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- Nguyen, Thanh N, et al.
(author)
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Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stroke Volumes and Cerebrovascular Events: A 1-Year Follow-up.
- 2023
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In: Neurology. - 1526-632X. ; 100:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Declines in stroke admission, IV thrombolysis (IVT), and mechanical thrombectomy volumes were reported during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a paucity of data on the longer-term effect of the pandemic on stroke volumes over the course of a year and through the second wave of the pandemic. We sought to measure the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes of stroke admissions, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), IVT, and mechanical thrombectomy over a 1-year period at the onset of the pandemic (March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021) compared with the immediately preceding year (March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020).We conducted a longitudinal retrospective study across 6 continents, 56 countries, and 275 stroke centers. We collected volume data for COVID-19 admissions and 4 stroke metrics: ischemic stroke admissions, ICH admissions, IVT treatments, and mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases.There were 148,895 stroke admissions in the 1 year immediately before compared with 138,453 admissions during the 1-year pandemic, representing a 7% decline (95% CI [95% CI 7.1-6.9]; p < 0.0001). ICH volumes declined from 29,585 to 28,156 (4.8% [5.1-4.6]; p < 0.0001) and IVT volume from 24,584 to 23,077 (6.1% [6.4-5.8]; p < 0.0001). Larger declines were observed at high-volume compared with low-volume centers (all p < 0.0001). There was no significant change in mechanical thrombectomy volumes (0.7% [0.6-0.9]; p = 0.49). Stroke was diagnosed in 1.3% [1.31-1.38] of 406,792 COVID-19 hospitalizations. SARS-CoV-2 infection was present in 2.9% ([2.82-2.97], 5,656/195,539) of all stroke hospitalizations.There was a global decline and shift to lower-volume centers of stroke admission volumes, ICH volumes, and IVT volumes during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the prior year. Mechanical thrombectomy volumes were preserved. These results suggest preservation in the stroke care of higher severity of disease through the first pandemic year.This study is registered under NCT04934020.
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- Marto, João Pedro, et al.
(author)
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Safety and Outcome of Revascularization Treatment in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke and COVID-19: The Global COVID-19 Stroke Registry.
- 2023
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In: Neurology. - 1526-632X. ; 100:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- COVID-19-related inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and coagulopathy may increase the bleeding risk and lower the efficacy of revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We aimed to evaluate the safety and outcomes of revascularization treatments in patients with AIS and COVID-19.This was a retrospective multicenter cohort study of consecutive patients with AIS receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and/or endovascular treatment (EVT) between March 2020 and June 2021 tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. With a doubly robust model combining propensity score weighting and multivariate regression, we studied the association of COVID-19 with intracranial bleeding complications and clinical outcomes. Subgroup analyses were performed according to treatment groups (IVT-only and EVT).Of a total of 15,128 included patients from 105 centers, 853 (5.6%) were diagnosed with COVID-19; of those, 5,848 (38.7%) patients received IVT-only and 9,280 (61.3%) EVT (with or without IVT). Patients with COVID-19 had a higher rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) (adjusted OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.16-2.01), symptomatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SSAH) (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.20-2.69), SICH and/or SSAH combined (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.23-1.99), 24-hour mortality (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.58-3.86), and 3-month mortality (OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.52-2.33). Patients with COVID-19 also had an unfavorable shift in the distribution of the modified Rankin score at 3 months (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.26-1.60).Patients with AIS and COVID-19 showed higher rates of intracranial bleeding complications and worse clinical outcomes after revascularization treatments than contemporaneous non-COVID-19 patients receiving treatment. Current available data do not allow direct conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of revascularization treatments in patients with COVID-19 or to establish different treatment recommendations in this subgroup of patients with ischemic stroke. Our findings can be taken into consideration for treatment decisions, patient monitoring, and establishing prognosis.The study was registered under ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04895462.
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- Ma, Lichen, et al.
(author)
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Integrating virtual realities and psychotherapy : SWOT analysis on VR and MR based treatments of anxiety and stress-related disorders
- 2021
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In: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1650-6073 .- 1651-2316. ; 50:6, s. 509-526
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The use of virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technology in clinical psychology is growing. Efficacious VR-based treatments for a variety of disorders have been developed. However, the field of technology-assisted psychotherapy is constantly changing with the advancement in technology. Factors such as interdisciplinary collaboration, consumer familiarity and adoption of VR products, and progress in clinical science all need to be taken into consideration when integrating virtual technologies into psychotherapies. We aim to present an overview of current expert opinions on the use of virtual technologies in the treatment of anxiety and stress-related disorders. An anonymous survey was distributed to a select group of researchers and clinicians, using an analytic framework known as Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). Overall, the respondents had an optimistic outlook regarding the current use as well as future development and implementation of technology-assisted interventions. VR and MR psychotherapies offer distinct advantages that can overcome shortcomings associated with traditional therapy. The respondents acknowledged and discussed current limitations of VR and MR psychotherapies. They recommended consolidation of existing knowledge and encouraged standardisation in both theory and practice. Continued research is needed to leverage the strengths of VR and MR to develop better treatments.
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- Mizuno, Hiroyasu, et al.
(author)
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Adhesive properties and sacrificial bonds in gastroliths of red-clawlobster measured by colloidal probe atomic force microscopy
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The adhesive properties of gastroliths of red claw lobsters (Cherax quadricarinatus) have been quantified using colloidal probe atomic force microscopy. Sequential detachment and large adhesion energies where observed between native gastrolith substrates and colloidal probes consisting of microparticles of heavily demineralized gastrolith that consists primarily of chitin and calcium carbonate hemispheres. The sequential detachment behavior was absent when the soluble proteins have been removed from gastrolith substrates and the adhesive energy is reduced by more than two orders of magnitude. The sacrificial bonds that provide the large adhesion energies were inferred to multifunctional gastrolith proteins that are able to bind to both chitin and calcium carbonate.
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- Neira-Carrillo, Andronico, et al.
(author)
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Synthesis and characterization of sulfonated polymethylsiloxane polymer as template for crystal growth of CaCO3
- 2009
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In: Colloid and Polymer Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0303-402X .- 1435-1536. ; 287:4, s. 385-393
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The objective of this work was to synthesize a sulfonated polymethylsiloxane (S-PMS) by hydrosilylation and sulfonation reactions and to investigate their effect on the growth of CaCO3 crystals using a gas diffusion method as a function of concentration, pH, and time. The result of IR and NMR shows good agreement with all proposed structures. Scanning electron microscopy images of CaCO3 showed small well-defined calcite-forming short piles (ca 5 mu m) and elongated calcite (ca 20 mu m) crystals. The morphology of the resultant CaCO3 crystals reflects the electrostatic interaction of sulfonate moieties and Ca2+ modulated by S-PMS adsorbed onto the CaCO3 surface. X-ray diffraction confirmed the crystalline calcite polymorph. Energy dispersive spectroscopy of CaCO3 crystals determined the presence of Si atoms from S-PMS. The use of PMS chemistry as an organic additive for the production of CaCO3 particles is a viable approach for studying the biomineralization and could be useful for the design of novel materials with desirable shape and properties.
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- Nieira-Carrillo, Andronico, et al.
(author)
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Calcium carbonate growth modification by constituents releases from porous cellulose filter membranes
- 2008
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In: Journal of the Chilean Chemical Society (Print). - 0717-9324 .- 0717-9707. ; 53:2, s. 1469-1473
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Filtration of a suspension of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or other inorganic solutions are often part of the methodology for recovering crystals during biomimetic mineralization experiments performed by various procedures. However, the use of cellulose filter membranes (FM) may cause a problem in in vitro crystallization experiments, because constituents released from the filters into the filtrates can alter the morphology of CaCO3 crystals. Therefore, it is possible to misinterpret data obtained when the effect of specific additives tested in the investigation of biomineralization mechanisms. Herein, we present essential information to avoid such misinterpretations of data obtained from mineralization experiments. CaCO3, was precipitated at room temperature by the gas diffusion method in the presence of FM as support and particularly as filtrates of calcium chloride (CaCl2) obtained from various commercial FM. The occurrence or absence of morphological modifications of the calcite and vaterite crystals obtained with different FM correlates well with the different elemental compositions of the solutions where crystals are grown because of the constituents released from the filters into the filtrate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data indicate significant differences in the filter elemental composition. We assume that the observed chronological changes in CaCO3 crystal modification could be due to incorporation into the calcite lattice of constituents released from the FM, most likely monomers, oligomers, or short-chain polymers.
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| 8. |
- Thormann, Esben, et al.
(author)
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Embedded proteins and sacrificial bonds provide the strong adhesive properties of gastroliths
- 2012
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In: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 4:13, s. 3910-3916
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The adhesive properties of gastroliths from a freshwater crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) were quantified by colloidal probe atomic force microscopy (AFM) between heavily demineralized gastrolith microparticles and gastrolith substrates of different composition. Combined AFM and transmission electron microscopy studies demonstrated that the sequential detachment and large adhesion energies that characterise the adhesive behaviour of a native gastrolith substrate are dominated by sacrificial bonds between chitin fibres and between chitin fibres and CaCO3. The sacrificial bonds were shown to be strongly related to the gastrolith proteins and when the majority of these proteins were removed by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), the sequential detachment disappeared and the adhesive energy was reduced by more than two orders of magnitude.
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