Intractable conflicts over end-of-life decisions: A descriptive and ethical analysis of French case-law.

Context: In European and Anglo-Saxon countries, life-sustaining treatment (LST) limitation decisions precede more than 80% of ICU deaths. However, there is now increasing evidence of disagreement and conflict between clinical teams and family members over LST limitation decisions. In some cases, these conflicts are brought to the courts.

Intensivists' ethical perceptions about decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment: A clinical ethics empirical investigation.

Background: Intensive care professional societies have issued policy recommendations regarding decisions to withhold and/or withdraw treatment (Wh&Wd) that consistently classify them as ethically equivalent and ethically neutral. However, on the ground they are often perceived as "active" and morally problematic. Moreover, recent studies have highlighted personal "variability" in the way such decisions are made.

Machine Learning-Based Research for COVID-19 Detection, Diagnosis, and Prediction: A Survey.

The year 2020 experienced an unprecedented pandemic called COVID-19, which impacted the whole world. The absence of treatment has motivated research in all fields to deal with it. In Computer Science, contributions mainly include the development of methods for the diagnosis, detection, and prediction of COVID-19 cases.

Enteric Nervous System Remodeling in a Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Study.

The physiopathology of digestive disorders in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) remains largely unknown, particularly the involvement of the enteric nervous system (ENS). We aimed in a rat model of chronic thoracic SCI to characterize (1) changes in the neurochemical coding of enteric neurons and their putative consequences upon neuromuscular response, and (2) the inflammatory response of the colon. motility of proximal and distal colon segments of SCI and control (CT) rats were studied in an organ chamber in response to electrical field stimulation (EFS) and bethanechol.

A comprehensive survey of sine cosine algorithm: variants and applications.

Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA) is a recent meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the proprieties of trigonometric sine and cosine functions. Since its introduction by Mirjalili in 2016, SCA has attracted great attention from researchers and has been widely used to solve different optimization problems in several fields. This attention is due to its reasonable execution time, good convergence acceleration rate, and high efficiency compared to several well-regarded optimization algorithms available in the literature.

Application of pyridine-modified chitosan derivative for simultaneous adsorption of Cu(II) and oxyanions of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution.

The bioadsorbent C1, which is a chitosan derivative prepared in a one-step synthesis, was successfully used to adsorb Cr(VI) and Cu(II) simultaneously. Here, for the first time the simultaneous adsorption of a cation and an anion was modeled using the Corsel model for kinetics and the Real Adsorbed Solution Theory model for equilibrium data. Batch studies of the adsorption of Cu(II) and Cr(VI) in single and binary aqueous solutions were performed as a function of initial solute concentration, contact time, and solution pH.

Aminated cellulose as a versatile adsorbent for batch removal of As(V) and Cu(II) from mono- and multicomponent aqueous solutions.

A bioadsorbent (CEDA) capable of adsorbing As(V) and Cu(II) simultaneously was prepared by tosylation of microcrystalline cellulose (MC) and nucleophilic substitution of the tosyl group by ethylenediamine. MC, tosyl cellulose, and CEDA were characterized by elemental C, H, N, and S analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The adsorption of As(V) and Cu(II) on CEDA was evaluated as a function of solution pH, contact time, and initial solute concentration.

Long-term air pollution exposure is associated with increased severity of rhinitis in 2 European cohorts.

Background: Very few studies have examined the association between long-term outdoor air pollution and rhinitis severity in adults.

Objective: We sought to assess the cross-sectional association between individual long-term exposure to air pollution and severity of rhinitis.

Methods: Participants with rhinitis from 2 multicenter European cohorts (Epidemiological Study on the Genetics and Environment on Asthma and the European Community Respiratory Health Survey) were included.

Long-term exposure to atmospheric metals assessed by mosses and mortality in France.

Background: Long-term exposure to air pollution affects health, but little is known about exposure to atmospheric metals. Estimating exposure to atmospheric metals across large spatial areas remains challenging. Metal concentrations in mosses could constitute a useful proxy.

Duration of Immunity and Effectiveness of Diphtheria-Tetanus-Acellular Pertussis Vaccines in Children.

Importance: The United States has experienced a nationwide resurgence of pertussis since the mid-1970s, despite high estimated vaccine coverage. Short-lived immunity induced by diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccines in young children is widely believed to be responsible for this growing burden, but the duration of protection conferred by DTaP vaccines remains incompletely quantified.

Objective: To assess the duration of immunity and the effectiveness of DTaP vaccines in US children.

Role of Leptin in the Association Between Body Adiposity and Persistent Asthma: A Longitudinal Study.

Objective: Obesity is a likely risk factor for asthma. However, underlying mechanisms by which obesity affects asthma activity remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the role of leptin, an adipocyte-derived proinflammatory protein, as a mediator in the association between body adiposity (assessed using BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage) and persistent asthma.

Heterochiral Ala/(αMe)Aze sequential oligopeptides: Synthesis and conformational study.

α-Amino acid residues with a ϕ,ψ constrained conformation are known to significantly bias the peptide backbone 3D structure. An intriguing member of this class of compounds is (αMe)Aze, characterized by an N -alkylated four-membered ring and C -methylation. We have already reported that (S)-(αMe)Aze, when followed by (S)-Ala in the homochiral dipeptide sequential motif -(S)-(αMe)Aze-(S)-Ala-, tends to generate the unprecedented γ-bend ribbon conformation, as formation of a regular, fully intramolecularly H-bonded γ-helix is precluded, due to the occurrence of a tertiary amide bond every two residues.

Response to Comment on "The impact of past vaccination coverage and immunity on pertussis resurgence".

We present new evidence that the immunity conferred against pertussis by the DTaP acellular vaccine wanes more slowly than widely believed.

Commentary: resolving pertussis resurgence and vaccine immunity using mathematical transmission models.

The epidemiology of pertussis-a vaccine-preventable respiratory infection typically caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis-remains puzzling. Indeed, the disease seems nowhere close to eradication and has even re-emerged in certain countries-such as the US-that have maintained high vaccination coverage. Because the dynamics of pertussis are shaped by past vaccination and natural infection rates, with the relevant timescale spanning decades, the interpretation of such unexpected trends is not straightforward.

A novel peptide conformation: the γ-bend ribbon.

Unlike the extensively investigated relationship between the peptide β-bend ribbon and its prototypical 310-helix conformation, the corresponding relationship between the narrower γ-bend ribbon and its regular γ-helix counterpart still remains to be studied, as the latter 3D-structures have not yet been experimentally authenticated. In this paper, we describe the results of the first characterization, both in the crystal state and in solution, of the γ-bend ribbon conformation using X-ray diffraction and FT-IR absorption, electronic CD and 2D-NMR spectroscopies applied to an appropriate set of synthetic, homo-chiral, sequential dipeptide oligomers based on (S)-Ala and the known γ-bend inducer, Cα-tetrasubstituted, N-alkylated α-amino acid residue (S)-Cα-methyl-azetidine-carboxylic acid.

Does botulinum toxin treatment improve upper limb active function?

Background: Spasticity following lesions of the central nervous system such as stroke is a major cause of impairment and disability, especially when it affects the upper limb, and can be focally relieved by intramuscular injections of botulinum toxin (BT). Functional improvements of the affected upper limb after a BT focal treatment remain controversial.

Objective: We aimed to assess the functional effects of BT treatment on upper-limb spasticity in the literature, identify flaws and deficiencies in proving these effects and propose leads for future trials.

The impact of past vaccination coverage and immunity on pertussis resurgence.

The resurgence of pertussis over the past decades has resulted in incidence levels not witnessed in the United States since the 1950s. The underlying causes have been the subject of much speculation, with particular attention paid to the shortcomings of the latest generation of vaccines. We formulated transmission models comprising competing hypotheses regarding vaccine failure and challenged them to explain 16 years of highly resolved incidence data from Massachusetts, United States.

Synthesis, characterisation and application of pyridine-modified chitosan derivatives for the first non-racemic Cu-catalysed Henry reaction.

The preparation, characterisation and application of two pyridine-modified chitosan derivatives (C1 and C2) containing Cu(OAc) adsorbed as catalysts for the conversion of benzaldehyde into 2-nitro-1-phenylethanol are described. Quantitative solid-state C multiple-contact cross-polarization, magic-angle-spinning, nuclear magnetic resonance (MC-CP MAS NMR) measurements confirmed the successful grafting of 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde and 6-methylpyridine-2-carboxaldehyde to the chitosan backbone and indicated that 47(±2)% of the NH groups were grafted for both C1 and C2. The use of C1-Cu(OAc) as a catalyst in the nitroaldol reaction led to 96(±1)% conversion and 19(±4)% enantiomeric excess (ee), while the use of C2-Cu(OAc) as a catalyst also promoted the nitroaldol reaction, affording almost quantitatively the expected 2-nitro-1-phenylethanol (98(±1)%) with 14.