A single center experience in prevention and control of infection risk related to liver transplantation during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Objective: To investigate the clinical evaluation effects of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) risk assessment scale on preoperative and surgical risk of liver transplantation during the COVID-19 outbreak. Method(s): The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 6 liver transplant recipients who were admitted to Southern Theater Command General Hospital of PLA between January 20 and March 27, 2020 were collected. There were 5 males and 1 female, aged from 42.0 to 62.0 years, with a median age of 53.0 years. There were 6 donors including 5 males and 1 female, aged from 24.0 to 60.0 years, with a median age of 41.5 years. All the donor livers were obtained through the China Organ Transplant Response System. Liver transplantation was performed in the fixed negative pressure operating room, and secondary protective measures were adopted for low-risk donors. Classic orthotopic liver transplantation or Piggyback liver transplantation was performed according to the specific situations of the recipients. Medical staffs in the ward were exposed to the secondary protective measures, and the three-grade protective measures were adopted for medical staffs when the liver transplant recipients had fever or suspected infection. Observation indicators: (1) risk assessment of COVID-19 on liver transplant recipients;(2) risk assessment of COVID-19 on medical staffs of liver transplantation;(3) treatment situations of liver transplant recipients;(4) postoperative situations of liver transplant recipients;(5) follow-up of liver transplant recipients;(6) infection of medical staffs of liver transplantation. Follow-up was performed using outpatient examination or telephone interview to detect whether liver transplant recipients had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection up to March 2020. Medical staffs who were involved in organ acquisition, transplantation surgery and ward management were followed up to detect whether they had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection within 14 days. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean+/-SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were described as M (range). Count data were expressed as absolute numbers. Result(s): (1) Risk assessment of COVID-19 on liver transplant recipients: all the 6 recipients and their related families were confirmed no contact with suspected COVID-19 patients or travel history in the epidemic area within 14 days. Of the 6 recipients, 1 was diagnosed with fever with body temperature of 38.1 and was tested negative for chest computer tomography (CT) examination and nucleic acid test for COVID-19;1 was diagnosed with fever and hypoxemia with body temperature of 38.5 and was tested negative for nucleic acid test for COVID-19, and the results of chest CT examination showed large amount of pleural effusion in both lungs without invasive pneumonia;other 4 recipients had no clinical symptoms of COVID-19 with negative results of chest CT examination and nucleic acid test for COVID-19. Five of the 6 recipients had no history of contact with COVID-19 patients and 1 recipient had treatment history at hospital of risk level 1. The preoperative risk level of COVID-19 was low in all the 6 liver transplant recipients. (2) Risk assessment of COVID-19 on medical staffs of liver transplantation: of the 6 recipients, 5 had the waiting hospital of risk level 0 and 1 had the waiting hospital of risk level 1. Six recipients had the transplant hospital of risk level 0. (3) Treatment situations of liver transplant recipients: of the 6 recipients, 2 underwent classic orthotopic liver transplantation and 4 underwent piggyback liver transplantation. The cold ischemia time of liver, time of anhepatic phase, volume of intraoperative blood loss, operation time, treatment time at intensive care unit of the 6 recipients were (5.9+/-2.4)hours, (49+/-14)minutes, 1 500 mL(range, 800-1 800 mL), (8.9+/-2.1)hours, 2 days(range, 1-4 days), respectively. Of the 6 recipients, 2 required adjustment of the immunosuppression progr m, and 4 did not change the immunosuppression program. (4) Postoperative situations of liver transplant recipients: of the 6 recipients, 5 had no postoperative serious infection and 1 had postoperative serious infection. The 5 recipients without postoperative serious infection had the range of the highest temperature as 37.8-38.5 , and returned to normal temperature within postoperative 3 days. All of the 5 recipients who had no postoperative serious infection received chest CT examination with no obvious manifestation of viral pneumonia and were tested negative for nucleic acid test for COVID-19 at 1 week postoperatively, and then were discharged from hospital. One recipient who had postoperative serious infection had gastrointestinal fistula and repeated fever at postoperative 7 days with the highest temperature as 39.2 . This recipient had body temperature returned to normal and good function of the graft after treatment in the isolation ward with active drainage, and was transferred back to local hospital for further rehabilitation treatment. The duration of hospital stay of the 6 recipients were 30 days(range, 15-74 days). (5) Follow-up of liver transplant recipients: all the 6 recipients were followed up for 31.5 days(range, 12.0-64.0 days) with the normal body temperature, and they had negative results of viral pneumonia for chest CT examination and nucleic acid test for COVID-19. (6) Infection of medical staffs of liver transplantation: surgeons, nurses, anesthetists, medical staffs at ICU and medical staffs at liver transplantation center who participated in liver transplantation had good health within postoperative 14 days, without suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 risk assessment scale has good safety for liver transplant recipients during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is suggested that organ transplantation can be carried out in low-risk recipients and cautiously carried out in recipients of uncertain risk, but organ transplantation should not be carried out in high-risk recipients.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

A single center experience in prevention and control of infection risk related to liver transplantation during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Objective: To investigate the clinical evaluation effects of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) risk assessment scale on preoperative and surgical risk of liver transplantation during the COVID-19 outbreak. Method(s): The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 6 liver transplant recipients who were admitted to Southern Theater Command General Hospital of PLA between January 20 and March 27, 2020 were collected. There were 5 males and 1 female, aged from 42.0 to 62.0 years, with a median age of 53.0 years. There were 6 donors including 5 males and 1 female, aged from 24.0 to 60.0 years, with a median age of 41.5 years. All the donor livers were obtained through the China Organ Transplant Response System. Liver transplantation was performed in the fixed negative pressure operating room, and secondary protective measures were adopted for low-risk donors. Classic orthotopic liver transplantation or Piggyback liver transplantation was performed according to the specific situations of the recipients. Medical staffs in the ward were exposed to the secondary protective measures, and the three-grade protective measures were adopted for medical staffs when the liver transplant recipients had fever or suspected infection. Observation indicators: (1) risk assessment of COVID-19 on liver transplant recipients;(2) risk assessment of COVID-19 on medical staffs of liver transplantation;(3) treatment situations of liver transplant recipients;(4) postoperative situations of liver transplant recipients;(5) follow-up of liver transplant recipients;(6) infection of medical staffs of liver transplantation. Follow-up was performed using outpatient examination or telephone interview to detect whether liver transplant recipients had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection up to March 2020. Medical staffs who were involved in organ acquisition, transplantation surgery and ward management were followed up to detect whether they had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection within 14 days. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean+/-SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were described as M (range). Count data were expressed as absolute numbers. Result(s): (1) Risk assessment of COVID-19 on liver transplant recipients: all the 6 recipients and their related families were confirmed no contact with suspected COVID-19 patients or travel history in the epidemic area within 14 days. Of the 6 recipients, 1 was diagnosed with fever with body temperature of 38.1 and was tested negative for chest computer tomography (CT) examination and nucleic acid test for COVID-19;1 was diagnosed with fever and hypoxemia with body temperature of 38.5 and was tested negative for nucleic acid test for COVID-19, and the results of chest CT examination showed large amount of pleural effusion in both lungs without invasive pneumonia;other 4 recipients had no clinical symptoms of COVID-19 with negative results of chest CT examination and nucleic acid test for COVID-19. Five of the 6 recipients had no history of contact with COVID-19 patients and 1 recipient had treatment history at hospital of risk level 1. The preoperative risk level of COVID-19 was low in all the 6 liver transplant recipients. (2) Risk assessment of COVID-19 on medical staffs of liver transplantation: of the 6 recipients, 5 had the waiting hospital of risk level 0 and 1 had the waiting hospital of risk level 1. Six recipients had the transplant hospital of risk level 0. (3) Treatment situations of liver transplant recipients: of the 6 recipients, 2 underwent classic orthotopic liver transplantation and 4 underwent piggyback liver transplantation. The cold ischemia time of liver, time of anhepatic phase, volume of intraoperative blood loss, operation time, treatment time at intensive care unit of the 6 recipients were (5.9+/-2.4)hours, (49+/-14)minutes, 1 500 mL(range, 800-1 800 mL), (8.9+/-2.1)hours, 2 days(range, 1-4 days), respectively. Of the 6 recipients, 2 required adjustment of the immunosuppression progr m, and 4 did not change the immunosuppression program. (4) Postoperative situations of liver transplant recipients: of the 6 recipients, 5 had no postoperative serious infection and 1 had postoperative serious infection. The 5 recipients without postoperative serious infection had the range of the highest temperature as 37.8-38.5 , and returned to normal temperature within postoperative 3 days. All of the 5 recipients who had no postoperative serious infection received chest CT examination with no obvious manifestation of viral pneumonia and were tested negative for nucleic acid test for COVID-19 at 1 week postoperatively, and then were discharged from hospital. One recipient who had postoperative serious infection had gastrointestinal fistula and repeated fever at postoperative 7 days with the highest temperature as 39.2 . This recipient had body temperature returned to normal and good function of the graft after treatment in the isolation ward with active drainage, and was transferred back to local hospital for further rehabilitation treatment. The duration of hospital stay of the 6 recipients were 30 days(range, 15-74 days). (5) Follow-up of liver transplant recipients: all the 6 recipients were followed up for 31.5 days(range, 12.0-64.0 days) with the normal body temperature, and they had negative results of viral pneumonia for chest CT examination and nucleic acid test for COVID-19. (6) Infection of medical staffs of liver transplantation: surgeons, nurses, anesthetists, medical staffs at ICU and medical staffs at liver transplantation center who participated in liver transplantation had good health within postoperative 14 days, without suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 risk assessment scale has good safety for liver transplant recipients during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is suggested that organ transplantation can be carried out in low-risk recipients and cautiously carried out in recipients of uncertain risk, but organ transplantation should not be carried out in high-risk recipients.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

Treatment Effects of Integrated TCM and Western Medicine Treatment Scheme on COVID-19: A Single-armed Clinical Trial

Backgroud: The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought unprecedented perils to human health and raised public health concerns in more than two hundred countries. Safe and effective treatment scheme is needed urgently. Objective(s): To evaluate the effects of integratedTCM and western medicine treatment scheme on COVID-19. Method(s): A single-armed clinical trial was carried out in Hangzhou Xixi Hospital, an affiliated hospital with Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. 102 confirmed cases were screened out from 725 suspected cases and 93 of them were treated with integrated TCM and western medicine treatment scheme. Result(s): 83 cases were cured, 5 cases deteriorated, and 5 cases withdrew from the study. No deaths were reported. The mean relief time of fever, cough, diarrhea, and fatigue were (4.78 +/- 4.61) days, (7.22 +/- 4.99) days, (5.28 +/- 3.39) days, and (5.28 +/- 3.39) days, respectively. It took (14.84 +/- 5.50) days for SARS-CoV-2 by nucleic acid amplification-based testing to turn negative. Multivariable cox regression analysis revealed that age, BMI, PISCT, BPC, AST, CK, BS, and UPRO were independent risk factors for COVID-19 treatment. Conclusion(s): Our study suggested that integrated TCM and western medicine treatment scheme was effective for COVID-19.Copyright © 2021

A Meta-analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on Stroke Mortality

Background The COVID-19 pandemic seriously affects human health and life. COVID-19 has been reportedly associated with a high risk of thrombotic events, which are closely associated with stroke. Objective To assess the effect and possible mechanism of COVID-19 on stroke morbidity, providing a reliable theoretical basis for scientific prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in stroke. Methods We searched databases of Web of Science, PubMed, EmBase, Cochrane Library, CNKI and Wanfang Data for cohort studies and case-control studies related to COVID-19 and stroke published from December 2019 to January 2022. Two researchers conducted literature screening and data extraction separately. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of included studies. Meta-analysis was used to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on stroke mortality. Funnel plot was used to evaluate the potential publication bias. Results A total of 18 studies were included, 12 of them were of good quality, and other 6 were of fair quality. Meta-analysis showed that stroke patients with COVID-19 had higher mortality 〔RR=4.16, 95%CI(2.82, 6.13), P<0.000 01〕, prolonged prothrombin time (PT) 〔MD=0.78, 95%CI (0.35, 1.20), P=0.000 3〕, higher D-dimer level 〔MD=1.34, 95%CI(0.83, 1.84), P<0.000 01〕 and higher NIHSS score 〔MD=6.66, 95%CI (4.54, 8.79), P<0.000 01〕, as well as younger age 〔MD=-2.04, 95%CI(-3.48, -0.61), P=0.005〕 than those without COVID-19. There was no statistically significant difference in activated partial thromboplastin time between stroke patients with and without COVID-19 〔MD=2.51, 95%CI(-2.69, 7.71), P=0.34〕. Funnel plot assessing potential publication bias in the impact of COVID-19 on stroke mortality was basically symmetrical. Conclusion COVID-19 could increase the risk of stroke mortality, which may be related to alterations in the coagulation system manifested by abnormal PT and D-dimer level and so on. And the outcomes of stroke patients with COVID-19 were associated with age and NIHSS score at admission. © 2023 Chinese General Practice. All rights reserved.

Vaccination with Span, an antigen guided by SARS-CoV-2 S protein evolution, protects against challenge with viral variants in mice

SARS-CoV-2 continues to accumulate mutations to evade immunity, leading to breakthrough infections after vaccination. How researchers can anticipate the evolutionary trajectory of the virus in advance in the design of next-generation vaccines requires investigation. Here, we performed a comprehensive study of 11,650,487 SARS-CoV-2 sequences, which revealed that the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein evolved not randomly but into directional paths of either high infectivity plus low immune resistance or low infectivity plus high immune resistance. The viral infectivity and immune resistance of variants are generally incompatible, except for limited variants such as Beta and Kappa. The Omicron variant has the highest immune resistance but showed high infectivity in only one of the tested cell lines. To provide cross-clade immunity against variants that undergo diverse evolutionary pathways, we designed a new pan-vaccine antigen (Span). Span was designed by analyzing the homology of 2675 SARS-CoV-2 S protein sequences from the NCBI database before the Delta variant emerged. The refined Span protein harbors high-frequency residues at given positions that reflect cross-clade generality in sequence evolution. Compared with a prototype wild-type (Swt) vaccine, which, when administered to mice, induced serum with decreased neutralization activity against emerging variants, Span vaccination of mice elicited broad immunity to a wide range of variants, including those that emerged after our design. Moreover, vaccinating mice with a heterologous Span booster conferred complete protection against lethal infection with the Omicron variant. Our results highlight the importance and feasibility of a universal vaccine to fight against SARS-CoV-2 antigenic drift.

A Meta-analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on Stroke Mortality

Background The COVID-19 pandemic seriously affects human health and life. COVID-19 has been reportedly associated with a high risk of thrombotic events, which are closely associated with stroke. Objective To assess the effect and possible mechanism of COVID-19 on stroke morbidity, providing a reliable theoretical basis for scientific prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in stroke. Methods We searched databases of Web of Science, PubMed, EmBase, Cochrane Library, CNKI and Wanfang Data for cohort studies and case-control studies related to COVID-19 and stroke published from December 2019 to January 2022. Two researchers conducted literature screening and data extraction separately. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of included studies. Meta-analysis was used to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on stroke mortality. Funnel plot was used to evaluate the potential publication bias. Results A total of 18 studies were included, 12 of them were of good quality, and other 6 were of fair quality. Meta-analysis showed that stroke patients with COVID-19 had higher mortality 〔RR=4.16, 95%CI(2.82, 6.13), P<0.000 01〕, prolonged prothrombin time (PT) 〔MD=0.78, 95%CI (0.35, 1.20), P=0.000 3〕, higher D-dimer level 〔MD=1.34, 95%CI(0.83, 1.84), P<0.000 01〕 and higher NIHSS score 〔MD=6.66, 95%CI (4.54, 8.79), P<0.000 01〕, as well as younger age 〔MD=-2.04, 95%CI(-3.48, -0.61), P=0.005〕 than those without COVID-19. There was no statistically significant difference in activated partial thromboplastin time between stroke patients with and without COVID-19 〔MD=2.51, 95%CI(-2.69, 7.71), P=0.34〕. Funnel plot assessing potential publication bias in the impact of COVID-19 on stroke mortality was basically symmetrical. Conclusion COVID-19 could increase the risk of stroke mortality, which may be related to alterations in the coagulation system manifested by abnormal PT and D-dimer level and so on. And the outcomes of stroke patients with COVID-19 were associated with age and NIHSS score at admission. © 2023 Chinese General Practice. All rights reserved.

Study on the Scavenging Effect of Steady-state Displacement Air Purification System on Indoor Bioaerosol

Many types of microorganisms, including SARS-CoV-2, can spread through aerosols. Indoor medical environments are abundant in bioaerosols, which can cause infections among medical staff members and patients in hospitals. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, using a steadystate displacement air purification system may reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other microorganisms. In this study, we analyzed the purification effect of the steady-state displacement air purification system on bioaerosols in the bronchoscopy room of the hospital. In particular, bioaerosols were collected from the bronchoscopy room at different periods from April to May 2021. Among them, the microorganisms contained in the bioaerosol were identified using nextgeneration sequencing (NGS) and culture and strain identification. During the experiment, we took 5 sampling points to collect the bioaerosols. The total purification efficiency was 88.0% (NGS) and 87.5% (microbial culture count and identification). The results were significantly different between the purified and unpurified groups. In an occupant environment in the bronchoscopy room, the steady-state displacement air purification system exerted a favorable removal effect on the bioaerosols. Such purification efficiency may help prevent the in-hospital spread of COVID-19 and various infectious diseases.

Post-pandemic era: promoting regular epidemic prevention and control in radiology department

Objectives: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is still recurring so far. Considering that a great number of patients do examination in the same room and thus are exposed to high risks of cross infection, we should promote the epidemic prevention in the radiology department to prevent cross infection and another outbreak. Therefore, this article aims to share the experience and protocols of the radiology department of our hospital so as to help more hospitals and their radiology medical staff in epidemic prevention. Methods: We firstly collected three major epidemic prevention policies formulated by the radiology department since the outbreak, and then drew the schematic diagrams of patients' treatment routes under each measure, including the infection control team, the reconfiguration of the radiology department and the Examination procedures for patients with COVID-19. After three stages, we finally provide a specific machine for patients with COVID-19 to examine. Results: From January 18, 2020, our hospital has received 113 patients with COVID-19, among which 112 patients were discharged and 1 were dead. The total number of outpatients with fever-CT examinations was 2870, that of inpatients were 477. The number of DR exposures was 87, that of US examinations were 207, and that of MRI examinations was 148. No medical workers in the radiology department were diagnosed with COVID-19. Conclusions: Imaging examination has been an indispensable diagnostic method for COVID-19 since the outbreak. As the global epidemic situation is still unstable at present, radiology departments need to constantly improve the corresponding epidemic prevention and control measures, and formulate effective inspection plans for the patients with COVID-19, which can help patients and staff protect themselves against a high risk of COVID-19.

Primary analysis of MUKDEN 01: A multicenter, single-arm, prospective, phase 2 study of neoadjuvant treatment with pyrotinib and letrozole plus dalpiciclib in triplepositive breast cancer

Background: Despite the use of multiple lines of targeted therapy has revolutionized treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer, these methods still have limited efficacy for triple-positive breast cancer (TPBC), which calls for persistent exploration for optimized treatment strategy. This MUKDEN-01 prospective trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy of oral, chemo-sparing neoadjuvant therapy with pyrotinib, letrozole and dalpiciclib, which also meet the need for treatment convenience under COVID-19 pandemic, for patients with TPBC. Methods: The MUKDEN 01 was an investigator-initiated, multicentre, single arm, prospective phase II trial, which was performed at twelve hospitals in China( NCT04486911). Treatment-naïve patients with stage II-III tumors that according to the AJCC 8th edition criteria were eligible. Patients were treated with each cycle of 4 weeks with oral administration of pyrotinib 320 mg, and letrozole 2.5mg once daily for 4 weeks, and dalpiciclib 125 mg once daily for three weeks, followed by one week off, for five cycles. The primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) in the breast and axilla (ypT0/is ypN0). Secondary endpoints included pCR in the breast (ypT0/is). residual cancer burden (RCB) score, Ki67 index change at surgery compared with baseline, and safety. Safety was analyzed in all patients, who received treatment. The study is still ongoing, and the enrollment has been completed. Results: Between June 20, 2020 and Sep. 6, 2021, 68 patients were screened for eligibility and 61 patients were recruited into this first stage of study. After surgery, 18 (29.5%, 95% CI 18.5-42.6) out of 61 patients achieving tpCR(ypT0/is ypN0), 21 (34.4%, 95% CI 22.7-47.7) patients achieved bpCR(ypT0/is). The patients with excellent pathologic response (RCB 0-1) to the combined therapy accounted for 54.1% (33/61, 95% CI 40.9-66.9). Mean Ki67 expression was reduced from 38.7% (95%CI: 31.3-46.0) at baseline to 19.3% (95% CI:13.6- 25.0;p=0.0001) in the surgical samples. The most frequent grade 3 AE were neutropenia (35 [57%]), leukopenia (13 [21%]), diarrhea (9 [15%]) and oral mucositis (4 [7%]). There were five grade 4 neutropenia (8%) and one grade 4 increased AST (2%), but without other SAE and death throughout the study. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant therapy with pyrotinib, letrozole and dalpiciclib yielded a pCR rate comparable to standard chemotherapy plus dual HER2 blockade in TPBC patients. The combined therapy was also well-tolerated and provided a chemo-sparing neoadjuvant approach for TPBC patients. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a chemo-free neoadjuvant treatment with HER2 TKI pyrotinib and letrozole plus CDK4/6 inhibitor dalpiciclib for TPBC patients. Further validation in a large-scale randomized controlled trial is warranted.

Development of a digital tool for home-based monitoring of skin disease for older adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine. However, current tools pose substantial barriers for older adults and those with low digital literacy. By implementing user-centered design, we developed a digital tool, Dermatology for Older Adults (DORA), for home-based monitoring of skin disease, specifically designed for older adults. DORA is a virtual assistant based on REDCap and Twilio APIs that automates image and symptom collection and allows communication between patients and the research team. We evaluated the feasibility, usability, patient compliance, retention, and clinical utility of DORA. Eligibility criteria included patients >70 years with any skin disease, access to a smartphone, and no cognitive impairment. We recruited 62 patients aged 70-94 (mean age 77), 39% female, 81% white from Stanford’s Dermatology Clinic from August-December 2021. We asked patients to send weekly photos and answer a questionnaire of a single skin lesion for 4 weeks, then monthly for 4 months. We measured response time, photo quality, and participant satisfaction using mHealth app usability questionnaire (MAUQ). The median response time was 1.4 days (IQR 0.6-3.4). Four participants dropped out. 83% completed photo submission requests (48% at initial request, 19% after 1st reminder and 16% after 2nd reminder). 80% of all questionnaires requested (131 of 163) were completed. Four dermatology clinicians evaluated the quality of the first 88 images and reported good confidence in triaging skin diseases. MAUQ scores were high for ease of use (5.6 SD1.3), interface satisfaction (5.5 SD1.3), and usefulness (5.2 SD1.3). Patients were consistently able to use DORA to submit photos and symptoms and reported high usability and satisfaction. Patient retention was high, and clinicians felt confident making triage recommendations based on DORA images. This approach can be used in other settings where digital literacy barriers and unequal access to dermatologists contribute to healthcare disparities.

Progress in Understanding the Health Promoting Effect of Egg Yolk Immunoglobulin

As an important immuneoactive component in eggs, yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) shows great competitiveness in research and production due to its good stability, high safety, low cost, easy availability, strong immune activity, and no drug resistance. This article highlights the significant advantages of IgY as a good antibiotic substitute in the prevention and treatment of viral and bacterial diseases. Also, IgY has great potential in the regulation of nutrient metabolism balance, intestinal microflora and immune homeostasis by affecting key rate-limiting enzymes, and relevant receptors and inflammatory factors specifically. Proper diet and targeted delivery of foodborne IgY may be a new perspective on inflammation regulation, disease control, nutritional balance or homeostasis, and oral microencapsulated IgY is expected to be a new approach against increasing public health emergencies (such as COVID-19 pandemic). © 2022, China Food Publishing Company. All right reserved.

Proposed protocol for the investigation of the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine for patients with psychosis, with pilot safety findings from a Chinese psychiatrist's self-experiment

We present a study protocol designed to test the safety and efficacy of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in patients with major psychotic disease. A secondary objective is to investigate optional vaccination methods for these patients. In a self-experiment, a Chinese psychiatrist examined the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine under clinical use of typical antipsychotic agents and sedatives (olanzapine, duloxetine, and diazepam). For patients with extremely drug-resistant conditions, the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine under electroconvulsive therapy was also investigated. The entire study process was recorded on high-definition video. This clinical study protocol is, to our knowledge, the first of its kind. Our findings will shed new light on the protection of patients with psychotic diseases from COVID-19 infection.

Exploring Public Sentiment During COVID-19: A Cross Country Analysis

COVID-19 has spread all over the world, accounting for countless death and enormous economic loss. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, governments from different countries have made various policies to prevent the pandemic from becoming worse. However, civilian reactions to the pandemic vary when they face similar situations. This behavioral variation creates a challenge when it comes to policy-making. Such differences are generally implicit, hidden in ones' social lives. As a result, it is challenging to analyze such differences when the governments make policies. In this work, we investigate social media posts on Twitter and Weibo in order to effectively explore the difference in reactions across various countries, with the aim to understand national differences. To this end, we employ natural language processing (NLP) methods and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tools to process six languages in different countries, including the USA, Germany, France, Italy, the U.K., and China. We provide a comprehensive analysis of public reaction differences from the emotional perspective. Our findings verify that the reactions vary noticeably among various countries for some policies. Therefore, sentiment analysis can significantly influence policy-making. Our work sheds light on the mechanism of detecting the reaction differences in various countries, which can be utilized to conduct effective communication and make appropriate policy decisions.

Potential Antiviral Target for SARS-CoV-2: A Key Early Responsive Kinase during Viral Entry

Currently, there is no effective antiviral medication for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the knowledge on the potential therapeutic target is in great need. Guided by a time-course transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging, we analyzed early phosphorylation dynamics within the first 15 min during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral entry. Based on alterations in the phosphorylation events, we found that kinase activities such as protein kinase C (PKC), interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK4), MAP/microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 3 (MARK3), and TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) were affected within 15 min of infection. Application of the corresponding kinase inhibitors of PKC, IRAK4, and p38 showed significant inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication. Additionally, proinflammatory cytokine production was reduced by applying PKC and p38 inhibitors. By an acquisition of a combined image data using positiveand negative-sense RNA probes, as well as pseudovirus entry assay, we demonstrated that PKC contributed to viral entry into the host cell, and therefore, could be a potential COVID-19 therapeutic target. © 2022 Chinese Chemical Society. All right reserved.

Big Data Research on China’s Service Industry Under the COVID-19 Epidemic

This article studies the customer satisfaction of online shopping, express delivery, airline service, online travel, express hotel, commercial bank, auto insurance and mobile communication in China in the context of COVID-19 epidemic. The research collects customer satisfaction data through questionnaire surveys and have a total of 13,000 valid samples. According to the survey, consumers are relatively satisfied with customer satisfaction in China's service industry. Among the eight industries studied, online shopping and express delivery have higher customer satisfaction scores, and mobile communications have lower score. The improvement of perceived quality and brand image will help to better improve customer satisfaction, reflecting that consumer satisfaction is more affected by subjective feelings and brand. In addition, this article also collected consumer complaints, brand value and other data, through comprehensive analysis of multi-dimensional data, it analyzes the current quality of China's service industry and provides opinions and suggestions for policy formulation. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Multicolor Immunodiagnostic for Semiquantitative Visual Detection Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Specific Antibody: A Prospect Strategy for On-site COVID-19 Therapeutic Process Monitoring

Rapid detection of body fluid severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) antibody is an effective strategy for infection therapeutic effect of coronavirus disease(COVID-19). Most detection methods require relatively large equipment, which limited their on-site application. Lateral flow immunoassay(LFIA) can be used to qualitative antibody detection based on the aggregation of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), which exhibits just one-color change and cannot realize rapid quantitative detection without the help of additional equipment. In this study, a high-resolution multicolor colorimetric strategy was developed and applied to assessing antibody concentration at a glance based on etching of gold nanorods(Au NRs). Firstly, SARS-CoV-2 recombinant antigen was immobilized on the surface of the 96-wells. Then, horseradish peroxidase(HRP)-labeled second antibody combined with antibody to form an antigen-antibody-secondary antibody complex on the well surface, which has direct relationship with antibody concentration in the sample and can be used to oxidize 3, 3', 5, 5'-tetramethylbenzidine(TMB) to form TMB2+ at the presence of HRP. The generation of TMB2+ efficiently etch Au NRs to produce multicolor solution. The etching result in vivid color changes in the system has a relationship with the amount of SARS-CoV-2 IgM antibody. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed strategy exhibited a linear response in the 5.00―200 IU concentration range, and a detection limit of 1.29 IU for SARS-CoV-2 IgM antibody, with high sensitivity and specificity. This assay is prospective for the on-site semi-quantitative visual detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgM antibody concentration in the COVID-19 therapeutic process. © 2021, Editorial Department of Chem. J. Chinese Universities. All right reserved.

An Image Importance Partition-based Compression Method for COVID-19 Computed Tomography Scan

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads around the world, industrial automated medical diagnosis systems have been developed, which complete a large amount of medical diagnosis work through computed tomography (CT) images. In these systems, how to quickly store and transmit such a large amount of CT image information has important research significance. In this paper, a more targeted COVID-19 chest CT image codec is proposed to make image data not only occupy less space but also have higher image quality. First, the bilateral lung contours are extracted to calculate the position information of the region of interest (ROI). Then, a CT image is classified into four types of non-uniform image blocks according to the characteristics of COVID-19 chest CT images and ROI position information. Next, a series of new transformations are proposed for more efficient transform coding. Finally, a flexible quantization strategy is proposed for the adaptive quantization part. In the experiments, the proposed method is superior to some existing methods with similar computational complexity. At the same bit rate, it significantly improves the image quality. This means that chest CT images can still be used for disease diagnosis while taking up less space. In addition, because of the low computational complexity of the proposed method, it can be more easily embedded into the CT equipment with low computational power. IEEE

Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Post-Translational Modifications on SARS-CoV-2 Viral Proteins and Its Cellular Receptor ACE2

COVID-19 has caused a huge health crisis and incalculable damage worldwide. Emerging immune escaping mutants of the virus suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may be persistent in human society like the flu virus and become a long-lasting health threat. The control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the development of an effective treatment are imminent. Therefore, it is imperative to find appropriate biomarkers to indicate pathological and physiological. Proteins are performers of life functions and their abundance and modification status can directly reflect the immune status. Post-translational modifications such as glycosylation and phosphorylation have a great impact on the regulation of protein functions. In the studies of SARS, Zika, and H1N1, post-translational modified proteins have shown to be reliable biomarkers. In recent years, mass spectrometry-based proteomics has made great progress due to the development of mass spectrometry technology. A review of research strategies for mass spectrometry-based biomarkers, especially in the application of protein post-translational modifications, is important for the victory of human beings fighting the Covid-19 epidemic. This review summarized the current progress of mass spectrometry-based studies on the PTM status of SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins, particularly in glycosylation and phosphorylation aspect. The challenge and prospect of the application of mass spectrometry in this particular research area were outlined. © 2021, Editorial Board of Journal of Chinese Mass Spectrometry Society. All right reserved.

Countrywide Origin-Destination Matrix Prediction and Its Application for COVID-19

Modeling and predicting human mobility are of great significance to various application scenarios such as intelligent transportation system, crowd management, and disaster response. In particular, in a severe pandemic situation like COVID-19, human movements among different regions are taken as the most important point for understanding and forecasting the epidemic spread in a country. Thus, in this study, we collect big human GPS trajectory data covering the total 47 prefectures of Japan and model the daily human movements between each pair of prefectures with time-series Origin-Destination (OD) matrix. Then, given the historical observations from past days, we predict the countrywide OD matrices for the future one or more weeks by proposing a novel deep learning model called Origin-Destination Convolutional Recurrent Network (ODCRN). It integrates the recurrent and 2-dimensional graph convolutional components to deal with the highly complex spatiotemporal dependencies in sequential OD matrices. Experiment results over the entire COVID-19 period demonstrate the superiority of our proposed methodology over existing OD prediction models. Last, we apply the predicted countrywide OD matrices to the SEIR model, one of the most classic and widely used epidemic simulation model, to forecast the COVID-19 infection numbers for the entire Japan. The simulation results also demonstrate the high reliability and applicability of our countrywide OD prediction model for a pandemic scenario like COVID-19. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Severity Assessment of COVID-19 Based on Feature Extraction and V-Descriptors

Digital image feature recognition is significant to industrial information applications, such as bioengineering, medical diagnosis, and machinery industry. In order to supply an effective and reasonable technology of the severity assessment mission of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in this article, we propose a new method that identifies rich features of lung infections from a chest computed tomography (CT) image, and then assesses the severity of COVID-19 based on the extracted features. First, in a chest CT image, the lung contours are corrected for the segmentation of bilateral lungs. Then, the lung contours and areas are obtained from the lung regions. Next, the coarseness, contrast, roughness, and entropy texture features are extracted to confirm the COVID-19 infected regions, and then the lesion contours are extracted from the infected regions. Finally, the texture features and V-descriptors are fused as an assessment descriptor for the COVID-19 severity estimation. In the experiments, we show the feature extraction and lung lesion segmentation results based on some typical COVID-19 infected CT images. In the lesion contour reconstruction experiments, the performance of V-descriptors is compared with some different methods, and various feature scores indicate that the proposed assessment descriptor reflects the infected ratio and the density feature of the lesions well, which can estimate the severity of COVID-19 infection more accurately.