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Under the influence of the novel coronavirus epidemic, some negative social events, such as separation of family or friends and home isolation have increased. These events can cause negative emotion experiences similar to physical pain, thus they are called social pain. Placebo effect refers to the positive response to the inert treatment with no specific therapeutic properties, which has been shown to be one of the effective ways to alleviate social pain. Studies have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role in placebo effect. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether activating DLPFC by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) could improve the ability of placebo effects to regulate social pain. Besides, we also combined neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques to provide bidirectional evidence for the role of the DLPFC on placebo effects. We recruited a total of 100 participants to finish the task of negative emotional rating of the social exclusion images. Among them, 50 participants were stimulated by TMS at the right DLPFC (rDLPFC), while the others were assigned to the sham group. This study contained two independent variables. The between-subject variable was TMS group (rDLPFC-activated group or sham group) and the within-subject variable was placebo type (no-placebo and placebo). All participants received nasal spray in two blocks. In the no-placebo condition, participants were instructed that they would receive a saline nasal spray which helped to improve physiological readings;in placebo block, participants were told to administrate an intranasal fluoxetine spray (saline nasal spray in fact) that could reduce unpleasantness within 10 minutes. To strengthen the expectation of intranasal fluoxetine, participants viewed a professional introduction to fluoxetine's clinical and academic usage including downregulating negative emotion, such as fear, anxiety, and disgust. Participants who received the placebo block first would be reminded that fluoxetine's effect was over before the next block to reduce the carry-over for the following block. Self-reported negative emotional and electroencephalogram data were recorded. There was a significant two-way interaction of TMS group and placebo type. Results showed that compared with the sham group, participants in the rDLPFC-activated group reported less negative emotional feeling and had a lower amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP) in placebo condition, a component that reflects the emotional intensity, suggesting that activating rDLPFC can improve the ability of placebo effect to regulate social pain. The above finding suggested that activating DLPFC can improve the placebo effect of regulating negative emotion. Moreover, this study is the first attempt to investigate the enhancement of placebo effects by using TMS on emotion regulation. The findings not only support the critical role of DLPFC on placebo effect using neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques, but also provide a potential brain target for treating emotional regulation deficits in patients with psychiatric disorders. © 2023 WANG Mei.
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COVID-19 vaccines against the earlier strains of SARS-CoV-2 are now available. However, breakthrough infections can still occur due to waning antibodies and immune escape by new variants. We assessed humoral immune responses to the mRNA (BNT162b2) and inactivated (CoronaVac) vaccines in our healthcare worker cohort (HCW). We recruited HCWs from public and private healthcare institutions across Hong Kong and collected blood samples at enrolment and every 6 months from June 2020 to June 2022. A subset of volunteers provided blood samples between 10 – 42 days after each dose of vaccine. Immune responses to vaccination were measured as SARS-CoV-2 binding antibodies detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies by surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) and plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Among the 1,736 HCWs enrolled in our cohort, 252 HCWs provided pre- and post-vaccination blood samples after each dose of either vaccine. Two doses of BNT162b2 generated levels of neutralizing antibodies (sVNT inhibition = 96.8%, range = 42.8%, 98.2%) comparable to those generated by natural infections in the first wave (sVNT inhibition = 84.0%, range = 32.9%, 93.8%). Similar levels were achieved with three doses of CoronaVac (sVNT inhibition = 95.3%, range = 64.7%, 98.3%) and heterologous vaccination with two doses of CoronaVac followed by a booster dose of BNT162b2 vaccine (sVNT inhibition = 97.0%, range = 85.8%, 97.7%). These antibody levels waned faster after second doses and slower after third doses for both vaccines. The BNT162b2 vaccine and CoronaVac vaccines can generate robust antibody responses comparable to natural infections. Three doses of the CoronaVac vaccine, or a heterologous boost with the BNT162b2 vaccine following two doses of the CoronaVac vaccine are required to achieve similar levels of neutralising antibodies in vaccinees who received two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Infectious Diseases is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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This article explores the treatment of queer people as biosecurity threats during the 2015 outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in South Korea. The making of corporeal threats pivoted on the common biosecurity techniques of isolation and containment, of both virus and (potentially) infected, and mirrors the protracted treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. However, in the aftermath of the MERS-CoV outbreak, queer and HIV/AIDS activists critiqued the methods of isolation that make people into threats and reify structural violence, articulating a radical form of relationality that draws infected and noninfected, humans and viruses, together. I argue that inviting relationality, activists mobilize the same biosecurity relations thought to be dangerous. The problem of proximity becomes not only the solution but also an activist tool of social justice. The MERS-CoV outbreak became an opportunity to illustrate a different kind of living, one predicated on what I call the human-virus hybrid: the social and microbial relationships between humans and viruses. Moving through the fields of biosecurity, human-microbe relations, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS, I proffer that the human-virus hybrid provides nuanced understandings of how people considered threats live during public health crises and find innovative methods of endurance.
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The volatility of international crude oil and gold markets has affected stock markets through several economic channels, and the impact tends to be more evident with the appearance of emergencies. However, the volatility linkages between commodities and Chinese sector stocks in the presence of emergencies are understudied. To examine the asymmetric relationship and time-varying connectedness between commodities and Chinese sector stocks, this paper first employs GJR-GARCH to capture the realized volatility of international oil, gold, and Chinese sector stocks. Secondly, we decompose the realized volatility of international oil and gold into bad and good volatility and then employ the TVP-VAR-DY approach to obtain the connectedness index. The final result shows asymmetric volatility spillover among oil, gold, and Chinese sector stocks. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the gold good volatility transmission is intenser than bad volatility. Thirdly, the analysis is also carried out under different subperiods. They include three international events: the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis, the oil crisis, and COVID-19. The result reveals heterogeneity exists in the impact of international oil and gold on the Chinese sector stocks under different emergencies. These findings are of great significance for policymakers to improve the sector management under the impact of different emergencies and for investors to design diversified portfolios according to the commodity-sector risk spillover effects. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
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Introduction: Covid-19 vaccinations are effective as preventive measures against the COVID-19 pandemic infection. There are different types of COVID-19 vaccines available worldwide. The impacts of different types COVID-19 vaccination on hospitalized patients remained uncertain at the early stage of the outbreak. This study examines the clinical outcomes of vaccinated and vaccine naive hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Method(s): This is a retrospective study of hospitalized COVID-19 patients admitted into University Malaya Medical Center from January 2021 until June 2021. Data on patients who were>= 18 years old and hospitalized for >= 48 hours for confirmed COVID-19 infection were captured. Clinical parameters and demographic of patients were collected from electronic medical records (EMR). Vaccine status was determined based on EMR entry and retrospective phone interviews. 2 cohorts of patients were classified based on their COVID vaccination status, and outcome analysis was done with appropriate statistical methods. Result(s): A total of 1529 patients were captured with a male-to-female ratio of 759 (49.6%) and 770 (50.3%). The median age was 55 (IQR: 36-66). 182 patients (12%) received COVID-19 vaccination before admission. The types of COVID vaccination received by patients were Pfizer (n=127;8.4%), AstraZeneca (n=27;1.8%), and Sinovac (n=28;1.8%) respectively.107 patients (7.1%) received two doses of vaccine, 72 patients had one dose (4.7%), and three were injected with three doses (0.2%). Biochemical analysis showed that the vaccination naive group has a higher median of lymphocyte counts (17 vs. 2.02;p<0.001), ferritin (363 vs 221;p=0.001), serum creatinine (67 vs 63;p=0.032). Renal outcome data revealed that unvaccinated patients had more incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) (92.9% vs 7.1%;p=0.002) and increased level proteinuria (88.5% vs 11.5%;p= 0.011). Covid-19 vaccination group had lower incidence rate of pneumonia (8.9% vs 91.1%;p<0.001), lower ventilator use (4.8% vs 95.2%;p=0.01), and lower ICU admission (5.1% vs 94.9%;p<0.001) compared to vaccine-naive group. The mortality rate was lower 5.2% (n=7) in COVID-19 vaccination compared to 94.8% (n=127) vaccine-naive group;p=0.012. [Formula presented] Conclusion(s): In our study, COVID-19 vaccination effectively lowered the incidence of AKI, pneumonia, ICU admission, and mortality translating to better overall outcome. No conflict of interestCopyright © 2023
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The COVID-19 pandemic drove a sustained increase in the volume and duration of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO), accelerating a decade long trend. While current clinical consensus recommends a maximal support duration of 14-21 days, the observed change in practice may warrant revisiting this notion. To guide this, we describe our institution's experience with prolonged VV-ECMO support. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of patients who received VV-ECMO support at a large academic medical center between 2018-2022 using medical records. This study is a descriptive report of patients who received prolonged VV-ECMO support, defined as >50 continuous days on circuit. Of the 130 patients who received VV-ECMO during the study period, 12 (9.2%) had a support duration of >50 days, 11 of whom suffered from adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to COVID-19, while 1 patient with prior bilateral lung transplant suffered from ARDS secondary to bacterial pneumonia. The median duration of VV-ECMO support was 94 days [IQR: 69.5, 128], with a maximum support of 180 days. Median time from intubation to cannulation was 5 days [IQR: 2, 14]. On-circuit mobilization was performed in 9 patients (75%). Successful weaning of VV-ECMO support occurred in 8 patients (67%), with 6 (50%) bridged to lung transplantation and 2 (17%) bridged to recovery. A total of 7 patients (58%) were discharged from the hospital: 3 to home and 4 to a rehabilitation center. ECMO complications included cannulation site bleeding in 10 patients (83%), gastrointestinal bleeding in 4 patients (33%), oxygenator failure in 7 patients (58%), and required circuit exchanges in 9 patients (75%) (Figure 1). Extremely prolonged VV-ECMO support allows for successful recovery or optimization of lung transplant candidacy in a select group of patients at a high-volume institution, further supporting the expanded utilization of VV-ECMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Heart & Lung Transplantation is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
ABSTRACT
The COVID-2019 pandemic has a huge impact on tourism industry, and mastering the spatial and temporal characteristics of tourists' travel behavior during the period is very crucial for the recovery and the development of the tourism industry. This study adopts time series statistics and complex network analysis to compare and examine the network evolution features of Hong Kong before and during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the comments data generated from TripAdvisor website in 2019 and 2020. The results show that: (1) Tourists' travel behavior patterns have changed to a certain degree, and they prefer to visit a small number of destinations during an itinerary. (2) Key destinations still play important roles in connecting other destinations, but the tourism community formed around the key destinations has varied from extremely dense to relatively sparse gathering. (3) The number of tourists in extremely hot destinations has been greatly declined, those destinations with fewer tourists and relatively far away from the downtown have attracted more attention. Moreover, industrial destinations have been always the most popular type of tourism destination. © 2022, Science Press. All rights reserved.
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Urine source separation, a kind of new sewage management concept, has made great progress in technology development and application in the past 30 years. However, understanding of the potential microbial risks in reuse of urine derived fertilizer products (UDFPs) in agriculture is still lacking. Outbreak of pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and more deadly disease caused by Monkeypox strongly sounds the alarm bell to the attention on pathogens in urine and their fate in UDFPs. Therefore, this study presented a comprehensive review on pathogens inactivation in nutrient recovery technologies. The review suggests that technologies using alkaline or heating treatment can effectively reduce pathogens in UDFPs. However, technologies with characteristics such as membrane rejection of nutrients or nutrient adsorption may even concentrate pathogens in their fertilizer products. Based on an overall assessment, connections of technologies and the pathogens inactivation in their UDFPs have been established. This would help to provide a perspective on development of urine treatment technology and management of microbial risks in reusing urine nutrients in agriculture.
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Background: Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, global studies, based mostly on data from the United States and Europe, have identified risks of severe disease after SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infection, but literature on the impact of infection on clinical outcomes specific to the Canadian cystic fibrosis (CF) community is lacking. The objectives of this study were to determine the risk of hospitalization of Canadians with CF after SARS-CoV-2 infection and describe the change in lung function after infection. Method(s): Information on individuals with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, was retrieved from the Canadian CF Registry;participants were followed until March 31, 2022. Age was defined as age at time of infection. Baseline clinical measurements were considered to the most recent measurement in the year before infection. Lung functionwas measured as percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1pp). Children younger than 6 were assumed to have FEV1pp of 70% or greater. Nutritional status was measured using body mass index. For the first objective, the outcome of interest was hospitalization for which SARS-CoV-2 infection was a precipitating event. Factors associated with hospitalization were assessed using logistic regression and presented as odds ratios with confidence intervals. For the second objective, the outcome of interest was change in FEV1pp from baseline to first measurement after infection, which was assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for matched pairs. For descriptive analyses, continuous variables were summarized using median and interquartile range and categorical variables using frequency and proportion. Some results may be suppressed to reduce risk of identification of individuals. Result(s): There were 145 individuals (44 children;101 adults aged >=18) with a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 recorded in the Canadian CF Registry during the study period. The characteristics of these individuals are summarized in Table 1, stratified according to hospitalization status. Seven individuals were admitted to the intensive care unit, and fewer than five died during follow-up. After adjusting for sex, those post-transplant (n = 14 in hospitalized group, n = 6 in not hospitalized group) were significantly more likely to be hospitalized (OR 33.5, 95% CI,10.1-111.0). In a subset of 71 patients with at least one FEV1pp before and at least one after infection, there was no significant difference in median baseline FEV1pp between those who were and were not hospitalized. Change in FEV1pp was not significant in those hospitalized (median -0.5%, IQR -4.9-2.8%;p = 0.79) or not hospitalized (median 0.2%, IQR -3.7-3.9%;p = 0.49). Ongoing analyses to assess the impact of baseline FEV1pp and time of infection on risk of hospitalization and to calculate the rate of decline in FEV1pp after infection will be available for the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference. Conclusion(s): Canadian transplant recipients with CFwere more likely than those not transplanted to be hospitalized after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Change in baseline lung function was neither clinically nor statistically significant, although this relationship should be further explored as more follow-up data become available.Table 1: Characteristics of study population according to hospitalization status (Table Presented) Copyright © 2022, European Cystic Fibrosis Society. All rights reserved
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Aim: Conventionally, patients are gathered to watch an introductory video at the clinic before endoscopic investigations take place. This may arouse practical issues under the COVID pandemic. Our centre, in collaboration with students from a local secondary school, has designed a set of animations which patients can easily access to with a QR code using their own mobile devices, so as to avoid patient gathering and increase their flexibility to read the information. This study aims to evaluate patients' perception of the QR code-based introductory animations of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) and colonoscopy (CLN). Method(s): A QR code linking to the animation was attached to the appointment sheet. Patients were asked to watch the animation with their own mobile devices before the endoscopy. A questionnaire with 5 questions was distributed after completion of their procedures. Result(s): A total of 144 patients undergoing OGD and CLN were recruited in May-June, 2022 at Tin Shui Wai Hospital. The response rate was 91.7%. Positive feedback was received. 12 patients (8.3%) did not gain access to the animation. A majority of patients agreed or totally agreed that the animation offered them more flexibility to understand the procedures before their OGD (75.4%) and CLN (79.1%). The QR code-based animation was deemed easy-to-use (80.3%), appealing (78.0%) and educational (81.0%). Conclusion(s): With increasing accessibility to mobile devices, patient education in preparation for medical procedures is no longer confined to the hospital setting. QR code-based animation is shown to be an effective and welcoming tool to prepare patients for endoscopies.
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The world has been experiencing the deadly disease COVID-19 since December 2019, and it has been studied extensively due to the availability of datasets in abundance. In this paper, we focus on mortality distribution and vaccination majorly as two major aspects of the COVID-19 dataset from the US. We compared the mortality and the vaccination distribution among states. We also discuss the correlation among various other aspects like race, party, region and age. © 2022 IEEE.
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Meteorological and human factors during the specific epidemic are critical for effectively evaluating the causes of air quality changes in different areas. This study selected Xingtai City, Hebei Province as the research object, took 2020 epidemic situation as an experimental scenario of extreme emission reduction under the extreme control measures, and 2021 epidemic situation as an experimental analysis scenario of future normalized epidemic prevention and control. Compared with the period prior to the epidemic, the ozone concentration during the two epidemics increased, and the particle concentration during the 2021 epidemic also increased. The concentration of other pollutants during the 2020 epidemic decreased to varying degrees. Compared with the same period in 2019, the ozone concentration during the two epidemics also increased. In addition, the pollutant concentration during the 2021 epidemic declined more. Using LSTM algorithm and WRF-CMAQ model to quantify impacts of meteorological factors on the changes in pollutant concentration during the two epidemic periods. The human-induced changes in different pollutant concentrations were deduced as indicated by the results from the air quality simulation. The simulation of LSTM algorithm during the two outbreaks shows that human being had a negative impact on pollutants (reducing their concentration) and accounted for a high proportion in the total change, while the influence of meteorological factors simulated with CMAQ model was much higher than that with LSTM algorithm. Anthropogenic influences dominated during the 2020 epidemic period, while compared to that during the 2020 epidemic period, the impact of anthropogenic activities on pollutants (except NO2) was positive (promoting an increase in pollutant concentration) during the 2021 epidemic period. © 2022 Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Since the financial crisis, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19, the global trade division of labor has been changing rapidly. The global value chain (GVC) keeps shrinking while the domestic value chain (DVC) continues to develop. Therefore, it is important to re-examine the impact of different modes of value chain division of labor on China’s energy efficiency. In this study, we first constructed an input-output model of provinces embedded in the world to measure the dual embedding of domestic and global value chains. Then we used a three-dimensional fixed-effect model to study the impact and mechanism of dual value chain embedding on energy efficiency. We found that domestic value chain embedding inhibits energy efficiency improvement and global value chain embedding promotes energy efficiency improvement. A series of robustness and endogeneity tests support these findings. The heterogeneity tests revealed that the effects of dual value chain embedding on energy efficiency are more pronounced in low-polluting industries, high-tech industries, years before 2008, and coastal regions. The mechanism test revealed that DVC embedding inhibits energy efficiency by exacerbating the low-end lock-in effect, reducing environmental regulation and scale efficiency, and it increases energy efficiency by increasing technological progress efficiency. GVC embedding improves energy efficiency by weakening the low-end lock-in effect and increasing technical efficiency and scale efficiency, and it inhibits energy efficiency improvement by reducing environmental regulation and technological progress efficiency. Copyright © 2022 Chen, Cheng, Gao and Li.
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Most of the machine learning models are black box models. However, in practical applications, such as in many medical and health fields, it is very necessary to clearly understand the internal composition, combination or interaction of the model, study the system and predict the system behavior. Therefore, interpretable machine learning models have attracted more and more attention, especially when predicting based on models, the driving factors leading to prediction behavior are deeply studied. This paper proposes an interpretable machine learning model based on comparative learning and NARMAX. Because the input-output relationship of the model and the interaction relationship between input variables are clear, the model can not only be used for prediction, but also explain the relevant 'reasons' of prediction behavior. The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic data and influenza epidemic data were used to compare the model proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that the model is effective and reliable, and establish a dynamic model for the two diseases' spreads, and analyze the relationship between disease transmission factors. © 2022 IEEE.
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Background: The University of Hawaii Cancer Center (UHCC) Minority/Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program (Hawaii MU NCORP) provides access to NCI-sponsored clinical trials in Hawaii. The Hawaii MU NCORP is dedicated to increasing minority and underserved accruals to clinical trials. Native Hawaiian women have the highest breast cancer incidence and mortality;only 26% of Micronesian women in Hawaii over the age of 40 have ever had a mammogram. In 2018, the Hawaii MU NCORP became a recruitment site for the ECOG-ACRIN Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST). A pilot study was launched in 2019, to support our NCORP recruitment of underrepresented Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) women to the TMIST study. Subsequently, specific funding was provided by the NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities that enabled the UHCC's Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) to develop an effective multilevel recruitment strategy together with the Hawaii MIU NCORP. Methods: To foster community awareness of the TMIST study among NHPI women, the UHCC COE hired a Community Health Educator (CHE). The CHE, a Pacific Islander woman, utilized small group educational sessions to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate cancer prevention information and promote the TMIST study to NHPI women in Hawaii. The CHE worked in partnership with Hawaii MU NCORP clinical research associates (CRAs) in these efforts. In 2020, statewide COVID-19 health and safety protocols were enacted, limiting public group interactions in Hawaii. Despite this challenge, the CHE successfully adapted the in-person educational sessions on clinical trials and TMIST to conduct sessions using Zoom and Facebook Messenger. Results: Before the hire of the CHE in 2019, only one Pacific Islander (Micronesian) woman was recruited to the TMIST in Hawaii. The CHE conducted 21 community health events with 426 attendees from 2019 to 2021. The Hawaii MU NCORP NHPI TMIST enrollment went from the 9.9% in 2018 to 2019, to 20.1% in 2019 to 2020 and to 33% in 2020 to 2021. To date, 18 Micronesian, 52 Native Hawaiian and 6 Other Pacific Islander women out of 353 participants ware enrolled. Conclusions: The multilevel intervention of our CHE, in collaboration with NCORP staff providing clinical trial awareness training and community outreach, resulted in increasing the enrollment of NHPI women to the TMIST Trial. CHE-led community health education sessions on cancer prevention can be delivered using emergent technologies and social media. The use of culturally and gender concordant CHEs working with CRAs have the potential to increase awareness and accruals to cancer clinical trials.