A randomized crossover comparison of the bébé VieScope and direct laryngoscope for pediatric airway management by nurses in medical simulation settings.

BACKGROUND: Airway management in life-threatening emergencies is essential for children, and endotracheal intubation is the gold standard. It protects against regurgitation and enables mechanical ventilation. New types of airway management equipment are being developed and implemented to meet the needs of medical personnel. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized, cross-over simulation trial evaluated the success of endotracheal intubation in three scenarios: normal airway (scenario-A), tongue edema (scenario-B), and continuous chest compression (scenario-C), using the bébé Vie Scope™ laryngoscope (VieScope) and the Macintosh blade laryngoscope (MAC) as a comparative tool performed by nurses with limited tracheal intubation experience. RESULTS: The results of the study showed that in scenario-A, there were no significant differences in the first attempt success rate or endotracheal intubation time between VieScope and MAC. However, VieScope was associated with better visualization of the glottis. In scenarios B and C, VieScope was significantly more effective than MAC in terms of first-pass success rate, time to intubate, Cormack-Lehane grade, POGO score, and ease of endotracheal intubation. CONCLUSIONS: Bébé VieScope may be useful for endotracheal intubation in pediatric patients, particularly in cases of tongue edema and ongoing chest compression, providing a higher first-pass success rate than conventional laryngoscopes.

Prediction value of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) in COVID-19 patients - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: In COVID-19, the rapid prediction of the severity of a patient's condition using modern biomarkers can accelerate the implementation of appropriate therapy, and thus improve the patient's prognosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A meta-analysis was conducted of data available in the literature on the differences in baseline suPAR blood concentration between patients (1) who tested positive and negative for COVID-19, (2) who had severe and non-severe COVID-19, and (3) COVID-19 survivors and non-survivors. RESULTS: SuPAR levels in SARS-CoV-2 negative and positive patients varied and amounted to 3.61±1.59 ng/ml vs. 6.45±3.13 ng/ml, respectively (MD = -3.18; 95%CI: -4.71 to -1.66; p<0.001). suPAR levels among non-severe and severe COVID-19 patients were 7.06±2.64 ng/ml and 5.06±3.16 ng/ml (MD = 0.18; 95%CI: -2.48 to 2.83; p=0.90), respectively. Pooled analysis showed that suPAR levels between severe versus critical COVID-19 patients to be 5.59±1.54 ng/ml and 6.49±1.43 ng/ml, respectively (MD = -1.00; 95%CI: -1.31 to -0.70; p<0.001). The suPAR levels between ICU survivors versus non-survivors amounted to 5.82±2.33 ng/ml and 8.43±4.66 ng/ml (MD = -3.59; 95%CI: -6.19 to -1.00; p=0.007). In the case of in-hospital mortality, the mean suPAR level among survivors to hospital discharge was 5.63±1.27 ng/ml, compared to 7.85±2.61 ng/ml for patients who did not survive (MD = -3.58; 95%CI: -5.42 to -1.74; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: SuPAR levels are significantly elevated in severe COVID-19 illness and maybe useful in predicting mortality. Further studies are needed to determine cut-off points and clarify the association of suPAR levels with disease progression. This is of utmost importance given the ongoing pandemic and overburdened health care systems.

Prognostic Performance of Cystatin C in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Cystatin C is a specific biomarker of kidney function. We perform this meta-analysis to determine the association of Cystatin C with the COVID-19 severity. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and Web of Science for studies published until 2nd September 2022 that reported associations between Cystatin C levels and COVID-19 severity. The analysis was performed using a random-effects model to calculate pooled standard mean difference (SMD). Twenty-five studies were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis showed statistically significant differences of Cystatin C levels among survive vs. decreased patients (0.998 ± 0.225 vs. 1.328 ± 0.475 mg/dL, respectively; SMD = -2.14; 95%CI: -3.28 to -1.01; p < 0.001). Cystatin C levels in COVID-19 severe vs. non-severe groups varied and amounted to 1.485 ± 1.191 vs. 1.014 ± 0.601 mg/dL, respectively (SMD = 1.81; 95%CI: 1.29 to 2.32; p < 0.001). Additionally, pooled analysis showed that Cystatin C levels in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) was 1.562 ± 0.885 mg/dL, compared to 0.811 ± 0.108 mg/dL for patients without AKI (SMD = 4.56; 95%CI: 0.27 to 8.85; p = 0.04). Summing up, Cystatin C is a potentially very good marker to be used in the context of COVID-19 disease due to the prognosis of patients' serious condition, risk of AKI and mortality. In addition, Cystatin C could be used as a marker of renal complications in COVID-19 other than AKI due to the need to monitor patients even longer after leaving the hospital.

Prediction Value of KREBS Von Den Lungen-6 (KL-6) Biomarker in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is a major issue that necessitates the use of cutting-edge disease prediction models. The aim of the study was to assess the existing evidence regarding association between Krebs von den Lungen-6 levels and COVID-19 severity. A literature search was performed on Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases from 1 January 2020 up to 2 August 2022. The electronic database search was supplemented by searching Google Scholar. In addition, reference lists of relative articles were also reviewed. KL-6 levels among COVID-19 positive vs. negative patients varied and amounted to 443.37 ± 249.33 vs. 205.73 ± 86.8 U/mL (MD = 275.33; 95%CI: 144.57 to 406.09; p < 0.001). The KL-6 level was 402.82 ± 261.16 U/mL in the severe group and was statistically significantly higher than in the non-severe group (297.38 ± 90.46 U/mL; MD = 192.45; 95%CI: 118.19 to 266.72; p < 0.001). The KL-6 level in the mild group was 272.28 ± 95.42 U/mL, compared to 268.04 ± 55.04 U/mL in the moderate COVID-19 group (MD = −12.58; 95%CI: −21.59 to −3.57; p = 0.006). Our meta-analysis indicates a significant association between increased KL-6 levels and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, KL-6 levels are significantly higher in patients with a more severe course of COVID-19, indicating that KL-6 may be a useful predictor to identify patients at risk for severe COVID-19.

Initial Evaluation of Uroplakins UPIIIa and UPII in Selected Benign Urological Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Uroplakins (UPs) are glycoproteins that play a specific role in the structure and function of the urothelium. Disorders which affect the normal expression of UPs are associated with the pathogenesis of infections and neoplasms of the urinary tract, primary vesicoureteral reflux, hydronephrosis and renal dysfunction. The appearance of uroplakins in the urine and/or plasma may be of potential importance in the detection of urinary tract dysfunction. The aim of the present study was to investigate uroplakin IIIa (UPIIIa) and uroplakin II (UPII) expression in patients with selected urological diseases. METHODS: Plasma and urine from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), urethral stricture (US), urinary tract infection (UTI) and urolithiasis were compared to healthy people without urological disorders. UPs concentrations were measured by the immunoenzymatic method. RESULTS: In patients with BPH and UTI, concentrations of UPIIIa in urine and plasma, as well as UPII in urine, were statistically significantly higher than in the control groups. In the US group, only the plasma UPIIIa concentration differed significantly from the control. CONCLUSION: The conducted research shows that benign urological diseases may affect the state of the urothelium, as manifested by increased concentrations of both UPs in patients' urine and plasma, especially in BPH and UTI.

Realizing Optical Persistent Spin Helix and Stern-Gerlach Deflection in an Anisotropic Liquid Crystal Microcavity.

Spin-orbit interactions which couple the spin of a particle with its momentum degrees of freedom lie at the center of spintronic applications. Of special interest in semiconductor physics are Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling. When equal in strength, the Rashba and Dresselhaus fields result in SU(2) spin rotation symmetry and emergence of the persistent spin helix only investigated for charge carriers in semiconductor quantum wells. Recently, a synthetic Rashba-Dresselhaus Hamiltonian was shown to describe cavity photons confined in a microcavity filled with optically anisotropic liquid crystal. In this Letter, we present a purely optical realization of two types of spin patterns corresponding to the persistent spin helix and the Stern-Gerlach experiment in such a cavity. We show how the symmetry of the Hamiltonian results in spatial oscillations of the spin orientation of photons traveling in the plane of the cavity.

Neuromorphic Binarized Polariton Networks.

The rapid development of artificial neural networks and applied artificial intelligence has led to many applications. However, current software implementation of neural networks is severely limited in terms of performance and energy efficiency. It is believed that further progress requires the development of neuromorphic systems, in which hardware directly mimics the neuronal network structure of a human brain. Here, we propose theoretically and realize experimentally an optical network of nodes performing binary operations. The nonlinearity required for efficient computation is provided by semiconductor microcavities in the strong quantum light-matter coupling regime, which exhibit exciton-polariton interactions. We demonstrate the system performance against a pattern recognition task, obtaining accuracy on a par with state-of-the-art hardware implementations. Our work opens the way to ultrafast and energy-efficient neuromorphic systems taking advantage of ultrastrong optical nonlinearity of polaritons.

Reconstructing Quantum States With Quantum Reservoir Networks.

Reconstructing quantum states is an important task for various emerging quantum technologies. The process of reconstructing the density matrix of a quantum state is known as quantum state tomography. Conventionally, tomography of arbitrary quantum states is challenging as the paradigm of efficient protocols has remained in applying specific techniques for different types of quantum states. Here, we introduce a quantum state tomography platform based on the framework of reservoir computing. It forms a quantum neural network and operates as a comprehensive device for reconstructing an arbitrary quantum state (finite-dimensional or continuous variable). This is achieved with only measuring the average occupation numbers in a single physical setup, without the need of any knowledge of optimum measurement basis or correlation measurements.

The Dependence between Urinary Levels of Angiogenesis Factors, 8-Iso-prostaglandin F2α, É£-Synuclein, and Interleukin-13 in Patients with Bladder Cancer: A Pilot Study.

During the last decade, a significant increase in the incidence of bladder cancer (BC) has been observed. Angiogenesis plays a key role in the process of tumor growth and metastasis. Additionally, the participation of oxidative stress and chronic inflammation in BC pathogenesis is indicated. The aim of the study was to evaluate the urinary levels of parameters of angiogenesis, stimulating angiogenin (ANG) and inhibiting angiostatin (ANGST), 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (8-iso-PGF2α) as a marker of oxidative stress, É£-synuclein (SNCG) as a cancer progression parameter, and interleukin-13 (IL-13) as an anti-inflammatory immunomodulator. The levels of ANG, ANGST, 8-iso-PGF2α, SNCG, and IL-13 in the urine of BC patients and healthy controls were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These parameters were examined in the whole group of BC patients and in subgroups depending on the clinical stage: nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC); histopathologic malignancy: low grade (LG) and high grade (HG) and in primary and recurrent BC. Significantly, higher urinary parameters were found in BC patients in comparison to controls. Levels of all parameters increased with the development of cancer, with the exception of 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α, in which the level was higher in the early stages of the disease, but these differences were not statistically significant. Some correlations have been demonstrated between parameters in BC patients. Based on the receiver operating characteristic curves, ANG and ANGST had the best diagnostic value for BC. The obtained results indicate the important role of the examined parameters of angiogenesis, oxidative stress, and inflammation in the pathogenesis and development of BC. It is reasonable to continue research in order to thoroughly assess the impact of various associated processes on the course of BC. It is also important to carry out similar tests in patients with other urological diseases.

Polaritonic Neuromorphic Computing Outperforms Linear Classifiers.

Machine learning software applications are ubiquitous in many fields of science and society for their outstanding capability to solve computationally vast problems like the recognition of patterns and regularities in big data sets. In spite of these impressive achievements, such processors are still based on the so-called von Neumann architecture, which is a bottleneck for faster and power-efficient neuromorphic computation. Therefore, one of the main goals of research is to conceive physical realizations of artificial neural networks capable of performing fully parallel and ultrafast operations. Here we show that lattices of exciton-polariton condensates accomplish neuromorphic computing with outstanding accuracy thanks to their high optical nonlinearity. We demonstrate that our neural network significantly increases the recognition efficiency compared with the linear classification algorithms on one of the most widely used benchmarks, the MNIST problem, showing a concrete advantage from the integration of optical systems in neural network architectures.

Engineering spin-orbit synthetic Hamiltonians in liquid-crystal optical cavities.

Spin-orbit interactions lead to distinctive functionalities in photonic systems. They exploit the analogy between the quantum mechanical description of a complex electronic spin-orbit system and synthetic Hamiltonians derived for the propagation of electromagnetic waves in dedicated spatial structures. We realize an artificial Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction in a liquid crystal-filled optical cavity. Three-dimensional tomography in energy-momentum space enabled us to directly evidence the spin-split photon mode in the presence of an artificial spin-orbit coupling. The effect is observed when two orthogonal linear polarized modes of opposite parity are brought near resonance. Engineering of spin-orbit synthetic Hamiltonians in optical cavities opens the door to photonic emulators of quantum Hamiltonians with internal degrees of freedom.

Chemical Synthesis of Oligoribonucleotide (ASL of tRNALys T.†brucei) Containing a Recently Discovered Cyclic Form of 2-Methylthio-N6 -threonylcarbamoyladenosine (ms2 ct6 A).

The synthesis of the protected form of 2-methylthio-N6 -threonylcarbamoyl adenosine (ms2 t6 A) was developed starting from adenosine or guanosine by using the optimized carbamate method and, for the first time, an isocyanate route. The hypermodified nucleoside was subsequently transformed into the protected ms2 t6 A-phosphoramidite monomer and used in a large-scale synthesis of the precursor 17nt ms2 t6 A-oligonucleotide (the anticodon stem and loop fragment of tRNALys from T. brucei). Finally, stereochemically secure ms2 t6 A→ms2 ct6 A cyclization at the oligonucleotide level efficiently afforded a tRNA fragment bearing the ms2 ct6 A unit. The applied post-synthetic approach provides two sequentially homologous ms2 t6 A- and ms2 ct6 A-oligonucleotides that are suitable for further comparative structure-activity relationship studies.

Are There Differences in Toxicity and Efficacy between Various Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Strains in Bladder Cancer Patients? Analysis of 844 Patients.

PURPOSE: To evaluate if there are differences in toxicity and efficacy between different Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) stains used for intravesical immunotherapy in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed a group of 844 patients who received TICE, RIVM and Moreau BCG strains. The allocation of the strain to each patient was random, stemming from differences in supply and distribution. The patients were analysed in terms of toxicity, recurrence-free (RFS), progression-free (PFS), cancer-specific (CSS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: In the survival analysis, statistical significance was not reached in any tumour group for any clinical event. TICE caused more local and mild adverse effects and severe complications were mainly associated with RIVM strain. In a group in which the strain was changed during the course of the therapy, significantly more severe complications were observed and, in most of these cases, complications appeared right after the strain change. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in terms of RFS, PFS, CSS and OS after use of TICE, RIVM and Moreau strains. The complication profile differed statistically between used strains with TICE causing mostly mild complications. Also, strain change during the therapy course was associated with the increased risk of moderate to severe toxicity occurrence.

Spin polarized semimagnetic exciton-polariton condensate in magnetic field.

Owing to their integer spin, exciton-polaritons in microcavities can be used for observation of non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation in solid state. However, spin-related phenomena of such condensates are difficult to explore due to the relatively small Zeeman effect of standard semiconductor microcavity systems and the strong tendency to sustain an equal population of two spin components, which precludes the observation of condensates with a well defined spin projection along the axis of the system. The enhancement of the Zeeman splitting can be achieved by introducing magnetic ions to the quantum wells, and consequently forming semimagnetic polaritons. In this system, increasing magnetic field can induce polariton condensation at constant excitation power. Here we evidence the spin polarization of a semimagnetic polaritons condensate exhibiting a circularly polarized emission over 95% even in a moderate magnetic field of about 3 T. Furthermore, we show that unlike nonmagnetic polaritons, an increase on excitation power results in an increase of the semimagnetic polaritons condensate spin polarization. These properties open new possibilities for testing theoretically predicted phenomena of spin polarized condensate.

Creation of stable dark and anti-dark solitons in polariton dyad.

By designing an appropriate defect potential in a nonresonantly pumped exciton-polariton condensate, the polariton dyad consisting of two spatially separated condensates with phase locking can be realized. We use the phase coupling of the polariton dyad to investigate the existence of both dark and anti-dark solitons in the condensates. Surprisingly, these dissipative solitons appear to be stable and are not affected by the noise both from the initial condition and from the propagation. We show that these stable solitons are transformed from a spontaneously created metastable states by choosing the state with the highest particle number.

Insight into lipophilicity of deoxyribonucleoside­boron cluster conjugates.

Lipophilicity was investigated for 20 2'-deoxyribonucleoside derivatives modified with electron-neutral 1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecaborane, 1,12-dicarba-closo-dodecaborane, 7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborate anion, and metallacarborane containing Co, Fe, or Cr. The partition coefficient (P) for neutral conjugates and the distribution coefficient (D7.4) for ionic compounds were determined as a lipophilicity descriptor using a shake-flask method. All modified nucleosides had P/D7.4 values higher than those of an appropriate unmodified 2'-closo-dodecaborane and metallacarborane was found to be three orders of magnitude higher than that of its unmodified counterpart. The lowest impact on the P/D7.4 values of the conjugates was observed for the 7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborate anion. A preliminary molecular modeling study of a thymidine-carborane conjugate with ß-cyclodextrin confirmed the ability of the components to form an inclusion complex.

Superluminal X-waves in a polariton quantum fluid.

In this work, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time the spontaneous generation of two-dimensional exciton-polariton X-waves. X-waves belong to the family of localized packets that can sustain their shape without spreading, even in the linear regime. This allows the wavepacket to maintain its shape and size for very low densities and very long times compared to soliton waves, which always necessitate a nonlinearity to compensate the diffusion. Here, we exploit the polariton nonlinearity and uniquely structured dispersion, comprising both positive- and negative-mass curvatures, to trigger an asymmetric four-wave mixing in momentum space. This ultimately enables the self-formation of a spatial X-wave front. Using ultrafast imaging experiments, we observe the early reshaping of the initial Gaussian packet into the X-pulse and its propagation, even for vanishingly small densities. This allows us to outline the crucial effects and parameters that drive the phenomena and to tune the degree of superluminal propagation, which we found to be in close agreement with numerical simulations.

Calcium preparations do not inhibit allergic reactions: a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION Massive consumption of dietary supplements, including vitamins and minerals, has recently become a serious health issue in Europe. Their use may negatively affect the pharmacological activity of various medications, including antiallergic drugs. Calcium preparations are commonly used in some European countries as a popular remedy for allergy­related skin reactions, such as itching, erythema, and wheals, as well as insect bites. However, so far there have been no reliable studies to prove their action.  OBJECTIVES The aim of this randomized, double­blind, placebo­controlled study was to investigate the efficacy of calcium salts in allergic reactions, using an allergen­induced skin prick test (SPT).  PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty adult volunteers with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis or asthma (or both) were recruited to receive oral calcium carbonate (1000 mg) or placebo 3 times a day for 3 days. SPTs were performed with 11 aeroallergen extracts at baseline and at 4 and 72 hours after drug administration. The wheal diameter was measured. We also used the visual analog scale to evaluate the intensity of pruritus. RESULTS There was no difference in the wheal size or pruritus between patients receiving calcium or placebo at any of the time points (P >0.05). Calcium preparations were well tolerated.  CONCLUSIONS We found no evidence to support the efficacy of calcium preparations in allergy­related skin reactions associated with itching and wheals. Calcium preparations do not suppress SPT responses; moreover, their use in allergic patients should be discouraged due to their possible interference with the absorption of antiallergic drugs.

Efficient conversion of N6-threonylcarbamoyladenosine (t6A) into a tRNA native hydantoin cyclic form (ct6A) performed at nucleoside and oligoribonucleotide levels.

A t6A nucleoside was efficiently and stereospecifically transformed into a hydantoin cyclic form of N6-l-threonylcarbamoyladenosine (ct6A) by the use of polymer bounded carbodiimide (EDC-P) and HOBt. The procedure was successfully applied for a post-synthetic conversion of t6A-containing RNA 17-mers (of the sequences of anticodon stem and loop (ASL) fragments of S. pombe tRNAi and E. coli tRNALys) into the products bearing the ct6A unit.