Aim: To describe the physical and psychological symptoms in healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study design. A sample of 1,452 participants was collected. Sociodemographic data were recorded. Symptoms of anxiety were screened with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), symptoms of depression were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and finally physical symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15). Percentages, means and standard deviations, the one-way and two-way ANOVA test, the Chi square test and Pearson's correlation coefficient were all calculated. The level of significance was (p < 0.05). Results: Medium levels of anxiety (range, 5-9) and depression (range, 5-9) were observed, as well as the existence of physical symptoms (5-30). Nursing staff presented higher scores for anxiety than medical staff (Bonferroni test = −1.68; p < 0.001). Significant differences were also found for depression (F = 9.8; p < 0.001). Nursing staff and assistant nursing staff presented higher scores than medical professionals (Post hoc test = −2.11; p < 0.001 and Post hoc test = −1.53; p < 0.001, respectively). Significant differences were found according to gender in all variables referring to emotional distress: anxiety (t student = −6.492; p < 0.001), depression (t student = −4.703; p < 0.001) and physical symptoms (t student = −9.015; p < 0.001). Female healthcare workers displayed anxiety, depression and physical symptoms more frequently than their male counterparts. Analysing gender differences within each professional activity, no significant differences were found using the two-way ANOVA test (F = 1.52; p = 0.109). Anxiety and depression correlated with physical symptoms (rxy = 0.604; p < 0.001) when applying Pearson's correlation coefficient. Conclusions: The study confirms the psychological impact and manifestation of physical symptoms in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak, highlighting the need to monitor symptoms and provide effective psychological intervention to prevent adverse effects on mental health such as post-traumatic stress disorder and burnout.
Understanding hemodynamics in blood circulation is crucial in order to unveil the mechanisms underlying the formation of stenosis and atherosclerosis. In fact, there are experimental evidences pointing out to the existence of some given vessel configurations that are more likely to develop the above mentioned pathologies. Along this manuscript, we performed an exhaustive investigation in a simplified model aiming to characterize by means of physical quantities those regions and configurations in vessel bifurcations that are more likely to develop such pathologies. The two-fold analysis is based, on the one hand, on numerical simulations (via CFD) and, on the other hand, on experiments realized in an ad-hoc designed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel with the appropriate parameters and appropriate fluid flows. The results obtained demonstrate that low velocity regions and low shear stress zones are located in the outer walls of bifurcations. In fact, we found that there is a critical range of bifurcation angles that is more likely to vascular disease than the others in correspondence with some experimental evidence. The effect of the inflow velocity on this critical range is also analyzed.
A study of PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) sol-gel–coated channels fabricated using soft lithography and a laser direct writing technique is presented. PDMS is a biocompatible material that presents a high versatility to reproduce several structures. It is widely employed in the fabrication of preclinical devices due to its advantages but it presents a rapid chemical deterioration to organic solvents. The use of sol-gel layers to cover the PDMS overcomes this problem since it provides the robustness of glass for the structures made with PDMS, decreasing its deterioration and changing the biocompatibility of the surface. In this work, PDMS channels are coated with three different kinds of sol-gel compositions (60MTES/40TEOS, 70MTES/30TISP and 80MTES/20TISP). The endothelial cell adhesion to the different coated devices is evaluated in order to determine the most suitable sol-gel preparation conditions to enhance cellular adhesion.
In this work a method for fabricating functionalized preclinical devices is presented. The manufacturing process combines a laser indirect writing technique to fabricate a soda-lime glass master and soft-lithography methods to obtain the final structure in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The roughness of the device is modified in a controlled manner by applying a post-thermal treatment to the master, and thus devices with different roughness values are created. The PDMS devices are fully covered with human umbilical vein cells in a two-step process. In order to determine the most suitable device to perform bioassays, the cell attachment to the channel is evaluated with regards to the walls roughness when flow experiments are carried out.
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