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Fibre Surface/Interfacial Engineering on Wearable Electronics
No full textSurface/interfacial engineering is an essential technique to explore the fibre materials properties and fulfil new functionalities. An extensive scope of current physical and chemical treating methods is reviewed here, alongside a variety of real-world applications. Moreover, we also introduce a new surface/interface engineering approach; self-assembly via π–π stacking, which has great potential for the surface modification of fibre materials due to its non-destructive working principle. This review also introduces a new fibre family member, MOF fibres, which show promising candidacy for fibre based wearable electronics. This review advances the understanding of surface/interfacial engineering techniques on fibre materials and will be expected to guide the rational design of future fibre based wearable electronics
Envisioning treating genetically-defined urinary tract malformations with viral vector-mediated gene therapy
No full textHuman urinary tract malformations can cause dysfunctional voiding, urosepsis and kidney failure. Other affected individuals, with severe phenotypes on fetal ultrasound screening, undergo elective termination. Currently, there exist no specific treatments that target the primary biological disease mechanisms that generate these urinary tract malformations.Historically, the pathogenesis of human urinary tract malformations has been obscure. It is now established that some such individuals have defined monogenic causes for their disease. In health, the implicated genes are expressed in either differentiating urinary tract smooth muscle cells, urothelial cells or peripheral nerve cells supplying the bladder. The phenotypes arising from mutations of these genes include megabladder, congenital functional bladder outflow obstruction, and vesicoureteric reflux. We contend that these genetic and molecular insights can now inform the design of novel therapies involving viral vector-mediated gene transfer. Indeed, this technology is being used to treat individuals with early onset monogenic disease outside the urinary tract, such as spinal muscular atrophy. Moreover, it has been contended that human fetal gene therapy, which may be necessary to ameliorate developmental defects, could become a reality in the coming decades. We suggest that viral vector-mediated gene therapies should first be tested in existing mouse models with similar monogenic and anatomical aberrations as found in people with urinary tract malformations. Indeed, gene transfer protocols have been successfully pioneered in newborn and fetal mice to treat non-urinary tract diseases. If similar strategies were successful in animals with urinary tract malformations, this would pave the way for personalized and potentially curative treatments for people with urinary tract malformations.<br/
Characteristics and Applications of Micro Fluidized Beds (MFBs)
No full textFluidized beds (FBs) are commonly employed by many practical applications, and continuous optimization of FBs is necessary to improve their application performance. However, it is uneconomical and impractical to conduct the parametric investigation and kinetic studies based on a large-scale FB. Accordingly, the micro fluidized beds (MFBs), with excellent mass/heat transfer and sufficient mixing between phases, serve as the suitable platform for understanding the reaction behaviors and extracting kinetics on a laboratory scale. In this review, a global view of the properties of the whole MFBs family (including gas-solid, liquid-solid and gas-liquid-solid MFBs) are comprehensively presented. The differences and correlations of hydrodynamics (e.g. enhanced wall effect) between MFBs and full-scale FBs are discussed, and modified correlations for predicting the minimum fluidization velocity (umf) and hydrodynamic features (e.g. flow regimes and residence time) of MFBs are summarized. Additionally, the application of MFBs in the areas of kinetic studies, rapid reactions and pharmaceutical engineering are also discussed. Finally, the parameter correlation between MFBs and full-scale FBs is discussed critically, and scaling up/scaling out strategies for guiding the design of industrial FBs are proposed. The conclusions of this review serve the purpose of a bridge to link the findings from lab-scale MFBs with the design and optimization of industrial FB reactors
COVID-19 in women with rheumatic disease who are pregnant: Data from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance
No full textObjectivesTo describe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and pregnancy outcomes in patients with rheumatic disease who were pregnant at the time of infection.MethodsSince March 2020 the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance (GRA) has collected cases of patients with rheumatic disease with COVID-19. We report details of pregnant women at the time of COVID-19 infection, including obstetric details separately ascertained from providers.ResultsWe report on 39 patients, including 22 with obstetric detail available. The mean and median age was 33 years, range 24-45 years. Rheumatic disease diagnoses included: rheumatoid arthritis (n=9), systemic lupus erythematosus (n=9), psoriatic/other inflammatory arthritides (n=8) and anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome (n=6). Most had a term birth (16/22), with 3 pre-term births, one termination, one miscarriage and one woman yet to deliver at time of report. A quarter (n=10/39) of pregnant women were hospitalised following COVID-19 diagnosis. Two of 39 (5%) required supplemental oxygen (both hospitalised); no patient died. The majority did not receive specific medication treatment for their COVID-19 (n=32/39, 82%), seven patients received some combination of anti-malarials, colchicine, anti-IL-1beta, azithromycin, glucocorticoids, and lopinavir/ritonavir.ConclusionWomen with rheumatic diseases who were pregnant at the time of COVID-19 had favourable outcomes. These data have limitations due to the small size and methodology, though they provide cautious optimism for pregnancy outcomes for women with rheumatic disease given the increased risk of poor outcomes that have been reported in other series of pregnant women with COVID-19.<br/
Utilisation and Outcomes of Sexually Transmitted Infection Services Following Child Sexual Abuse: insights from Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre
No full text• BackgroundChild sexual abuse (CSA) is a major determinant of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While the absence of an STI does not mean absence of assault, data on the prevalence, timing and outcomes of STI screening in CSA are lacking.• ObjectiveTo explore the utilisation of STI services for children at Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) and investigate characteristics that are associated with timing of STI screening.• Participants and setting: 843 (719 females) children (age, 0-17 years) were included, who attended Saint Mary’s SARC in Manchester, UK between 2012-2015.• MethodsWe grouped children into those where the STI screen was performed during the forensic medical examination (FME) and those where the STI screen was performed subsequently. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios for the STI screen during FME. • Results65% of participants had an STI screen at time of FME, while the remaining 35% were advised to attend their local Genitourinary Medicine (GUM). 1.5% of the sample tested positive for an STI. Participants with learning disabilities, who had been affected by domestic violence, who were previously consensually sexually active or if alcohol was related to the incident, had significantly lower odds of STI screen during FME. Participants on the child protection/in-need plan had significantly increased odds of STI screen during FME• ConclusionsMost participants referred to the GUM service were previously consensually sexually active adolescents. This study suggests several characteristics might be associated with the likelihood of children reporting CSA within the forensic window. These are in addition to previously known determinants such as age
Advantages of NOMA for Multi-User BackCom Networks
No full textAmbient backscatter communication (BackCom) is faced with the challenge that a single BackCom device can occupy multiple orthogonal resource blocks unintentionally. As a result, in order to avoid co-channel interference, a conventional approach is to serve multiple BackCom devices in different time slots, which reduces both spectral efficiency and connectivity. This letter demonstrates that the use of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) can efficiently improve the system throughput and support massive connectivity in ambient BackCom networks. In particular, two transceiver design approaches are developed in the letter to realize different tradeoffs between system performance and complexity
Physical, cognitive, and mental health impacts of COVID-19 following hospitalisation – a multi-centre prospective cohort study
No full textBackground The impact of COVID-19 on physical and mental health, and employment following hospitalisation is poorly understood. Methods PHOSP-COVID is a multi-centre, UK, observational study of adults discharged from hospital with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 involving an assessment between two- and seven-months later including detailed symptom, physiological and biochemical testing. Multivariable logistic regression was performed for patient-perceived recovery with age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), co-morbidities, and severity of acute illness as co-variates. Cluster analysis was performed using outcomes for breathlessness, fatigue, mental health, cognition and physical function. Findings We report findings of 1077 patients discharged in 2020, from the assessment undertaken a median 5 [IQR4 to 6] months later: 36% female, mean age 58 [SD 13] years, 69% white ethnicity, 27% mechanical ventilation, and 50% had at least two co-morbidities. At follow-up only 29% felt fully recovered, 20% had a new disability, and 19% experienced a health-related change in occupation. Factors associated with failure to recover were female, middle-age, white ethnicity, two or more co-morbidities, and more severe acute illness. The magnitude of the persistent health burden was substantial and weakly related to acute severity. Four clusters were identified with different severities of mental and physical health impairment: 1) Very severe (17%), 2) Severe (21%), 3) Moderate with cognitive impairment (17%), 4) Mild (46%), with 3%, 7%, 36% and 43% feeling fully recovered, respectively. Persistent systemic inflammation determined by C-reactive protein was related to cluster severity, but not acute illness severity. Interpretation We identified factors related to recovery from a hospital admission with COVID-19 and four different phenotypes relating to the severity of physical, mental, and cognitive health five months later. The implications for clinical care include the potential to stratify care and the need for a pro-active approach with wide-access to COVID-19 holistic clinical services
Effect of graphene oxide in the formation of polymeric asymmetric membranes via phase inversion
No full textMembrane morphology of integrally skinned asymmetric membranes made by phase 15 inversion can be tailored by precise control of the thermodynamic properties of the casting 16 solution. In this work, the morphology of polyethersulfone (PES) and polyvinylidene 17 fluoride (PVDF) membranes containing graphene oxide (GO) and their phase separation 18 behavior have been studied. The Flory-Huggins theory and the Hansen solubility 19 parameters have been used to construct theoretical binodal lines for ternary and 20 quaternary systems, which have been validated by conducting cloud titration experiments. 21 Moreover, the effect of different solvents on the morphology of PES membranes is 22 discussed through the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the casting solutions. 23 Nontoxic solvents dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dihydrolevoglucosenone (CyreneTM) 24 induce PES/GO membranes with finger-like pores and cellular voids, respectively. The 25 addition of GO in the PES and the PVDF casting solutions increases their thermodynamic 26 instability, leading to thinner selective top layers and higher porosities, up to a point 27 where the high viscosity of the GO-containing solutions hinders the solvent-nonsolvent 28 demixing. The highest porosity and pure water flux (PWF) occurs at 0.1 wt% GO for 29 PES/GO/DMSO and at a loading of 0.3 wt% GO for systems PES/GO/Cyrene and 30 PVDF/GO
ON IRREGULAR SASAKI-EINSTEIN METRICS IN DIMENSION 5
No full textWe show that there are no irregular Sasaki-Einstein structureson rational homology 5-spheres. On the other hand, using K-stability weprove the existence of continuous families of non-toric irregular Sasaki-Einsteinstructures on odd connected sums of S2 × S3
Homozygous missense variants in <i>BMPR15 </i>can result in primary ovarian insufficiency
No full textResearch Question: Does a genetic condition underlie the diagnosis of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) in a 13 year old girl with primary amenorrhea.Design: A case report of next generation sequencing panel of 24 genes associated with syndromal and nonsyndromal POI was conducted.Results: A homozygous missense variant c.1076C>T, p.(Pro359Leu) in BMP15 was identified. Conclusions: The biallelic variant c.1076C >T, p.(Pro359Leu) in BMP15 is associated with primary ovarian failure