An analytical method for the accurate determination of essential fatty acids in cereals and green vegetables is established based on isotope dilution-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (ID-GC/MS). In this approach, 13 Clabeled fatty acids were added as internal standards to the samples prior to the sample preparation. Repeatability and reproducibility for the analyses of the essential fatty acids extracted from homogenized cereals and green vegetables were examined to validate the ID-GC/MS method. The repeatability and reproducibility were within 2% relative standard deviation. The developed method provides higher-order measurement results with the relative expanded uncertainties of 1-2% and 2-4% for cereals and green vegetables, respectively. Based on the fatty acid measurements, the developed ID-GC/MS method can be used as a candidate reference method for the quantitation of essential fatty acids in cereals and green vegetables. The developed method was also applied to analyze several commercially available products including cereal and vegetable powders.
Background: We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the degree of depression among hyperhidrosis patients and their quality of life. Methods: 222 patients were contacted through an online questionnaire. Patients reported quality of life (QoL), including treatment and changes in symptoms during the pandemic, and also responded to the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to evaluate the severity of depression. Those were compared with the result from the general population. Spearman correlation and multiple linear regression were performed to identify the factors related to the PHQ-9 score. Results: Half of the patients were female. The mean PHQ-9 score (5.25) of hyperhidrosis patients was higher than the general population, and female patients displayed significantly higher PHQ-9 scores than males (p = 0.002). QoL was impaired more in females. About 10% of patients experienced worsening symptoms, and 30% had difficulties getting appropriate management. Significant negative correlations were found between the PHQ-9 and age or disease duration. Predictive factors for the PHQ-9 were female (p = 0.006) and facial hyperhidrosis (p = 0.024). Conclusions: The level of depression among hyperhidrosis patients was higher than the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic; female and facial hyperhidrosis patients need much more psychiatric attention. Though hyperhidrosis is classified as benign and often neglected by clinicians, we need to give more awareness to the mental burden imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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