ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the COVID-19 has increased the demand for point-of-care testing ( POCT), and as the most indispensable tools for human beings at present, smartphones have great application potential in POCT. Smartphone-based POCT has the following unique advantages: ( 1) easy to operate and without the need for professional training;( 2) shorter wait times and quicker test results;( 3) low fabrication cost and convenient to use in limited-resource areas. Therefore, smartphone-based POCT is rapidly emerging as a potential alternative to traditional laboratory testing. Herein, we perform a comprehensive review of recent progress and applications of smartphone-based sensors in POCT for the past three years, which uses the tested objects ( body fluids, volatile organic compounds, vital signs) by POCT as the basis for classification, and combines with the current mainstream sensing strategies, including colorimetric, fluorescent, electrochemical technology, piezoelectric, pyroelectric, ultrasonic and photoelectric sensor, etc. We evaluate the performance and development potential of these sensors, in addition, the emerging technologies used in POCT are introduced, such as nanotechnology, flexible electronic devices, microfluidic technology, biodegradable technology, self- powered technology, multichannel detection and so on. Finally, current problems are summarized and the future development of the smartphone-based POCT is discussed.
ABSTRACT
Surface plasmon has a history of more than one hundred years since its birth and has been a brand new discipline-plasmonics. Localized surface plasmon in metal nanostructures can gain very strong near-surface electric field enhancement and has been applied to many types researches successfully. However, there is relatively less study of the interaction between localized surface plasmon and magnetic field in incident light. This paper calculates the near-surface electromagnetic field enhancement of metal nanosphere-nanodisc gap based on the previous achievement. This paper shows that under the excitation of the single tightly radially polarized optical beam, the metal nanodisc can produce localized surface plasmon breathing mode and electric dipole moment mode, which give rise to the longitudinal electric field enhancement at the nanodisc center. And then, because of the resonance interaction of the metal nanodisc and localized surface plasmon electric dipolar moment of the metal nanosphere, a gap mode of localized surface plasmon resonance with efficient longitudinal electric field enhancement can be produced. Through carrying out the numerical simulation, this paper demonstrates that the near-surface longitudinal electric field of metal nanostructure gap mode can obtain 250 times electrical field enhancement relative to the valid transverse electrical field that is used to excite the breathing mode, and the enhancement factor of near-surface magnetic field could be 170. In order to present more clearly the character of the spectrum and the near-surface electromagnetic field distribution of this new metal nanostructure, the near-surface electromagnetic field distribution and the resonant wavelengths of this new metal nanostructure are also studied. The calculation results show that the proposed metal nanosphere-nanodisc nanostructure owns an obvious advantage on the local near-surface electromagnetic field enhancement and a relatively large frequency spectrum. Due to the electromagnetic field enhancement advantage of the metal nanostructure proposed by this paper, the future is not without hope that the results here could be applied to more and more researches, especially biomedicine, and provide a bit of reference in order to fight for novel coronavirus. © 2022, Peking University Press. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To observe the application effects of a standard communication system-based continuous home remote visit mode in the management of visits to severely burned patients in the post-pandemic era of coronavirus disease 2019 (hereinafter referred to as post-pandemic era). Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. A total of 69 severely burned patients who met the inclusion criteria and were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University (the Third Military Medical University) from February to December, 2020 and their 69 family members were recruited into this study. According to the difference of visit model, 33 severely burned patients who were admitted into burn intensive care unit (BICU) from February to June, 2020 and received completely restricted visits according to the requirements for epidemic prevention and control and their corresponding 33 family members were included into conventional visit group; 36 severely burned patients who were admitted into BICU from July to December, 2020 and received the standard communication system-based continuous home remote visits and their 36 corresponding family members were recruited into remote visit group. The family members in conventional visit group could only communicate with the primary nurses by telephone, while the patients and family members in remote visit group could communicate with the primary nurses, responsible doctors, rehabilitation therapists, and nutrition therapists through WeChat video call. The survey results of general information questionnaire and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) scores of two groups of patients and their family members at BICU admission of patients, HAMA scores of the two groups of patients and their family members in the second week of BICU admission and at discharge from BICU of patients, the scores of the Visiting Effect Evaluation Scale of the two groups of patients and their family members and the scores of Chinese version of Critical Care Family Satisfaction Survey (C-CCFSS) of the two groups of family members at discharge from BICU, and the scores of Satisfaction Survey and Evaluation Scale During Hospitalization of patients within the first week after the discharge of patients from BICU were compared. Data were statistically analyzed with chi-square test, Fisher's exact probability test, and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: In remote visit group, there were 29 males and 7 females in patients, aged 48 (34, 53) years, and 15 males and 21 females in family members, aged 45 (30, 48) years. In conventional visit group, there were 24 males and 9 females in patients, aged 49 (38, 54) years, and 9 males and 24 females in family members, aged 44 (35, 48) years. At BICU admission of patients, the HAMA scores of the two groups of patients and family members were both similar (P>0.05). The total HAMA scores of patients and family members in remote visit group were significantly lower than those in conventional visit group in the second week when the patients were admitted to BICU (Z=-3.195, -3.018, P<0.01) and discharged from BICU (Z=-2.118, -2.380, P<0.05). At discharge from BICU of patients, the scores of each dimension in Visiting Effect Evaluation Scale of the patients in the two groups were similar (P>0.05); while scores of 3 dimensions including patient safety information, diagnosis and treatment quality information, and psychological support information in Visiting Effect Evaluation Scale of family members in remote visit group were significantly higher than those in conventional visit group (Z=-2.372, -2.209, -2.174, P<0.05), and only the scores of visit perception of family members were close to those in conventional visit group (P>0.05). At discharge from BICU of patients, the C-CCFSS scores of the family members in remote visit group was 99 (98, 108), which were significantly higher than 98 (97, 100) in conventional visit group (Z=-2.545, P<0.05). Within the first week after the discharge of patients from BICU, the scores of Satisfaction Survey and Evaluation Scale During Hospitalization of patients in remote visit group were 99 (98, 100), which were significantly higher than 96 (94, 98) in conventional visit group (Z=-5.213, P<0.01). Conclusions: In the management of visits to severely burned patients in the post-pandemic era, application of the standard communication system-based continuous home remote visit mode can improve the visit effect and satisfaction, and effectively alleviate the anxiety of patients and their family members.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Pandemics , Communication , Female , Humans , Male , Retrospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus began in Wuhan, China, and has spread quickly throughout the world. The development of vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 is difficult due to many obstacles, such as the lack of knowledge of important proteins, genes, and mutations of the viral genome. In this study, we selected and utilized 852 strains of COVID-19 from major countries in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) global virus bank. The information of these strains was processed by using Nextstrain software, a program that provided a visual phylogenetic tree, transmission map, and diversity panel that explains entropy and number of mutations for each codon in the genome. The general data about the spread and evolution of COVID-19 supported the current knowledge that it began in China and spread throughout the country in an interrelated manner instead of a clear "patient zero" manner. A recent study reported that codon 614 on COVID-19 spike protein (S614) was an important codon for viral spread, specifically, a mutation from aspartic acid to glycine facilitated the spread of the virus. Therefore, we chose to geographically track this mutation during the spread of COVID-19 to investigate where it emerged and whether it can affect the spread COVID-19. Our results showed that the glycine mutation first emerged in France. Also, the transmission rates in France versus China, where the mutation was not prevalent, did reflect the hypothesized change in viral behavior.