Focused-Attention Meditation Improves Flow, Communication Skills, and Safety Attitudes of Surgeons.

OBJECTIVE: Patient safety is a worldwide problem and a focus of academic research. Human factors and ergonomics (HFE) is an approach to improving healthcare work systems and processes. From the perspective of the cognitive ergonomics of HFE, the aim of this study is to improve the flow level, communication skills, and safety attitudes of surgeons through focused-attention meditation (FAM) training, thus helping to reduce adverse clinical events. METHODS: In total, 140 surgeons were recruited from three hospitals in China and randomly divided into two groups (FAM group and control group). The FAM group received 8 weeks of FAM training, while the control group was on the waiting list and did not receive any interventions. Three scales (WOLF, LCSAS, and SAQ-C) were used to measure the data of three variables (flow, communication skills, and safety attitude), respectively, at two times, before and after the intervention (pre-test and post-test). The incidence of adverse events during the intervention was also collected for both groups. RESULTS: The ANOVA results showed that all three variables had a significant main effect of time and significant interactions between time and group. The independent-sample T-test results showed that the incidence of adverse events during the intervention was significantly lower in the FAM group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention of FAM could significantly improve surgeons' flow levels, communication skills, and safety attitudes, potentially helping to reduce adverse clinical events.

Ambient-pressure synthesis of ethylene glycol catalyzed by C60-buffered Cu/SiO2.

Bulk chemicals such as ethylene glycol (EG) can be industrially synthesized from either ethylene or syngas, but the latter undergoes a bottleneck reaction and requires high hydrogen pressures. We show that fullerene (exemplified by C60) can act as an electron buffer for a copper-silica catalyst (Cu/SiO2). Hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate over a C60-Cu/SiO2 catalyst at ambient pressure and temperatures of 180° to 190°C had an EG yield of up to 98 ± 1%. In a kilogram-scale reaction, no deactivation of the catalyst was seen after 1000 hours. This mild route for the final step toward EG can be combined with the already-industrialized ambient reaction from syngas to the intermediate of dimethyl oxalate.

Bioinformatics-based Identification of Key Pathways and Hub Genes of Traumatic Brain Injury in a Rat Model.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common injury caused by external forces that lead to damaged brain function or pathological changes in the brain tissue. To explore the molecular mechanism and the hub genes of TBI, we downloaded gene expression profiles of the TBI model of rat and the sham control for the subsequent gene set enrichment analysis, pathway analysis and protein-protein interactions analysis. The results of Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis indicated that multiple biological pathways, including immune response, inflammatory response and cellular response to interleukin-1, as well as signaling pathways, such as tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway and nuclear factor kappa B signaling pathway were implicated in the TBI. In conclusion, this study provides insights into the molecular mechanism of TBI by screening the differentially expressed genes and hub genes that can be used as biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Spin-glass behavior of a hierarchically-organized, hybrid microporous material, based on an extended framework of octanuclear iron-oxo units.

Inspired by the stepwise addition of octanuclear iron units into mammalian ferritin, a "stop-and-go" synthesis strategy was used to prepare two microporous (Langmuir surface area, 490 m(2) g(-1); effective pore size, 4-5 Å) hierarchical materials {[Fe8(µ4-O)4(µ-pz)12Cl0.3(µ-O)1.85}n () and {[Fe8(µ4-O)4(µ-4-Me-pz)12Cl0.4(µ-O)1.8}n (), which are new members of the EO2 family of polymeric materials (E = C, Si and Ge). The secondary building units (SBUs) E = [Fe8(µ4-O)4(µ-4-R-pz)12] (Fe8) are nanoscale pseudo-spherical clusters, rather than single atoms, forming µ-oxo Fe-O-Fe linkages between Fe8-SBUs. The characteristic Fe-O-Fe asymmetric stretching mode in the infrared (IR) spectra of these compounds appearing at around 800 cm(-1) suggest the formation of approximately linear µ-oxo Fe-O-Fe linkages between Fe8-SBUs in and . We employ the concept of continuous random network (CRN) to describe for the first time the framework features of a Fe8-based amorphous materials, in which the average connecting numbers of each Fe8-cluster are ∼3.7 and ∼3.6 for and , respectively. (57)Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopic analysis provides insights to the intercluster connectivity of and on one hand and to their magnetic properties on the other, evident by a magnetic split sextet below 30 K. The combination of Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetism measurements reveals a spin-glass behavior with Tg of ∼30 K. The hierarchical porous materials and straddle the gap between metal oxides and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). This study may open an alternative way for the development of multifunctional materials based on high nuclearity metal clusters.

A preliminary study of the Six-Item Screener in detecting cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: The present retrospective study was to explore the clinical value of Six-Item Screener (SIS), which is constituted by 6 items from mini-mental status examination (MMSE), to identify cognitive impairment. METHODS: A total number of 1976 patients aged over 50 years, from the Memory Clinic of Huashan Hospital were employed in a battery of neuropsychological tests including MMSE. Subjects with severe conditions, unable to cooperate, or having been previously enrolled, were excluded from this study. The employed subjects were divided into 3 groups: subjective memory complaints (SMCs) (475 cases), patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (440 cases), and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (1061 cases, including 555 mild, 339 moderate, and 167 severe). A total score of MMSE and a score of SIS composed of date, month, year, three-word delayed recall from MMSE were calculated. Data were analyzed based on educational background. RESULTS: The cut-off of SIS score was <2 for illiterate, <3 for elementary, and <4 for junior high school or above. The sensitivity and specificity of SIS for detecting mild AD were 88.5% and 78.3%, respectively, with an overall accuracy of 83.8%, while for detecting MCI, the sensitivity and specificity were 34.3% and 90.1%, respectively, with an overall accuracy of 63.2%. CONCLUSION: SIS is an effective and reliable instrument for dementia detection in outpatient department. However, it has limited value for MCI identification.

Application study of quick cognitive screening test in identifying mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether quick cognitive screening test (QCST) could quickly identify mild cognitive impairment (MCI). METHODS: QCST and a full set of standardized neuropsychological tests, including mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) were performed. A total number of 121 cases of MCI [41 cases of amnestic MCI-single domain (aMCI-s); 44 of amnestic MCI-multiple domain (aMCI-m); 36 of nonamnestic MCI (naMCI)], 79 cases of mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 186 healthy elderly volunteers were employed in the present study. All the participants (55-85 years old) had an educational level no less than 5 years. QCST subtests included word list recall, naming test, animal fluency test, similarity test, color trail-1min, clock drawing test, finger construction test, and digit span test. The total score of QCST was 90 points, 10 points for each index of subtests. RESULTS: The total scores of QCST in MCI, AD and the control groups were (58.13+/-8.18), (44.53+/-10.54) and (72.92+/-6.85) points, respectively. According to the educational level, the cut off scores of participants with an educational level of 5-8 years, 9-12 years and more than 13 years were 63, 65 and 68 points, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of QCST in detection of MCI were 87.6% (85.7% for aMCI-s, 90.1% for aMCI-m and 89.5% for naMCI) and 84.3%, respectively. The area under the curve was 0.923 (95% CI: 0.892-0.953). Delayed memory, color trail-1min and similarity test could help distinguish between aMCI and naMCI. CONCLUSION: QCST may have a good sensitivity and specificity for MCI detection, which warrants its further clinical application.

Organically templated metal-organic framework with 2-fold interpenetrated {3(3).5(9).6(3)}-lcy net.

A new organic cation templated Zn(II) complex (Et3NH)[Zn4(ip)3(bta)3] (, ip = isophthalate, Hbta = benzotriazole) which consists of plate-like Zn4(bta)3 units bridged by ip ligands is reported; it is the first example of a 6-connected uninodal {3(3).5(9).6(3)}-lcy net which has never been observed previously in MOFs but has been theoretically anticipated.

catena-Poly[[diaquazinc(II)]-micro-4,4'-sulfonyldibenzoato-kappa2O:O'].

The title compound, [Zn(C(14)H(8)O(6)S)(H(2)O)(2)](n), is the first reported metal complex of the 4,4'-sulfonyldibenzoate anion. The structure comprises zigzag chains of alternating [Zn(H(2)O)(2)](2+) and sulfonyldibenzoate units, the central Zn and S atoms of which lie on crystallographic twofold axes. The Zn(II) centre occupies a strongly distorted tetrahedral environment [O-Zn-O = 83.30 (7)-136.19 (8) degrees], coordinated by the two water O atoms [Zn-O = 1.986 (2) A] and one O atom from each of two carboxylate groups [Zn-O = 1.9942 (19) A], with much longer contacts to the other O atoms of these carboxylates [Zn-O = 2.528 (2) A]. Hydrogen bonds between carboxylate O atoms and coordinated water molecules in adjacent chains lead to the formation of a three-dimensional network structure.

Poly[[bis(pyridine-kappaN)copper(II)]-mu(3)-5-hydroxyisophthalato-kappa3O:O':O''].

In the title compound, [Cu(C(8)H(4)O(5))(C(5)H(5)N)(2)](n) or [Cu(OH-BDC)(py)(2)](n) (where OH-H(2)BDC is 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid and py is pyridine), the Cu atoms are coordinated by two N atoms from the pyridine ligands and by three O atoms from hydroxyisophthalate ligands in a highly distorted triangular bipyramidal environment, with Cu-O distances in the range 1.941 (4)-2.225 (5) A and Cu-N distances of 2.014 (6) and 2.046 (6) A. The [Cu(OH-BDC)](n) two-dimensional network is built up from interlocking 22-, 15- and eight-membered rings via sharing of Cu atoms and O-H...O hydrogen bonds. Consolidation of the packing structure is achieved by edge- or point-to-face C-H...pi interactions and offset or slipped pi-pi stacking interactions.

Poly[[[(1,10-phenanthroline-kappa2N,N')zinc(II)]-mu3-5-hydroxyisophthalato-kappa4O,O':O":O"'] monohydrate].

In the title compound, [[Zn(C8H4O5)(C12H8N2)].H2O]n or [[Zn(OH-BDC)(phen)].H2O]n (where OH-H2BDC is 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid and phen is 1,10-phenanthroline), the Zn atoms are coordinated by two N atoms from the phen ligands and by four O atoms from hydroxyisophthalate ligands in a highly distorted octahedral geometry, with Zn-O distances in the range 2.042 (4)-2.085 (5) A and Zn-N distances of 2.133 (5) and 2.137 (5) A. The [[Zn(OH-BDC)(phen)].H2O]n infinite zigzag polymer forms a helical chain of [Zn2(OH-BDC)2]n units. Face-to-face pi-pi interactions (3.60-3.75 A) occur between two phen rings belonging to the same helical chain. Consolidation of the packing structure is achieved by O-H...O hydrogen-bonding interactions between the carboxylate O atoms, the hydroxyl group and the water molecule, forming two-dimensional sheets.