Search

Craniofacial clinics are composed of multidisciplinary teams of providers to deliver coordinated and comprehensive patient care. The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted this model, as social distancing guidelines have precluded in-person patient appointments and forced clinics to reconsider their method of care delivery. The University of California, San Francisco, Craniofacial Center has continued to serve patients during this acute period, adopting a hybrid model in which the vast majority of patients are seen through telehealth and a limited number of patients are evaluated in-person. Surveyed patients and families reported high rates of satisfaction, with time savings cited as a particular benefit. Furthermore, most felt comfortable using the video technology required for their appointment. This experience has demonstrated to us that multidisciplinary craniofacial evaluations can be effectively delivered in a telehealth format and has informed our conception of idealized clinic structure. Moving forward, we intend to utilize telehealth visits for selected components of craniofacial evaluations in an effort to maximize efficiency and minimize burden, including addressing barriers to accessing care. Benefits of a hybrid model will include decongestion of clinics and waiting areas, allowing social distancing, addressing clinic space limits, and increased efficiency by eliminating the need for patient and family movement. Demonstration of the safety and efficacy of telehealth visits, combined with regulatory reform that improves reimbursement and allows for appointments across state lines, will be critical for this model to persist beyond the pandemic.

The engineering of tunable photoluminescence (PL) in single materials with a full‐spectrum emission represents a highly coveted objective but poses a formidable challenge. In this context, the realization of near‐full‐spectrum PL emission, spanning the visible light range from 424 to 620 nm, in a single‐component two‐dimensional (2D) hybrid lead halide perovskite, (ETA)2PbBr4 (ETA+=(HO)(CH2)2NH3+), is reported, achieved through high‐pressure treatment. A pressure‐induced phase transition occurs upon compression, transforming the crystal structure from an orthorhombic phase under ambient conditions to a monoclinic structure at high pressure. This phase transition driven by the adaptive and dynamic configuration changes of organic amine cations enables an effective and continuous narrowing of the band gap in this halide crystal. The hydrogen bonding interactions between inorganic layers and organic amine cations (N−H⋅⋅⋅Br and O−H⋅⋅⋅Br hydrogen bonds) efficiently modulate the organic amine cations penetration and the octahedral distortion. Consequently, this phenomenon induces a phase transition and results in red‐shifted PL emissions, leading to the near‐full‐spectrum emission. This work opens a possibility for achieving wide PL emissions with coverage across the visible light spectrum by employing high pressure in single halide perovskites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have garnered plentiful attention as a result of their exceptional structural flexibility and multiple applications. In this study, we present a 2D HOIP (CHA)2PbBr4 (CHA = cyclohexylamine), for its potential applications in piezoelectricity, such as strain energy sensing and harvesting. Flexible composite films of (CHA)2PbBr4/PDMS (PDMS = polydimethylsiloxane) with a sequence of weight ratios (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 wt %) of (CHA)2PbBr4 were fabricated to analyze the energy harvesting properties. Experimental results demonstrated that a device with 15% composition exhibited the most optimized performance in energy harvesting, producing a peak magnitude of output voltage of 11.6 V, a short-circuit current of 0.38 µA, and a power density of 6.77 µW/cm2, along with notable stability exceeding 4000 cycles. Furthermore, this device exhibited high sensitivity in monitoring many varieties of human movements, such as finger bending and tapping, elbow bending, and gentle foot stamping. The findings of this study indicate that this 2D HOIP holds significant potential for use in flexible sensing and intelligent wearable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cassiterite is the principal ore mineral for tin, and its oxygen isotope is a promising proxy to trace the origin and evolution of ore‐forming fluids, which requires precise and accurate oxygen isotopic analysis. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a powerful tool for oxygen isotope analysis, especially when samples bear complicated textures, but matrix‐matched reference materials are critical for accurate microanalysis. The only available matrix‐matched reference material for cassiterite oxygen isotope analysis is Yongde‐Cst, and more reference materials are required. Here, we report Piaotang‐Cst as a potential working reference material for cassiterite oxygen isotope microanalysis. Our extensive SIMS microanalysis confirmed that Piaotang‐Cst is relatively homogeneous, with an average two standard deviations (2SD) of 0.49‰ (n = 626). The δ18OVSMOW value of Piaotang‐Cst is 5.33 ± 0.07‰ (2SD, n = 5) as determined by a conventional fluorination isotope ratio mass spectrometer. We also demonstrated that there is no measurable matrix effect caused by the variable contents of trace elements for cassiterite oxygen isotope microanalysis. We proposed that the Piaotang‐Cst can be used as a working reference material for monitoring the external reproducibility and accuracy of SIMS analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown significant potential for drug delivery applications. However, there remains a scarcity of comprehensive research addressing the influence of surface properties of MOFs on drug release kinetics and drug solubility. This study focuses on examining the influence of MOFs hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity on the controlled release and solubility of drugs. To achieve this, we prepared drug-loaded nanoparticles through in situ synthesis and created a drug-MOF co-amorphous system using the ball milling technique. Under neutral conditions, the hydrophilic MOF-based drug delivery system demonstrated a comparatively slower drug release profile than its hydrophobic counterpart. This observation suggests that the hydrophilic system holds promise in mitigating drug side effects by enabling improved control over drug release. The implementation of hydrophobic MOFs in co-amorphous systems yields a more pronounced effect on enhancing solubility compared to hydrophilic MOFs. This study offers valuable insights for achieving optimal drug release kinetics and solubility by delicately manipulating surface properties of MOFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the associations between domestic pets and respiratory health in children. We randomly recruited 11,611 school children from Zhongshan, a southern city in China. Information about the respiratory symptoms and disease history of the recruited children, the status of domestic pets, and other related risk factors were collected from March to July 2016. We identified cat-keeping at home increases the risk of persistent cough (OR, 1.77; 95%CI, 1.03–3.05); poultry-keeping at home increases the risk of current asthma (OR, 3.87; 95%CI, 1.08–13.92) and allergic rhinitis (OR, 1.84; 95%CI, 1.01–3.37); sleeping with pets increases the risk of persistent phlegm (OR, 5.04; 95%CI, 1.05–24.28), doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR, 3.35; 95%CI, 1.31–8.57) and current asthma (OR, 4.94; 95%CI, 1.05–23.31) in children. Cat-keeping and molds on the wall of the house had the multiplicative and additive interaction in doctor-diagnosed asthma. In conclusion, pet-keeping increased the risk of respiratory symptoms in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous quantifications of multiple miRNAs in the single-sampling system would be conducive to the accurate diagnosis of diseases in contrast with single miRNA analysis. In this work, a stochastic DNAzyme motor on spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) for simultaneous fluorescence assay of double miRNAs was established. Hairpin 1 (H1)-FAM-7a and H1-TAMRA-133a-functionalized magnetic beads (MBs) as SNAs were mixed. Targets (let-7a and miRNA-133a) reacted with two different S1 and S2, triggering the formation of two types of metal DNAzymes. The DNAzymes can further react with H1 stem-loop DNA on SNAs to release the two fluorescent DNA-FAM and DNA-TAMRA fragments in the presence of Mg2+. Meanwhile, the DNAzyme as DNA motors were separated from the previous H1 probe to participate the next cycling operations, resulting in the signal amplification toward the simultaneous and sensitive detection of let-7a and miRNA-133a. SNAs with three dimensional nanostructures provided enough space for the operation of DNAzyme walker, promoting the sensitivity of this proposed analytical system. The two mixed SNAs enable one-step and specific quantification of miRNA let-7a and miRNA-133a with lower detection limits of 90.5 fM and 74.9 fM, respectively. Finally, this proposed strategy was employed to simultaneously detect double miRNAs in practical applicability. Simultaneous quantifications of multiple miRNAs in the single-sampling system would be conducive to the accurate diagnosis of diseases in contrast with single miRNA analysis. In this work, a stochastic DNAzyme motor on spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) was established for simultaneous fluorescence assay of miRNA let-7a and miRNA-133a. [Display omitted] • Quantitative information of multiplex target miRNAs would be conducive to the accurate diagnosis of diseases. • The cycling operation of target-triggered DNAzyme nanomotors provide a signal amplified strategy. • Under the introduction of the target-induced DNAzyme walker, this proposed biosensor obtained excellent sensitivity. • SNAs with 3D nanostructures provided enough space for the operation of DNAzyme walkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]