Survey on knowledge and behaviors related to covid–19 and plague prevention and control in qinghai

Objective To understand the knowledge of COVID-19 and plague prevention and control in Qinghai Province, so as to carry out targeted health education and improve people's ability to prevent and control COVID–19, plague and other publichealth emergencies. Methods Six counties were randomly selected from three cities (states) by two-stage sampling. A self- designed questionnaire was randomly distributed to the public to investigate the awareness and behavior of COVID-19 and plague prevention and control. The Chinese version of Epidate was used for database construction and data entry. After checking and verifying, the data was exported as an Excel file and analyzed by SPSS 21.0 software. Results Accordign to the recovered questionnaires, the passing rate of knowledge of COVID-19 prevention and control was 78.46%, and the average score was (75. 82±16.43). The passing rate of plague prevention and control knowledge was 91.89%, and the average score was (86.46±15.94). The survey area, occupation category, gender and education level affected the knowledge of COVID-19 prevention and control. The average score was statistically significant (P<0.05). The survey area, occupation category, age and education level affected the knowledge of plague prevention and control, and the average score was statistically significant (P<0. 05). Conclusion People in Qinghai have poor knowledge of COVID - 19 prevention and control, but have good knowledge of plague prevention and control. Health education and health promotion activities on COVID - 19 and plague prevention and control should be increased in the future. © 2023, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.

Association of interleukin-6 and CD4+ T cells and two-week prognosis of patients with COVID-19: a predictive role.

OBJECTIVE:  The aim of this study was to determine the association of inflammation and immune responses with the outcomes of patients at various stages, and to develop risk stratification for improving clinical practice and reducing mortality. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We included 77 patients with primary outcomes of either death or survival. Demographics, clinical features, comorbidities, and laboratory tests were compared. Linear, logistic, and Cox regression analyses were performed to determine prognostic factors. RESULTS: The average age was 59 years (35-87 years). There were 12 moderate cases (16.2%), 42 severe cases (54.5%), and 23 critical cases (29.9%); and 41 were male (53.2%). Until March 20, 68 cases were discharged (88.3%), and nine critically ill males (11.7%) died. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels on the 1st day were compared with IL-6 values on the 14th day in the severe and the critically ill surviving patients (F=4.90, p=0.034, ß=0.35, 95% CI: 0.00-0.10), and predicted death in the critically ill patients (p=0.028, ß=0.05, OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01-1.10). CD4+ T-cell counts at admission decreased the hazard ratio of death (p=0.039, ß=-0.01, hazard ratio=0.99, 95% CI: 0.98-1.00, and median survival time 13.5 days). CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated that IL-6 levels and CD4+ T-cell count at admission played key roles of predictors in the prognosis, especially for critically ill patients. High levels of IL-6 and impaired CD4+t cells are seen in severe and critically ill patients with COVID-19.

A scoping review of tools to assess digital literacy among middle-aged and older adults for application to the practice of medical nutrition therapy

With the COVID-19 pandemic there was a swift and necessary adoption of telehealth for medical care, including medical nutrition therapy services. While the pandemic control measures have entered a new phase in Australia, the federal government has pledged to continue some Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) services as virtual consultations. It is important to ensure that service is equitable for all in the community and that the digital divide does not prevent access for disadvantaged groups. Older patients may be particularly at risk, and it is important to assess their ability to understand and accept virtual care. The aim of this scoping review was to identify available tools for assessing digital literacy in middle-aged and older adults and to determine their feasibility for patient use and their applicability to MNT services. The review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute guide for scoping reviews.(1) Five medical databases, reference lists of the identified studies and publications from main authors were searched to source peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2014 to February 2021. Studies for inclusion were those that used or tested a digital literacy tool in participants aged 45 years and above. Quantitative study designs conducted in clinical, community or population settings were considered Studies not meeting these criteria were deemed ineligible. The results were synthesised in tabular form and with a narrative review The generalisability of the included studies was assessed, and the applicability of the identified tools were evaluated using a four point-scale informed by the National Health Medical Research Council guide for developers of guidelines. Searches yielded 866 articles of which 30 studies (31 reports) inclusive of 11,620 participants, were used in the final analysis. Seven tools for assessment of digital literacy were identified, and the electronic health Literacy Scale (eHEALS) and modifications of this tool were most frequently used. Other tools included the Computer Proficiency Questionnaire and variations for mobile and wireless networks. Most studies found low digital health literacy among older adults. The eHEALS was found to be the most applicable for practitioners to use for assessing suitability of virtual care for their patients. This tool is inclusive of eight questions self-administered using a Likert scale (5-point) and covering the domains of traditional literacy, health and scientific literacy, information literacy as well as media and computer literacy. The findings highlight the importance of locating an appropriate digital literacy tool for older adults to better inform telehealth-delivered MNT practice. Future studies should explore effective interventions and educational programs for disadvantaged and under-served populations to help connect them with healthcare services online.

A comprehensive study on the pyrolysis behavior of pine sawdust catalyzed by different metal ions under conventional and microwave heating conditions

The Russia-Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic have made fossil energy more urgent, and the catalytic pyrolysis of biomass is conducive to energy transformation to achieve global sustainable development. In this paper, the influence mechanisms of different metal ions on biomass pyrolysis under conventional heating and microwave heating conditions were studied. Through thermogravimetric analysis, it was found that the existence of metal ions could change the pyrolysis behaviors of biomass, leading to different degrees of changes in the main pyrolysis temperature and range. Compared with conventional heating conditions, metal ion-loaded biomass samples exhibited higher heating rates under microwave heating conditions due to the possible hotspot phenomenon, resulting in increased gas yields and decreased bio-oil yields. Among them, the trivalent iron ion exhibited excellent catalytic properties for gas generation, with a high gas yield of 57.9% and a bio-oil yield of 12.1%. The components in bio-oil were greatly simplified by microwave irradiation, the number of the bio-oil compounds from the pyrolysis of Fe-loading pine sawdust was reduced to 77, and the GC-MS area of light compounds with carbon number less than 10 was increased to 84.4%. Phenol and furan in bio-oil are also catalytically converted into aromatic hydrocarbons, which are ideal chemical raw materials. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Do lung ultrasound abnormalities change during hospitalization for COVID-19?

Background. While point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been used to track disease resolution, temporal trends in lung ultrasound (LUS) findings among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is not well-characterized. Methods. We studied 413 LUS scans in 244 participants >= 18 years of age hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia within 28 days of symptom onset from April, 2020 until September, 2021 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore Maryland. All patients were scanned using a 12-lung zone protocol and repeat scans were obtained in 3 days (N=114), 7 days (N=53), and weekly (N=9) from the initial scan. Participants were followed to determine clinical outcomes until hospital discharge and vital status at 28-days. Ultrasounds were independently reviewed for lung artifacts, and the composite mean LUS score (ranging from 0 to 3) across lung zones was determined. Trends of mean LUS scores and%lung fields with A-lines (indicating proportion of normal lung fields) were plotted by peak severity (mild, moderate, and severe defined by the World Health Organization Ordinal Scale) over time from symptom onset. Differences in mean LUS score or % A-lines changes over time between peak severity levels were evaluated using a Kruskal-Wallis test and linear mixed-effected models with an exchangeable correlation structure. Results. Among 244 patients in our cohort (mean age of 58.2 (SD 15.0) years, and 55.7% female) (Table 1), there was no change in average mean LUS scores between the first two visits by severity groups (Figure 1;Kruskal-Wallis p=0.63). Mean LUS scores were elevated by 0.22 (p< 0.001) in a dose-response manner regardless of duration of illness, but there was no change over time associated with peak severity (p=0.73). Similarly, percentage of A-lines were in 13.9% less lung fields for each increase in peak severity (p< 0.001;Figure 2) regardless of duration of illness. However, a change in mean LUS score did not differ significantly among peak severity levels (p=0.36). Conclusion. Mean LUS scores correlated with clinical severity among hospitalized adults when assessed cross-sectionally, however mean LUS score did not change or differ between peak severity levels over the time course of hospitalization. These results do not support serial LUS scans to monitor disease progression.

[Transmission characteristics and risk factors of household COVID-19 clusters caused by 2019-nCoV Omicron variant in Tianjin].

Objective: To understand the transmission characteristics and risk factors of household COVID-19 clusters caused by 2019-nCoV Omicron variant in Tianjin and provide evidence for COVID-19 prevention and control. Methods: Field epidemiological method was used to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 cases, and descriptive analysis was used to describe the epidemiological information. Results: A total of 430 cases were reported in this epidemic in Tianjin, in which 409 cases were included in this study. Among these cases, 70.90% (290/409) occurred in families. The family secondary attack rate was 33.64% The family secondary attack rate in age group 12-17 years (13.79%) was significantly lower than that in age group 18-49 years (36.48%), the OR was 0.378 (95%CI: 0.170-0.840). The logistic regression analysis showed that compared with centralized quarantine, the OR of the index cases found in closed-off/controlled areas and in home quarantine were 2.951 (95%CI:1.322-6.586) and 2.287 (95%CI:1.164-4.495), respectively, compared with the cases without sore throat, the OR of the index cases with sore throat was 3.003 (95%CI: 1.576-5.720), and compared with cases in families without completed COVID-19 vaccinations in all members, the OR of the cases in families with completed COVID-19 vaccinations in all members was 0.268 (95%CI: 0.132-0.552). Conclusions: The risk of household transmission of infection with Omicron variant was high. Detecting the index case in closed-off/controlled areas or in home quarantine and sore throat in index cases were the risk factors of the household transmission, completed COVID-19 vaccination was the protective factor.

Semi-supervised classification of disease prognosis using CR images with clinical data structured graph

Fast growing global connectivity and urbanisation increases the risk of spreading worldwide disease. The worldwide SARS-COV-2 disease causes healthcare system strained, especially for the intensive care units. Therefore, prognostic of patients' need for intensive care units is priority at the hospital admission stage for efficient resource allocation. In the early hospitalization, patient chest radiography and clinical data are always collected to diagnose. Hence, we proposed a clinical data structured graph Markov neural network embedding with computed radiography exam features (CGMNN) to predict the intensive care units demand for COVID patients. The study utilized 1,342 patients' chest computed radiography with clinical data from a public dataset. The proposed CGMNN outperforms baseline models with an accuracy of 0.82, a sensitivity of 0.82, a precision of 0.81, and an F1 score of 0.76. © 2022 ACM.

Is Zoom viable for sociophonetic research? A comparison of in-person and online recordings for vocalic analysis

In this study, we explore whether Zoom is a viable method for collecting data for sociophonetic research, focusing on vocalic analysis. We investigate whether recordings collected through Zoom yield different acoustic measurements than recordings collected through in-person recording equipment, for the exact same speech. We analyze vowel formant data from 18 speakers who recorded Zoom conversations at the same time as they recorded themselves with portable recording equipment. We find that, overall, Zoom recordings yield lower raw F1 values and higher F2 values than recording equipment. We also tested whether normalization affects discrepancies between recording methods and found that while discrepancies still appear after normalizing with the Watt and Fabricius modified method, Lobanov normalization largely minimizes discrepancies between recording methods. Discrepancies are also mitigated with a Zoom recording setup that involves the speaker wearing headphones and recording with an external microphone.

An analysis of TCM disease syndromes of 36 cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Kunming, China

Objective: To analyze the distribution characteristics of syndrome of TCM of the patients with COVID-19 in Kunming, China. Methods: To classify and summarize the TCM syndrome types of COVID-19 patients via Cluster analysis combining with tongue image, chest CT and clinical expertise of 36 Covid-19 patients in Kunming. Results: In the 36 cases of Kunming region confirmed COVID-19 patients, 17 cases had fever (47.2%), 18 cases had cough (50%), 16 cases felt bitter taste in the mouth (44.4%), 18 cases felt dry throat (50.0%), 17 cases had poor appetite (47.2%), 15 cases had nausea (41.7%);12 cases had diarrhea (33.3%), 15 cases had insomnia (41.7%);12 cases had chest tightness (33.3%);3 cases had dyspnea (8.3%);6 cases had nasal congestion and running nose (16.7%);15 cases had fatigue (41.7%);6 cases had headache and body pain (16.7%);5 cases had red tongue (13.9%);18 cases had pale red tongue (50%);8 cases had tongue with red edge and tip (22.2%);3 cases had dark red tongue (8.3%);2 cases had cyanosis (5.6%);3 cases had swollen tongue (8.3%);18 cases had dentate tongue (50%);4 cases had yellow tongue coating (11.1%);5 cases had yellow sticky tongue coating (13.9%);12 cases had white sticky tongue coating (33.3%);6 cases had thin white tongue coating (16.7%);2 cases had no tongue coating (5.6%). The chest CT results showed that: There were five cases without lesions. The lesions were located in the upper lobe of one lung in 13 cases located in the lower lobe of one lung in seven cases, located in the upper middle lobe in three cases, located in the lower lobe in five cases, and in the upper middle and lower lobes of double lung in 13 cases. There were 14 cases of Shaoyang syndrome, 17 cases of wet Resistance Tir-juao Syndrome. According to the time of onset, the disease was followed by Shaoyang Syndrome (1 day), the Wet blocked tri-jiao Syndrome (3 days), epidemic poison retention lung syndrome and syndrome of flaring heat in qifen and yingfen (5 days), and dampness-toxicity lung-stagnation syndrome (6 days). Conclusion: The TCM syndromes of COVID-19 in Kunming are mainly the Wet Resistance Tri-Jiao Syndrome and Shaoyang syndrome, followed by dampness-toxicity lung-stagnation syndrome, epidemic poison retention lung and syndrome of flaring heat in qifen and yingfen.

SIMULATION AND EVALUATION OF ICU MANAGEMENT POLICIES

The intensive care unit is one of the bottleneck resources in the hospital, due to the fact that the demand grows much faster than the capacity. The pressure on intensive care unit managers to use resources efficiently and effectively increases. Therefore, optimal management policies are required. In this work, we evaluate eleven commonly referred policies from the literature and compare their performance by nine key performance indicators in different perspectives, such as utilization, patient health status, and profit of the hospital. The 30 most frequently occurring patient paths, based on the practical dataset of more than 75,000 patient records from a German teaching hospital, are simulated. According to our results, increasing the capacity and treating the patients in well-equipped intermediate care units performed better in the medical perspective, while the early discharge policy performs well when the capacity is limited. Furthermore, the COVID-19 scenario could be integrated into the model.

A TWO-PATCH MODEL FOR THE COVID-19 TRANSMISSION DYNAMICS IN CHINA

In this paper, we study the COVID-19 epidemic in China and investigate its transmission dynamics. We propose a two-patch model in a spatially heterogeneous setting that incorporates multiple transmission pathways. We focus our attention on the roles of the environmental reservoir and the spatial heterogeneity in shaping the overall epidemic pattern. We conduct a detailed analysis on the global dynamics of the model, and demonstrate the application of our model through the incorporation of realistic data.

Application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the perioperative period of lung transplantation

Objective: To investigate the application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in the perioperative period of lung transplantation, and summarize the experience. Methods: The clinical data of 19 patients receiving lung transplantation operation in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from December 2016 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into groups according to whether ECMO support was used, and their clinical data were compared. Results: Among the 19 patients, there were 5 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 3 cases of bronchiectasis, 4 cases of pneumoconiosis, 4 cases of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, 1 case of connective tissue disease interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, 1 case of Kartagener syndrome, and 1 case of COVID-19 with advanced pulmonary fibrosis. Among the 10 patients in the non-ECMO group, 1 died during the operation, 1 died after abandoning treatment, and 1 was discharged after abandoning treatment. There were 9 patients in the ECMO group, 2 patients received ECMO bridged treatment before surgery, and the remaining 7 patients received ECMO adjuvant treatment after anesthesia. In the ECMO group, 1 patient died, 1 patient was discharged after abandoning treatment, and the rest patients were all improved and discharged after successful weaning of ECMO. The two groups only differed in the way of preoperative respiratory support (P=0.033). There were no significant differences in gender, age, preoperative assessment, surgical process, length of hospital stay, ICU stay, postoperative multi-drug resistant organism infection, and outcome. Conclusion: ECMO is an important auxiliary tool during the perioperative period of lung transplantation. The use of ECMO did not increase the risk of postoperative infection with multidrug-resistant bacteria, nor did it lead to an increase in mortality. In the other hand, the choice of preoperative respiratory support method has reference for perioperative patients whether to use ECMO. © 2021, Editorial Board of Medical Journal of Wuhan University. All right reserved.

Development and Application of A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Online Teaching in the Epidemic Period" Based on the Object-Content Develop (OCD) Model

Large-scaleonline teaching has been widely adopted at various levels of education due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It is important for teachers to improve their online teaching pedagogies and competences. Based on the iterative learning and curriculum design theories, in this study, we build the Object-Content-Develop (OCD) online course development model. The model focuses on analyzing teaching problems of teachers' online performances during the pandemic, formulating emergent course objectives, selecting precise curriculum content, and employing a "short, flat, and fast" method. We also develop a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) named the Online Teaching in the Epidemic Period (OTEP) following the OCD model. The course has been implemented on two online platforms, i.e., the iCourse (Chinese University Massive Open Online Course) and the MOOC,Alliance of the Colleges and Universities in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA-MOOC). More than 5,000 teachers, from higher education, vocational education, and K12, took this course. Results indicate that this OCD-model-based online course effectively enhances these teachers' online teaching theories and practice. This research timely contributes to the online teaching professional development during the pandemic.

Construction and Application of Database Micro-course Knowledge Graph Based on Neo4j

Due to the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, Micro-lecture, as an important learning resource, can provide important support for enriching online teaching content and form under the realistic background of "keeping students learning during schools disruption". However, there are many problems in the construction of micro-lectures, such as the lack of systematicness and organization due to the multiplicity of knowledge points. Based on the database course, this paper builds the knowledge graph of database micro-lectures based on Neo4j, develops the knowledge graph system of the course to visualize the knowledge vividly, and designs different system functions according to different roles. The system not only supports students' online learning, but also provides knowledge graph management functions for teachers, which greatly meets users' needs. © 2021 ACM.

Analysis of U.S. Game Industry Based on Fama-French Model under COVID-19

A large number of researchers have contributed much to asset pricing theory and continuously try to find the best model to capture stock average return. This paper aims to test the performances of Fama-French 3 factors and Fama-French 5 factors models on game industry in U.S market before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 and explore the possible reasons. The results show that both models demonstrate better performances in game industry after the beginning of epidemic than before and five-factor model could explain a little more. Market risk (MKT) and Small minus Big (SMB) always show significance in both models and the power in explanation becomes stronger in post-COVID-19 data. Influenced by the COVID-19, High minus Low (HML) begins to play a positive role. For five-factor model, Robust Minus Weak (RMW) and Conservative Minus Aggressive (CMA) exchange their position. After the outbreak, CMA factor's significance emerges with a negative power to the average return while a previous significant factor RMW becomes redundant. The study suggests 5-factor model and 3-factor model both are more suitable for U.S. game industry in post-COVID-19 time and the five-factor one slightly outperforms the 3-factor model even though factor RMW is redundant. © 2020 IEEE.

Antiviral and Anti-Inflammatory Treatment with Multifunctional Alveolar Macrophage-Like Nanoparticles in a Surrogate Mouse Model of COVID-19

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is continually worsening. Clinical treatment for COVID-19 remains primarily supportive with no specific medicines or regimens. Here, the development of multifunctional alveolar macrophage (AM)-like nanoparticles (NPs) with photothermal inactivation capability for COVID-19 treatment is reported. The NPs, made by wrapping polymeric cores with AM membranes, display the same surface receptors as AMs, including the coronavirus receptor and multiple cytokine receptors. By acting as AM decoys, the NPs block coronavirus from host cell entry and absorb various proinflammatory cytokines, thus achieving combined antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatment. To enhance the antiviral efficiency, an efficient photothermal material based on aggregation-induced emission luminogens is doped into the NPs for virus photothermal disruption under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. In a surrogate mouse model of COVID-19 caused by murine coronavirus, treatment with multifunctional AM-like NPs with NIR irradiation decreases virus burden and cytokine levels, reduces lung damage and inflammation, and confers a significant survival advantage to the infected mice. Crucially, this therapeutic strategy may be clinically applied for the treatment of COVID-19 at early stage through atomization inhalation of the NPs followed by NIR irradiation of the respiratory tract, thus alleviating infection progression and reducing transmission risk.

Traditional Chinese Medicine guidelines for coronavirus disease 2019

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the evidence from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and provide timely clinical practice guidance. METHODS: The guidelines were developed in accordance with the World Health Organization rapid guideline process. The evidence on TCM for COVID-19 from published guidelines, direct and indirect published clinical evidence, first hand clinical data, and expert experience and consensus were collected. The grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluation (GRADE) method was used to grade the evidence and make the recommendations. RESULTS: Based on the available evidence, the guidelines recommended 17 Chinese medicines for COVID-19: 2 Chinese herbal granules, 7 Chinese patent medicines, and 8 Chinese herbal injections. CONCLUSION: As the literature search was conducted on March, any subsequent versions of these guidelines require an up-to-date literature review. We hope that the evidence summary in these guidelines will be helpful in global efforts to address COVID-19. (C) 2020 JTCM. All rights reserved.

[Epidemiological characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Tianjin].

Objective: To investigate the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 135 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tianjin. Methods: The clinical and epidemiological data of 135 cases of COVID-19 in Tianjin were collected, and the data were analyzed with descriptive method. The factors influencing the severity of the illness were analyzed. Results: Among the 135 COVID-19 cases, 72 were males and 63 were females, the age of the cases was (48.62±16.83) years, and the case fatality rate was 2.22%. Local transmission caused 74.81% of the cases. A total of 33 clusters occurred, involving 85.92% of all COVID-19 cases. The median of the incubation period of COVID-19 was 6.50 days, the average generation interval was 5 days, and the household secondary transmission rate was 20.46%. Fever was the main symptom (78.63%), followed by cough (56.48%). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that age (OR=1.038, 95%CI: 1.010-1.167) and the number of chronic underlying diseases (OR=1.709, 95%CI: 1.052-2.777) were the risk factors of severe illness. Conclusions: Fever was the main symptom at the early phase of COVID-19 in Tianjin, and the local cluster cases accounted for high proportion in confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Tianjin. Severe illness was prone to occur in people with old age and multi underlying diseases. Strict isolation of close contacts and intensive care of high-risk groups are the main measures to reduce the morbidity and case fatality of COVID-19.