is now getting affected than before. Possibilities of airborne and fecal oral routes of transmission has increased the concern. In the absence of any specific therapeutic agent for coronavirus infections, the most effective manner to contain this pandemic is probably the non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs). The damage due to the pandemic disease is multifaceted and crippling to economy, trade, and health of the citizens of the countries. The extent of damage in such scenarios is something that is beyond calculation by Gross Domestic Product rate or currency value of the country. Unfortunately, unlike many other diseases, we are still away from the target antiviral drug and vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The prime importance of NPIs like social distancing, staying in home, work from home, self-monitoring, public awareness, self-quarantine, etc. are constantly being emphasized by CDC, WHO, health ministries of all countries and social media houses. This is time of introspection and learning from our mistakes. Countries like China and South Korea who were initially the most hit countries could contain the disease spread by liberal testing of their population, stringent quarantine of people under investigation and isolation of the positive cases. Rest of the countries need to act urgently as well to bring an immediate halt in the community transmission., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-2793). AL serves as an unpaid section editor for Annals of Translational Medicine from Nov 2019 to Oct 2021.The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2020 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Pain in abdomen has wide differentials and narrowing down the clinical possibilities depends on type of pain, location, characterization which is usually assisted by imaging studies. Cholecystitis and cholelithiasis are amongst the common causes of acute abdomen. This study reviews the literature for the clinical characteristics, differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of reported cases of gallbladder myeloid sarcoma (GB-MS) who presented with abdominal symptoms. A total of 17 cases of GB-MS were studied. The median age was 52 years with age range of 23 to 84 years. All except 1 patient presented with abdominal symptoms. Based on imaging or pathological studies, 3 cases were initially confused with gallbladder lymphoma or cancer. Only 5 patients were treated with AML like chemotherapy. Treatment given included combinations of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. None of the cases underwent HSCT for GB-MS. Seven patients were alive till the time of last F/U, 9 succumbed to death while F/U of 1 patient was not available. Irrespective of treatment protocol followed suggesting the poor prognosis in GB-MS cases. In conclusion, acute abdomen complicating blood malignancies is life threatening and can be devastating if not detected and treated in a timely fashion.

Currently world is fighting with global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). At this time of uncertainty, oncologists are struggling to provide appropriate care to cancer patients. They have to weigh risk and benefit of giving cancer treatment vs chances of getting them infected with COVID-19. As cancer patients are immunocompromised and there are high chances of exposure during hospital visits and if they get infected, outcome can be fatal. So through the column of this article, we would like to provide basic guideline in management of cancer patients during COVID-19 pandemic.

Hotspot engineering has the potential to transform the field of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) by enabling ultrasensitive and reproducible detection of analytes. However, the ability to controllably generate SERS hotspots, with desired location and geometry, over large-area substrates, has remained elusive. In this study, we sculpt artificial edges in monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) by low-power focused laser-cutting. We find that when gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are deposited on MoS 2 by drop-casting, the AuNPs tend to accumulate predominantly along the artificial edges. First-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate strong binding of AuNPs with the artificial edges due to dangling bonds that are ubiquitous on the unpassivated (laser-cut) edges. The dense accumulation of AuNPs along the artificial edges intensifies plasmonic effects in these regions, creating hotspots exclusively along the artificial edges. DFT further indicates that adsorption of AuNPs along the artificial edges prompts a transition from semiconducting to metallic behavior, which can further intensify the plasmonic effect along the artificial edges. These effects are observed exclusively for the sculpted ( i.e. , cut) edges and not observed for the MoS 2 surface (away from the cut edges) or along the natural (passivated) edges of the MoS 2 sheet. To demonstrate the practical utility of this concept, we use our substrate to detect Rhodamine B (RhB) with a large SERS enhancement (∼10 4 ) at the hotspots for RhB concentrations as low as ∼10 -10 M. The single-step laser-etching process reported here can be used to controllably generate arrays of SERS hotspots. As such, this concept offers several advantages over previously reported SERS substrates that rely on electrochemical deposition, e-beam lithography, nanoimprinting, or photolithography. Whereas we have focused our study on MoS 2 , this concept could, in principle, be extended to a variety of 2D material platforms.

Background: Acetaminophen (N-acetyl-para-aminophenol, paracetamol, (APAP) toxicity is one of the commonly encountered poisonings by emergency physicians. Methemoglobinemia is an uncommon association and rarely seen in APAP poisoning., Methods: Retrospective analysis of all the published reports on APAP induced methemoglobinemia from 1968 to 2019., Results: In total there were 14 cases with 9 females and 6 males. The median age of the study cohort was 59 years. The most common presenting feature was altered mentation (9 patients) followed by cyanosis (3 patients). The intent of consumption was therapeutic (7 cases) versus suicidal (5 cases) attempt.In most cases, the dose of APAP consumption was not known. Aspirin, sulfasalazine, benzocaine spray, nitrate preservative, contaminated water, detergents, etc. where the other agents consumed by the patients in addition to APAP before developing methemoglobinemia. The median MethHb level of the study cohort was 15.85% Patients were treated with NAC, hemodialysis, methylene blue, and ascorbic acid and CRRT in various combinations. Full recovery was seen in 9 patients while 4 patients died., Conclusion: APAP toxicity is a well-known and common entity with multiple sequelae that presents with a variable spectrum of mild to fulminant multiorgan failure. Awareness of non-classical presentations like methemoglobinemia is essential to ensure timely intervention., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

As of 29 April 2020, across the globe, there are 3,216,353 confirmed Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 disease) with 227,894 deaths. The health care infrastructure of most of the countries is overwhelmed due to the gigantic upsurge of the new cases within a short time period. Most of the beds in the regular wards and critical care units are currently occupied by either people under investigation (PUI) or COVID-19 confirmed cases. We hereby discuss the challenges faced while approaching any case of shortness of breath, or other common upper respiratory symptoms during the current COVID-19 pandemic era.

Objective : Retroperitoneal Hematoma (RPH) is an underdiagnosed and overlooked disease entity and has a high mortality rate if not diagnosed in a timely manner. This study aims to analyze the clinical characteristics, risk factors, treatment and the outcome of RPH cases at our medical center. Methods : In this retrospective study, all cases who presented to the emergency room (ER) and/or admitted to our center with the diagnosis of RPH from Jan 2016 to Dec 2018 were included (3-year data). Results : A total number of 78 RPH cases were included including both the traumatic and spontaneous bleed. The most common setting was spontaneous bleeding with no concurrent use of anti-thrombotic agents. Zone 3 (pelvic hematoma) bleed was the most common type of RPH. Most patients were successfully managed medically alone (59%). Others required surgical intervention, either laparoscopy, laparotomy or through the interventional radiological approach. There was a significant association between the need for vasopressors (OR-5.65, P-value of 0.039), spontaneous bleed (P-value of 0.001), bleed without antithrombotic agents (P-value of 0.002) with prolonged hospital stay (> 5 days). On follow-up, 83% of cases were reported to be alive. Only 2 patients died secondary to hemorrhagic shock. Conclusion : Most cases of RPH had an excellent outcome with conservative management alone.

Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Background: Long term effectiveness of surgical management of chronically restricted mouth opening in OSMF or TMJ ankylosis depends largely on postoperative physiotherapy. This in turn is dependent on patient's compliance. Use of adjunctive aids besides pharmacotherapy that reduces patients pain and improves compliance with exercise is warranted., Aims: To evaluate the role of TENS and structured rehabilitation programme in postoperative physiotherapy in OSMF and TMJ ankylosis patients., Methods and Materials: A pilot study was conducted in which 6 patients of restricted mouth opening were put on a structured rehabilitation protocol in which TENS, heat and cold therapy with structured mouth opening exercise regimes. Interincisal opening, VAS score and a subjective assessment of post surgical discomfort was evaluated., Results and Conclusions: Results revealed an improved compliance and cooperation by patients. Pain on VAS scale also reduced from mean of 7.8 on day 1 to 3.6 on day 5 in this group. The mean discomfort on day 3 was reported as mild to moderate. An early attainment of passive mouth opening closest to intraoperative mouth opening was also reported on day 5 which is usually not achievable without any physiotherapy intervention., Competing Interests: None

With each passing day, more cases of Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) are being detected and unfortunately the fear of novel corona virus 2019 (2019-nCoV) becoming a pandemic disease has come true. Constant efforts at individual, national, and international level are being made in order to understand the genomics, hosts, modes of transmission and epidemiological link of nCoV-2019. As of now, whole genome sequence of the newly discovered coronavirus has already been decoded. Genomic characterization nCoV-2019 have shown close homology with bat-derived severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronaviruses, bat-SL-CoVZC45 and bat-SL-CoVZXC21. Structural analysis of the receptor binding site has confirmed that 2019-nCoV binds with the same ACE 2 receptor protein as human SARS virus. Compared to the previous coronavirus outbreaks, the overall mortality rate is relatively low for COVID-2019 (2-3%). Suspected cases must be quarantined till their test comes positive or they clear infection. At present, treatment of COVID-2019 is mostly based on the knowledge gained from the SARS and MERS outbreaks. Remdesivir, originally develop as a treatment for Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus infections, is being studied for it effectiveness against 2019-nCoV infection. Many other antiviral agents and vaccines are being tested but most of them are in phase I or II and hence unlikely to be of any benefit immediately with regards to current outbreak. Hence, the standard infection control techniques and preventive steps for healthy individuals and supportive care for the confirmed cases is the best available strategy to deal with current viral outbreak. .

Fluoride (F), anion of fluorine which is naturally present in soil and water, behaves as toxic inorganic pollutant even at lower concentration and needs immediate attention. Its interaction with flora, fauna and other forms of life, such as microbes, adversely affect various physiochemical parameters by interfering with several metabolic pathways. Conventional methods of F remediation are time-consuming, laborious and cost intensive, which renders them uneconomical for sustainable agriculture. The solution lies in cracking down this environmental contaminant by adopting economic, eco-friendly, cost-effective and modern technologies. Biological processes, viz. bioremediation involving the use of bacteria, fungi, algae and higher plants that holds promising alternative to manage F pollution, recover contaminated soil and improve vegetation. The efficiency of indigenous natural agents may be enhanced, improved and selected over the hazardous chemicals in sustainable agriculture. This review article emphasizes on various biological approaches for the remediation of F-contaminated environment, and exploring their potential applications in environmental clean-up. It further focuses on thorough systemic study of modern biotechnological approaches such as gene editing and gene manipulation techniques for enhancing the plant-microbe interactions for F degradation, drawing attention towards latest progresses in the field of microbial assisted treatment of F-contaminated ecosystems. Future research and understanding of the molecular mechanisms of F bioremediation would add on to the possibilities of the application of more competent strains showing striking results under diverse ecological conditions.

Hydrogen interaction with metal atoms is of prime focus for many energy related applications like hydrogen storage, hydrogen evolution using catalysis, etc. Although hydrogen binding with many main group alkaline and transition metals is quite well understood, its binding properties with lanthanides are not well reported. In this article, by density functional theory studies, we show how a rare earth metal, cerium, binds with hydrogen when decorated over a heteropolar 2D material, hexagonal boron nitride. Each cerium adatom is found to bind eight hydrogen molecules which is a much higher number than has been reported for transition metal atoms. However, the highest binding energy occurs at four hydrogen molecules. This anomaly, therefore, is investigated in the present article using first-principles calculations. The number density of hydrogen molecules adsorbed over the cerium adatom is explained by investigating the electronic charge volume interactions owing to a unique geometrical arrangement of the guest hydrogen molecules. The importance of geometrical encapsulation in enhancing electronic interactions is explained., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.