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BackgroundThe outbreak of COVID-19 has dominated headlines worldwide. The number of infections has continued to rise and had reached 30,000 worldwide at the time this paper was written. Because of the high risk of nosocomial transmission, medical health care workers may be experiencing substantial psychological stress. This descriptive study aimed to identify psychosocial effects on hospital staff associated with working in a hospital environment during the COVID-19 outbreak. ObjectiveOur survey participants included 57 frontline clinicians working at Wuhan First Hospital and 157 medical students working at Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak. The questionnaire we adopted included questions regarding the participants’ personal well-being, sociodemographic characteristics, and psychological status. Methods57 frontline clinicians working in Wuhan First Hospital and 157 medical training students working in Jiangsu Provincial Peoples Hospital during this outbreak participated in our survey. The questionnaire we adopted included questions regarding the participants’ personal well-being, sociodemographic characteristics and the psychological status. ResultsThe COVID-19 outbreak had psychological impacts both on formal workers and medical students. The psychological effects included sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression. There was no significant difference between the group of formal workers and medical students (P=.85), and more than 50% (30/54, 56%, vs. 83/157, 52.9%) of the respondents reported pandemic-related mental disorders. ConclusionsOur study indicates that the high risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure caused substantial psychological stress among health care workers. This finding emphasizes the need to promote psychological crisis intervention for medical personnel during this epidemic.

In this work, ammonium polyacrylate (NH4PAA) thickener was synthesized by the inverse emulsion polymerization method with acrylic acid and ammonia water as the aqueous monomer, C16–C31 n -alkanes (5# white oil) as the continuous phase, Span 80/Tween 80 as composite emulsifiers, and Tween 80 as the phase inversion agent, under the action of ammonium persulfate-sodium bisulfite initiation (APS-NaHSO3) and N, N '-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) crosslinking. Gel permeation chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy provided evidence for the synthesis of NH4PAA, with a molecular weight of 232,000. The carboxylic content and nitrogen content of the NH4PAA thickener are 23.5% and 3.37%, respectively. A response surface analysis and single factor experiment showed that the optimum synthesis conditions of the NH4PAA thickener were pH 6.5, monomer dosage 38.49 wt%, reaction temperature 45.5°C, initiation system APS and NaHSO3 (weight ratio 1:2) 0.34 wt%, MBA dosage 0.15%, and reaction time 3.2 h. The viscosity of the NH4PAA thickener is 15.7 Pa·s (under the condition of using a rotary rheometer for testing, the mass fraction of the thickener is 3 wt%), which exceeded the corresponding viscosity of diPh-2-CUM-O, SAMXG8 reported in the literature and commercial thickeners. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the NH4PAA thickener presented spherical morphology. Dynamic light scattering showed that the particle size was concentrated at 78.8 nm. A rheological test showed that the NH4PAA thickener was a pseudoplastic fluid with good thixotropy. The NH4PAA thickener gave nylon carpet good printability after jet printing. This work provides a theoretical basis for the development of high-quality thickeners for carpets in jet printing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]