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The micro heat pipe-cooled reactor is an innovative type of reactor that utilizes heat pipes to cool its core. It consists of a reactor core, an energy conversion system, shielding, and a heat removal system. This reactor shows great potential as a viable option for supplying electricity in remote areas. By incorporating a monolithic core with heat pipes and an efficient heat conversion system, this reactor design eliminates the need for a main pipeline, circulating pump, and auxiliary equipment, resulting in a cost-effective, compact, and transportable system. The monolithic reactor design has undergone significant advancements in neutronics and thermal hydraulics. This article focuses on evaluating the impact of the latest released nuclear data libraries, ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JENDL-5, on calculated neutronics and kinetics parameters. The total keff uncertainty was propagated and found to be significant for both recently evaluated nuclear data libraries (678.52 pcm for ENDF/B-VIII.0 and 525.91 pcm for JENDL-5, respectively). The total uncertainty originated from nuclear data was evaluated for total ν, reaction cross sections, and angular distributions in the case of JENDL-5, and for ENDF/B-VIII.0, uncertainty from angular distributions was not included because of the unavailability of its multigroup structure covariance matrices. The results reveal that the largest contributor for ENDF/B-VIII.0 is 235U total (409.18 pcm), while that for JENDL-5 is 56Fe capture cross section (361.93 pcm). For the kinetic parameter’s uncertainty, the impact on the total βeff, leff, and λeff simulation results was found to be not significant (about 1%).

Thế giới cũng đã chứng kiến sự gia tăng xu hướng suy thoái môi trường như phát thải khí nhà kính, phá rừng, mất đa dạng sinh học. Những mô hình hủy hoại môi trường như vậy đã được thúc đẩy bởi hoạt động kinh tế gia tăng, trong đó FDI đã trở thành một đóng góp ngày đáng kể. Dòng chảy của các hàng hóa và đầu tư dựa vào tài nguyên thiên nhiên được dự báo sẽ tăng nhanh hơn sản lượng kinh tế trong vòng 20 năm tới. Vì vậy cần phải hiểu được tác động môi trường của dòng vốn FDI và xác định các phản ứng thích hợp.

The synergic effect using γ-irradiation in combination with hydrogen peroxide was applied for preparation of water-soluble and low molecular weight (Mw) β-glucan from yeast water-insoluble β-glucans. The structural characterization by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) suggested that the γ-irradiation did not cause any change in basic structure of β-glucans, except for the reduction in degree of polymerization. The suitable degradation conditions were determined at 10% β-glucans in pH~9% and 1% hydrogen peroxide. The water-soluble oligoβ-glucan with Mw~15 kDa showed a significantly effect on the increase of body weight and survival rate of Penaeus monodon shrimps challenged with Vibrio parahaemolyticus and White spot syndrome virus (WSSV). The oral administration of 15 kDa-oligoβ-glucan with a daily dose of 1000 ppm strongly stimulated immune factors in tested shrimps such as phagocytosis activity (PA), phenoloxidase (PO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Furthermore, dietary of 1000 ppm 15 kDa-oligoβ-glucan also significantly up-regulated the gene expressions of lipopolysaccharide and β-1,3-glucan-binding protein (LGLP) and prophenoloxidase (proPO). The relative percent of survivals (RPS) of shrimps fed with 1000 ppm 15 kDa-oligoβ-glucan were 56.2% and 38.1% post the challenge with V. parahaemolyticus and WSSV, respectively. These results demonstrated that the water-soluble oligoβ-glucan with Mw~15 kDa prepared by synergic degradation method showed a very promising potential for application as a natural growth promotor and immunostimulant in shrimp culture.

Aims: Understanding of the perceived stress and coping strategies adopted by people is important for contemplating the consequences of a pandemic on mental health of people globally. In this study, we intended to assess the perceived stress status under quarantine/isolation globally during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This is a multicentre, multinational cross-sectional study that recruited isolated/quarantined individuals suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 to assess the psychological impact of the quarantine/isolation experience by answering a survey distributed online.Results: The study was conducted across 63 participating countries, gaining 1,871 valid responses. There was a higher proportion of female participants in the Moderate to High Perceived Stress Scores (MH-PSS) group compared to the Low Perceived Stress Score group (66.0 vs. 52.0%) and a higher proportion of individuals whose marital status was single had MH-PSS (57.1%). Also, individual's religion (Christian, Hindu, and Muslim), no formal education level, being exposed to a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patient, being forced to be quarantined/isolated, uncomfortable feeling during quarantine period may significantly increase the risk of MH-PSS (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Many factors can predict stress in COVID-19 pandemic including female sex, being single, religion, no formal education, involuntary quarantine, location and reason of quarantine/isolation, and place of exposure.

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) with diameters from 64.8 to 110.1 nm were successfully synthesized by γ-irradiation of solutions containing Se4+ and water-soluble yeast β-glucan. The size and size distribution of SeNPs were analyzed by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Analytical X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern results confirmed the crystal structure of the Se nanoparticles and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed that β-glucan could interact with SeNPs through steric (Se…O) linkages leading to a homogeneous and translucent solution state for 60 days without any precipitates. In vivo tests in cytoxan-induced immunosuppressed mice revealed that the daily supplementation of SeNPs/β-glucan at concentrations of 6 mg per kg body weight of tested mice significantly stimulated the generation of cellular immune factors (white blood cells, neutrophil, lymphocyte, B cells, CD4+ cells, CD34+ cells and natural killer cells) and humoral immune indexes (IgM, IgG, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-2) in peripheral blood, bone marrow and spleen of the immunosuppressed mice. The obtained results indicated that radiation-synthesized SeNPs/β-glucan may be a candidate for further evaluation as an agent for the prevention of immunosuppression in chemotherapy.

Water-soluble low molecular weight β-glucan (WSLMG) was successfully prepared via γ-irradiation of insoluble β-glucan extracted from brewer’s yeast cell walls. The WSLMG content in an irradiated sample increased as the irradiation dose increased. The WSLMGs with a molecular weight (Mw) of 49, 25, and 11 kDa, obtained at correlative doses of 100, 200, and 300 kGy, respectively, were tested using growth promotion and immune stimulant effects in broilers. Supplementation with 500 ppm WSLMGs not only increased the survival rate (33.3%) and average body weight (40%) but also reduced the feed conversion rate (35.4%) in tested broilers. In addition, WSLMGs enhanced both nonspecific and specific immune components in the blood of supplemented broilers. The WSLMG with Mw ~25 kDa showed the highest effect on the growth performance and immunomodulatory capability in the immune systems of the tested broilers. In conclusion, this product demonstrates substantial promise as an immunostimulant and growth-promoting additive for poultry.

Chitosan with an initial molecular weight (Mw) of approximately 193 kDa was degraded into about 11.4 and 14.8 kDa by γ-ray irradiation of the solution containing 5% chitosan in 0.2 M acetic acid at 75 kGy and the solution of 5% chitosan in 0.2 M acetic acid supplemented with 1% H2O2 at 10 kGy, respectively. The synergistic degraded chitosan sample with Mw ~14.8 kDa was separated into 5 fractions by using ultrafiltration membranes. The analysis results from UV, FTIR, and NMR spectra indicated that the combined treatment of low irradiation dose and low H2O2 concentration did not cause any change in the molecular structure of degraded chitosan fractions. Separated chitosan fractions with Mw > 1 kDa inhibited the growth of Colletotrichum capsici in vitro. While all separated chitosan fractions remarkably enhanced fresh biomass (11–56%) and chlorophyll content (20–92%) of capsicum seedlings. In the field test, the treatment with oligochitosan fractions with Mw in a range of 1–3 kDa (F2) to 3–10 kDa (F3) gained 9.0–11.4% of the fruit yield and reduced 64.8–67.2% of the rate of anthracnose disease outbreak fruits caused by C. capsici. Thus, the F2 and F3 fractions in degraded chitosan product are the key fractions for the enhancement of both the growth promotion effect and defense respond activity against the infection of pathogenic Colletotrichum fungi causing anthracnose disease in capsicum.

Artemisinin (ART) combination therapy is the main treatment for malaria. Pfk13 mutations (or K13 mutations, Kelch 13) are associated with ART resistance. This study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of K13 mutations with ART resistance in malaria-endemic countries. An electronic search of studies in 2018 and a manual search in 2020 were performed to identify relevant studies. The risk of bias was assessed using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) quality assessment tool for observational cohort and cross-sectional studies. Data analysis was performed using R 4.1.0. Heterogeneity was estimated using the statistic I 2 and Cochran Q test. A total of 170 studies were included in our review. Of these, 55 studies investigated the prevalence of K13 mutations in Southeast Asia. The meta-analysis showed that Southeast Asia had the highest prevalence of K13 mutations, whereas Africa, South America, Oceania, and other Asian countries outside Southeast Asia had a low prevalence of K13 mutations. The C580Y mutation was the most common in Southeast Asia with 35.5% (95%CI: 25.4-46.4%), whereas the dominant mutation in Africa was K189T (22.8%, 95%CI: 7.6-43.2%). This study revealed the emergence of ART resistance associated with K13 mutations in Southeast Asia. The diversity of each type of K13 mutation in other regions was also reported., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Although the undermining of the nursing profession, time constraints, and the lack of inclusive teaching of evidence-based nursing (EBN) in the nursing school's curriculum have long been identified as being some of the main barriers to the adoption of evidence-based practice (EBP) by nurses, the specific role of nurse leaders in directly influencing and supporting evidence-based nursing is not well demonstrated. This opinion piece discusses potential factors that influence the implementation of EBP into clinical routine practice, as well as how nursing leadership styles can contribute to its promotion in contemporary healthcare settings., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Kinesio taping is widely used in musculoskeletal conditions. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of kinesio taping in musculoskeletal disorders compared to other interventions. Twelve electronic databases were used for systemic search and data relevant to pain and disability were extracted. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42018087606). Meta-analysis was performed to compare the efficacy of kinesio taping to other modalities of musculoskeletal disorders. As a result, 36 studies were included in the quantitative analysis. Kinesio taping was found to provide an improvement of both pain and disability when applied to any region of the body. In the first five days of application, kinesio taping significantly reduced the pain in all body regions (SMD = -0.63, 95%CI: -0.87, -0.39). This was also noted after four-to-six weeks of application (SMD = -0.76, 95%CI: -1.07, -0.45). When kinesio taping was used for disability in low back pain patients, it significantly reduced the disability within five days of application (SMD = -0.70, 95%CI: -1.29, -0.11). Finally, kinesio taping has shown an improvement of the disability in all body regions after four-to-six weeks of application (SMD = -0.59, 95%CI: -0.96, -0.22). Our findings support kinesio taping as an adjuvant to other treatments for musculoskeletal disorders. Abbreviations KT = Kinesio taping; MSK = musculoskeletal; SD = standard deviation; CR = conventional rehabilitation; NDI = Neck Disability Index; NPS = Numerical Pain Scale; CTM = Cervical Thrust Manipulation; PIR = Post-isometric muscle relaxation; NPRS Numerical Pain Rating Scale; OA = osteoarthritis; ROM = Range of motion; VAS = visual analogue scale; VAS-W = visual analogue scale-worst pain; VAS-U = visual analogue scale-usual pain; VAS-R = visual analogue scale-resting pain; VAS-A = visual analogue scale-activity pain; VAS-N = visual analogue scale-night pain; NPDS = Neck Pain Disability Scale; QA = Quality assessment.

Background: Sepsis and septic shock have high mortality rates and often require a prolonged hospital stay. Patient outcomes may vary according to multiple factors. We aim to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and factors associated with mortality and hospital stay., Methods: Clinical and microbiological data of patients with sepsis or septic shock were retrospectively collected for 15 months. Patients with negative blood cultures and patients that did not meet the SEPSIS 3 criteria were excluded., Results: We included 48 septic shock and 28 septic patients (mean APACHE II 20.32 ± 5.61 and mean SOFA 9.41 ± 3.17), with a mean age of 60.5 ± 16.8 years and 56.6% males. WBCs, neutrophils, INR, and fibrinogen levels were significantly associated with mortality. 59.5% of the cultured bacteria were gram-negative (most common E. coli) and 27.8% were gram-positive (most common S. aureus ), while 7.6% were other types of bacteria and 5.1% were fungi. Resistance patterns to gram-negative were varying, and resistance to piperacillin/tazobactam, carbapenems, and aminoglycosides were from 60% to 100% ( A. baumanii ), while they were highly sensitive to Colistin. E. coli was also resistant to ceftriaxone (77.8%) and sulbactam/cefoperazone (44.4%). Resistance rates for Gram-positives were high, from 86% to 100% for oxacillin, while for vancomycin, teicoplanin, and linezolid, they were often low but arrived up to 42.8%. According to our logistic regression analysis, patients over 65 year-old and those who received corticosteroids had a significantly increased risk of in-hospital mortality (OR: 4.0; OR: 4.8)., Conclusion: Sepsis still poses a significant threat to patients' health, even when positive blood culture results allow the administration of specific antibiotic treatment.

SARS Coronavirus-2 is one of the most widespread viruses globally during the 21 st century, whose severity and ability to cause severe pneumonia and death vary. We performed a comprehensive systematic review of all studies that met our standardised criteria and then extracted data on the age, symptoms, and different treatments of Covid-19 patients and the prognosis of this disease during follow-up. Cases in this study were divided according to severity and death status and meta-analysed separately using raw mean and single proportion methods. We included 171 complete studies including 62,909 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 148 studies were meta-analysed. Symptoms clearly emerged in an escalating manner from mild-moderate symptoms, pneumonia, severe-critical to the group of non-survivors. Hypertension (Pooled proportion (PP): 0.48 [95% Confident interval (CI): 0.35-0.61]), diabetes (PP: 0.23 [95% CI: 0.16-0.33]) and smoking (PP: 0.12 [95% CI: 0.03-0.38]) were highest regarding pre-infection comorbidities in the non-survivor group. While acute respiratory distress syndrome (PP: 0.49 [95% CI: 0.29-0.78]), (PP: 0.63 [95% CI: 0.34-0.97]) remained one of the most common complications in the severe and death group respectively. Bilateral ground-glass opacification (PP: 0.68 [95% CI: 0.59-0.75]) was the most visible radiological image. The mortality rates estimated (PP: 0.11 [95% CI: 0.06-0.19]), (PP: 0.03 [95% CI: 0.01-0.05]), and (PP: 0.01 [95% CI: 0-0.3]) in severe-critical, pneumonia and mild-moderate groups respectively. This study can serve as a high evidence guideline for different clinical presentations of Covid-19, graded from mild to severe, and for special forms like pneumonia and death groups., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

TiO2 nanoparticles are successively functionalized with [Mn(κ2N1,N2-ttpy)(CO)3Br] as catalyst and [Ru(bpy)3]2+ as photosensitizer to yield RuII/TiO2/MnI. Under continuous irradiation at 470 nm and in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor, this triad reduces CO2 to HCOOH (TONmax = 27) with 100% selectivity.

[Cr(ttpy)2]3+ (ttpy = 4'-(4-methylphenyl)-2,2':6,2''-terpyridine) exhibits rich electrochemical and photophysical properties. Cyclic voltammetry performed in CH3CN shows in the cathodic part the presence of three one-electron reversible systems at -0.47, -0.85 and -1.35 V vs. Ag/AgNO3 10-2 M. These systems are attributed to the reduction of the terpyridine ligands with a partial delocalization of the charge on the tolyl for the last reduction event. The three different reduced species were generated by exhaustive electrolysis and characterized by EPR and UV-visible spectroscopy; DFT calculations were performed to locate the spin density of the electrons added during the reduction. Visible light irradiation of [Cr(ttpy)2]3+ induces the population of a luminescent metal-centered excited state with a lifetime of 270 ns in deoxygenated CH3CN. This excited state can be quenched by an electron transfer process with triphenylphosphine (PPh3) or triethanolamine (TEOA). Using TEOA as a sacrificial electron donor, the doubly reduced species (i.e.[Cr(ttpy)2] +) can be generated under continuous irradiation. In the presence of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ as an additional photosensitizer, the photoreduction of [Cr(ttpy)2]3+ towards [Cr(ttpy)2]+ is accelerated. The trinuclear [{RuII(bpy)2(bpy-O-tpy)}2CrIII]7+ complex ([Ru2Cr]7+) in which a CrIII-bis-terpyridine centre is covalently linked to two RuII-tris-bipyridine moieties by oxo bridges has been synthesised. Its electrochemical, photophysical and photochemical properties were investigated in deoxygenated CH3CN. Cyclic voltammetry indicates only a poor electronic communication between the different subunits, whereas luminescence experiments show a strong quenching of the RuII* excited state by an intramolecular process. Continuous irradiation of [Ru2Cr]7+ under visible conditions in the presence of TEOA leads to [Ru2Cr]4+ where three electrons are stored on the [Cr(ttpy)] subunit.

We propose in this work a stepwise approach to construct photoelectrodes. This takes advantage of the self-assembly interactions between thiol with a gold surface and terpyridine ligands with first-row transition metals. Here, a [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+ photosensitive center bearing a free terpyridine group has been used to construct two linear dyads on gold (Au/[Zn II -Ru II ] 4+ and Au/[Co III -Ru II ] 5+ ). The stepwise construction was characterized by electrochemistry, quartz crystal microbalance, and atomic force microscopy imaging. The results show that the dyads behave as rigid layers and are inhomogeneously distributed on the surface. The surface coverages are estimated to be in the order of 10 -11 mol cm -2 . The kinetics of the heterogeneous electron transfer is determined on modified gold ball microelectrodes using Laviron's formula. The oxidation rates of the terminal Ru(II) subunits are estimated to be 700 and 2300 s -1 for Au/[Zn II -Ru II ] 4+ and Au/[Co III -Ru II ] 5+ , respectively. In the latter case, the rate is limited by the kinetics of electron transfer between an intermediate Co(II) center and the gold surface. For Au/[Zn II -Ru II ] 4+ , the Zn-bis-terpyridine center is not involved in the electron-transfer process and the oxidation of the Ru(II) subunit occurs through a superexchange process. In the presence of a tertiary amine in solution, the electrodes at a bias of 0.12 V behave as photoanodes when subjected to visible light irradiation. The magnitude of the photocurrent is around 10 μA cm -2 for Au/[Co III -Ru II ] 5+ and 5 μA cm -2 for Au/[Zn II -Ru II ] 4+ , proving the importance of an electron relay on the photon-to-current conversion. The results suggest an efficient conversion for Au/[Co III -Ru II ] 5+ , since each bound dyad, once excited, injects an electron around 10 times per second.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as an exciting class of porous materials that can be structurally designed by choosing particular components according to desired applications. Despite the wide interest in and many potential applications of MOFs, such as in gas storage, catalysis, sensing and drug delivery, electrical semiconductivity and its control is still rare. The use and fabrication of electronic devices with MOF-based components has not been widely explored, despite significant progress of these components made in recent years. Here we report the synthesis and properties of a new highly crystalline, electrochemically active, cobalt and naphthalene diimide-based MOF that is an efficient electrical semiconductor and has a broad absorption spectrum, from 300 to 2500 nm. Its semiconductivity was determined by direct voltage bias using a four-point device, and it features a wavelength dependant photoconductive-photoresistive dual behaviour, with a very high responsivity of 2.5 × 10 5  A W -1 .