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Background: Our objective was to characterize the frequency, early impact, and risk factors for neurological manifestations in hospitalized children with acute severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Methods: Multicenter, cross-sectional study of neurological manifestations in children aged

We have previously reported the synthesis of thermoresponsive poly(stearyl methacrylate)-poly(benzyl methacrylate) [PSMA-PBzMA] diblock copolymer vesicles in mineral oil via polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA). Such vesicles undergo a vesicle-to-worm transition on heating, which provides an interesting new oil-thickening mechanism (see M. J. Derry, et al., Angew. Chem., 2017, 56, 1746–1750). In the present study, we report an unexpected reduction in dispersion viscosity when heating vesicles of approximately the same composition above a certain critical temperature. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies indicate rich thermoresponsive behavior, with vesicles present at 20 °C, worms being formed at 130 °C and spheres generated at 180 °C, indicating that a worm-to-sphere transition occurs after the initial vesicle-to-worm transition. Moreover, we have also prepared a series of new thermoresponsive diblock copolymer vesicles by RAFT dispersion copolymerization of n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA) with benzyl methacrylate (BzMA) using a poly(stearyl methacrylate) precursor in mineral oil. This model system was developed to examine whether statistical copolymerization of a suitable comonomer (BuMA) could be used to tune the critical onset temperature required for the vesicle-to-worm transition. Indeed, oscillatory rheology studies confirmed that targeting membrane-forming blocks containing up to 50 mol% BuMA lowered the critical onset temperature required to induce the vesicle-to-worm transition to 109 °C, compared to 167 °C for the reference PSMA14-PBzMA125 diblock copolymer. Variable temperature small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments confirmed a vesicle-to-worm transition, with the vesicles initially present at 20 °C being converted into worms when heated above 130 °C. Furthermore, a substantial reduction in dispersion viscosity was again observed when heating above the critical onset temperature. TEM and shear-induced polarized light imaging (SIPLI) studies indicate that linear worms are no longer present at 160 °C and 170 °C respectively, suggesting a subsequent worm-to-sphere transition. The thermal transitions studied herein proved to be irreversible on cooling on normal experimental timescales (hours).

Hypothesis\ud \ud Diblock copolymer nanoparticles have been shown to be Pickering emulsifiers for both oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions. Recently, we reported the preparation of sterically-stabilized diblock copolymer spheres in a low-viscosity silicone oil (Macromolecules 53 (2020) 1785–1794). We hypothesized that such spheres could be used as a Pickering emulsifier for a range of oil-in-oil emulsions comprising droplets of a bio-sourced oil dispersed in silicone oil.\ud \ud \ud \ud Experiments\ud \ud Diblock copolymer spheres were prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization of benzyl methacrylate in silicone oil and characterized by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. These spheres were evaluated as Pickering emulsifiers for a series of oil-in-oil Pickering emulsions. The influence of both sphere size and core-forming block composition was investigated.\ud \ud \ud \ud Findings\ud \ud Optimization of the nanoparticle size and core-forming block composition enabled stable bio-sourced oil-in-silicone emulsions to be obtained for nine out of the ten bio-sourced oils investigated. These emulsions were characterized in terms of their mean droplet size by optical microscopy.

Reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) solution polymerization of 3-[tris(trimethylsiloxy)silyl] propyl methacrylate (SiMA) was conducted in toluene to prepare three PSiMA precursors with mean degrees of polymerization (DP) of 12, 13, or 15. Each precursor was then chain-extended in turn via RAFT dispersion polymerization of benzyl methacrylate (BzMA) in a low-viscosity silicone oil (decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, D5). 1H NMR studies confirmed that such polymerizations were relatively fast, with more than 99% BzMA conversion being achieved within 100 min at 90 °C. Moreover, gel permeation chromatography analysis indicated that these polymerizations were well controlled, with dispersities remaining below 1.25 when targeting PBzMA DPs up to 200. A phase diagram was constructed at a constant copolymer concentration of 20% w/w. Only spherical micelles were accessible when the PSiMA15 stabilizer was utilized, as determined by transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies. Nevertheless, these spheres exhibited narrow size distributions and tunable z-average diameters ranging between 19 and 49 nm, as determined by dynamic light scattering. In contrast, spheres, worms, or vesicles could be prepared depending on the target PBzMA DP when utilizing the relatively short PSiMA12 precursor. Moreover, each of these nano-objects could be obtained at copolymer concentrations as low as 5% w/w. To obtain more detailed structural information, these spheres, worms and vesicles were further characterized by SAXS. PSiMA12-PBzMA55 worms formed reasonably transparent free-standing gels when prepared at copolymer concentrations as low as 5% w/w and exhibited an elastic modulus (G′) of 90 Pa at 25 °C, as judged by oscillatory rheology studies. Finally, broadening of the molecular weight distribution was observed during the long-term storage of PSiMA-PBzMA dispersions at ambient temperature. We tentatively suggest that this instability is related to hydroxyl impurities in the SiMA, which leads to cross-linking side reactions. This problem also causes incipient flocculation of the spheres and worms during the long-term storage of such dispersions at 20 °C.

A trithiocarbonate-capped poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) precursor is chain-extended via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer dispersion polymerization of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMA) in decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) silicone oil at 90 °C. For a fixed mean degree of polymerization (DP) of 66 for the PDMS steric stabilizer block, targeting core-forming PDMA block DPs of between 105 and 190 enables the preparation of either well-defined worms or vesicles at a copolymer concentration of 25% w/w. The as-synthesized linear PDMS66–PDMA100 worms exhibit thermoresponsive behavior in D5, undergoing a worm-to-sphere transition on heating to 100 °C. Variable temperature 1H NMR spectroscopy indicates that this thermal transition is driven by reversible solvent plasticization of the PDMA cores. This change in copolymer morphology is characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies, variable temperature dynamic light scattering and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments. Oscillatory rheology studies indicate that degelation occurs at 32 °C, but shear-induced polarized light imaging measurements suggest that full conversion of worms into spheres requires significantly higher temperatures (∼110 °C). 1,2-Bis(2-iodoethoxy)ethane (BIEE) is evaluated as a cross-linker for PDMS66–PDMAx diblock copolymer nano-objects in D5. This bifunctional reagent quaternizes the tertiary amine groups on the DMA residues within the worm cores, introducing cross-links via the Menshutkin reaction. TEM studies confirm that such covalently-stabilized worms no longer undergo a worm-to-sphere transition when heated to 100 °C. Kinetic studies performed on PDMS66–PDMA176 vesicles suggest that cross-linking requires approximately 13 h at 20 °C to ensure that these nano-objects remain intact when dispersed in chloroform, which is a good solvent for both blocks. Oscillatory rheology studies of a PDMS66–PDMA100 worm gel indicated that covalent stabilization using a BIEE/DMA molar ratio of 0.15 increased its dynamic elastic modulus (G′) by almost two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, such cross-linked worms exhibit a much lower critical gelation concentration (∼2% w/w) compared to that of the linear precursor worms (∼12% w/w).