Risk factors for healthcare-associated infections and their relationship with waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in an intensive care unit: a nested case-control study.

Objective: To evaluate the risk factors for healthcare-related infections during the COVID-19 pandemic in intensive care units, to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection, Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, and to describe healthcare-associated infections in the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This nested case-control study was conducted in a 137-bed adult medical/surgical intensive care unit at a private hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, between January 11, 2019, and May 21, 2022. Case patients were identified using the Nosocomial Infection Control Committee database and control patients were identified using the intensive care unit's EPIMED system.

Synthesis, Characterization, and BSA Binding Properties of Carboxylated Merocyanine-Based Fluorophores.

This study describes the synthesis of new carboxylated merocyanine dyes by Knoevenagel condensation between 4-carboxybenzaldehyde and indolium/benzoindolium- and benzothiazolium-based coupling compounds. The condensations were performed in the presence of ammonium acetate, and the products were obtained in good yields after simple purification. These merocyanines exhibit UV-A-to-blue absorption and blue-to-green fluorescence emission, characterized by relatively large Stokes shift values (∼5000 cm).

Nonlinear van't Hoff Behavior in the Interaction of Two Water-Soluble Porphyrins with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA).

Thermodynamic analysis of the binding process of water-soluble negatively charged -tetrakis(-sulfonatophenyl) (TPPS) and positively charged -tetrakis(4-methylpyridyl) (TMPyP) porphyrins with bovine serum albumin (BSA) at different temperatures was carried out based on the data of BSA quenching fluorescence by porphyrins. The comparison of binding constants ( ) shows that negatively charged TPPS possesses higher affinity to BSA than positively charged TMPyP. Thermodynamic characteristics of the binding process were obtained in accordance with the van't Hoff theory by processing nonlinear dependences of ln on inverse absolute temperature within the framework of two models: taking into account the dependence or independence of the change in the standard heat capacity (Δ ) on temperature.

Exploring the electrochemical properties and lithium insertion mechanisms in akaganeite (β-FeOOH) - a combined DFT/experimental study.

Akaganeite (β-FeOOH) has been intensely investigated to be used in different electrochemical applications as a cathode material in Li-ion batteries owing to its unique structural characteristics, including channels capable of accommodating and reversibly extracting charged species such as lithium or sodium ions. We revisited the synthesis, and its electrochemical properties based on a combined experimental/theoretical approach aiming to understand the mechanism of the electron transfer in this material. Electrochemical investigations, employing LiSO aqueous electrolyte, unveiled notable alterations in the charge/discharge profiles.

Probing plexciton emission from 2D materials on gold nanotrenches.

Probing strongly coupled quasiparticle excitations at their intrinsic length scales offers unique insights into their properties and facilitates the design of devices with novel functionalities. In this work, we investigate the formation and emission characteristics of plexcitons, arising from the interaction between surface plasmons in narrow gold nanotrenches and excitons in monolayer WSe. We study this strong plasmon-exciton coupling in both the far-field and the near-field.