Background The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has posed unprecedented pressure and threats to healthcare workers in Wuhan and the entire country. Aims To assess the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on the sleep quality of healthcare workers in a children’s healthcare centre in Wuhan. Methods A cross-sectional, anonymized, self-reported questionnaire survey was conducted at the Children’s Healthcare Centre of Renmin Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. The questionnaire consisted of three parts, including socio-demographic characteristics and COVID-19 epidemic-related factors, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and Zung’s self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS). Results In total, 47 out of 123 (38%) participants with PSQI scores > 7 were identified as having sleep disturbance. A logistic regression analysis showed that sleep disturbance was independently associated with being an only child (adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.40 (1.21–9.57), P < 0.05), exposure to COVID-19 patients (adjusted OR and 95% CI 2.97 (1.08–8.18), P < 0.05) and depression (adjusted OR and 95% CI 2.83 (1.10–7.27), P < 0.05). Conclusions We observed that, during the outbreak of COVID-19, sleep disturbance was highly prevalent among paediatric healthcare workers, and sleep disturbance was independently associated with being an only child, exposure to COVID-19 patients and depression. Therefore, more mental health services are required for front-line paediatric healthcare workers in Wuhan.

It is a desirable and powerful strategy to precisely fabricate functional soft matter through self-assembly of molecular building blocks across a range of length scales. Proteins, nucleic acids, and polyphenols are the self-assemblers ubiquitous in nature. Assembly of proteins into flexible biocolloids, amyloid fibrils with high aspect ratio, has emerged as an unchallenged templating strategy for high-end technological materials and bio-nanotechnologies. We demonstrate the ability of these fibrils to support the deposition and self-assembly of polyphenols into hybrid nanofilaments and functional macroscopic hydrogels made thereof. The length scale of the substance that amyloid fibrils can attach with acting as the building templates was extended from nanometer down to sub-nanometer. Significantly increased loading capacities of polyphenols (up to 4.0 wt %) compared to that of other delivery systems and improved stability were realized. After oral administration, the hydrogels could transport from the stomach to the small intestine and finally to the gut (cecum, colon, rectum), with a long retention time in the colon. Oral administration of the hydrogels significantly ameliorated colitis in a mouse model, promoted intestinal barrier function, suppressed the pro-inflammatory mRNA expression, and very significantly (P < 0.01) regulated gut microbial dysbiosis. Specifically, it reduced the abundance of normally enriched operational taxonomic units related to colitis, especially targeting facultative anaerobes of the phylum Proteobacteria, such as Aestuariispira and Escherichia. The short-chain fatty acid metabolites were enriched. Combined with their nontoxic nature observed in this long-term study in mice, the obtained amyloid–polyphenol gels have high application potentials for gastrointestinal diseases by “drugging the microbiome”.

Butyrate in the gut of animals has potential properties including regulating the innate immune, modulating the lipid metabolism, and protecting gut healthy. So far, only limited information on the impact of butyrate on the neonatal is available. This study aimed to investigate effects of oral administration of sodium butyrate (SB) on gut microbiota and the expression of inflammatory cytokine in neonatal piglets. Ten litters of crossbred newborn piglets were randomly allocated to the SB and control (CO) groups, each group consisted of five litters (replicates). Piglets in the SB group were orally administrated with 7 to 13 ml sodium butyrate solution (150 mmol/l) per day from the age of 1 to 7 days, respectively; piglets in the CO group were treated with the same dose of physiological saline. On days 8 and 21 (of age), gut digesta and tissues were collected for the analysis of microbiota, butyrate concentration and gene expression of inflammatory cytokine. Results showed that there was no difference in the butyrate concentration in the gut of piglets on days 8 and 21 between two groups. Real-time PCR assay showed that SB had no effect on the numbers of total bacteria in the stomach, ileum, and colon. MiSeq sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that SB increased the richness in the stomach and colon, and the diversity of colonic microbiota on day 8 (P < 0.05). Genera Acinetobacter, Actinobacillus, Facklamia, Globicatella, Kocuria, Rothia, unclassified Leptotrichiaceae, unclassified Neisseriaceae, and unclassified Prevotellaceae in the stomach were increased in relative abundance by SB treatment, whereas the abundances of Lactobacillus decreased on day 8 (P < 0.05). At the genus and operational taxonomic unit (OTU) levels, SB had low impact on bacterial community in the ileum and colon on days 8 and 21. SB treatment decreased the expression of IL-6, IL-8, IFN-γ, IL-10, TGF-β, and histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) in the ileum of piglets on day 8 (P < 0.05). SB treatment down-regulated the expression of IL-8, IFN-γ, and IL-1β on day 21 (P < 0.05). Correlation analysis on the combined datasets revealed some potential relationships between gut microbiota and the expression of inflammatory cytokines. The results show that early intervention with sodium butyrate can modulate the ileum inflammatory cytokine in neonatal piglets with low impact on intestinal microbial structure, which suggests oral administration of SB may have a benefit role in the health of neonatal piglets.

No abstract

No abstract