High-Speed Railway Bridge and Pile Foundation: A Review

High-speed railway is trending in developing countries for economic reasons, mobility in the aftermath of COVID-19, and environmental concerns. The high-speed railway operators continuously improve the operational speed to transport more passengers in less time. However, increasing the train loads at high speed might increase the dynamic loads of bridges and affect their pile foundation. A stiffer railway bridge is mandatory for high-speed train safety and passenger riding comfort. However, a flexible bridge is ideal for responding to earthquakes. Thus, these two objectives are conflicting. This review paper provides a bibliometric review aiming to determine the published studies by year and by country, and to visualize different research trends in cluster maps using the VOSviewer software, summarizing the published research for high-speed railway bridges starting from 1964. The review also extracted information from the latest studies by summarizing some essential objectives, useful methodologies, and notable findings that might be applicable to future studies. In conclusion, there is a need for further research to fill the knowledge gap in the study related to the soil–structure interaction phenomenon considering the performance-based seismic design of a high-speed railway bridge on a monopile foundation in the event of lateral spreading due to soil liquefaction. © 2022 by the authors.

Biosynthetic proteins targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike as antivirals

The binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) promotes virus entry into the cell. Targeting this interaction represents a promising strategy to generate antivirals. By screening a phage-display library of biosynthetic protein sequences build on a rigid alpha-helicoidal HEAT-like scaffold (named αReps), we selected candidates recognizing the spike receptor binding domain (RBD). Two of them (F9 and C2) bind the RBD with affinities in the nM range, displaying neutralisation activity in vitro and recognizing distinct sites, F9 overlapping the ACE2 binding motif. The F9-C2 fusion protein and a trivalent -Rep form (C2-foldon) display 0.1 nM affinities and EC50 of 8- 18 nM for neutralization of SARS-CoV-2. In hamsters, F9-C2 instillation in the nasal cavity before or during infections effectively reduced the replication of a SARS-CoV-2 strain harbouring the D614G mutation in the nasal epithelium and pathogenicity. Furthermore, F9-C2 and/or C2- foldon effectively neutralized SARS-CoV-2 variants (including delta and omicron variants) with EC50 values ranging from 13 to 32 nM. With their high stability and their high potency against SARS-CoV-2 variants, αReps provide a promising tool for SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics to target the nasal cavity and mitigate virus dissemination in the proximal environment.

Motor skills dysfunction and fatigue persist after mild infection by SARS-CoV-2

Background and aims: Although neuropsychiatric manifestations have been reported after COVID-19, little is known about fine motor difficulties after mild infection. We evaluate fine motor impairment, fatigue, depression, anxiety and somnolence after COVID-19. Methods: We applied the 9-hole peg and the “box and blocks” tests to fine motor skills;and Hanoi tower test to evaluate executive functions. Individuals answered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Chalder fatigue questionnaire (CFQ) and Epworth sleepiness Scale (ESS). We used SPSS26 with Mann-Whitney U-test to compare variables between groups and partial correlations to correlate the continuous variables. Results: We evaluated 23 subjects recovered from COVID-19 (after 4 months from diagnosis) (16 women;median of 39 years)) and 35 healthy controls (23 women;median 33 years) balanced for sex (p = 0.8), age (p = 0.3) and education (p = 0.6). COVID group presented excessive sleepiness (ESS, median 10 points (range 0–18)), and fatigue (CFQ, median 18 points (range 0–32)). Fatigue correlated with depression symptoms (r = 0.5;p = 0.018), with anxiety (r = 0.49;p = 0.021), and with sleepiness (r = 0.4;p = 0.06). COVID group was slower on the 9-Hole Peg Test for dominant (p = 0.004) and non-dominant hands (p = 0.002), and performed poorer on Box and blocks test (p = 0.047). They were slower on the Hanoi Tower test with 3 pieces (p = 0.04). Conclusions: We identified persistent neurological symptoms (mainly fatigue and somnolence) motor slowness and difficulties in patients with mild infection and without hospital treatment. Fatigue associated with other neuropsychiatric symptoms. The longitudinal evaluation and neuroimaging correlations in a larger sample may clarify the duration of deficits and the associated cerebral abnormalities.

DIRECTORS OPINION AS TO THE INFLUENCE OF COVID-19 ON THE SOCIO-EMOTIONAL-AFFECTIVE ASPECT OF THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

The study aimed to explain the opinion of school principals regarding the influence of COVID-19 on the socio-emotional-affective aspect of students, teachers, coordinators and the school community in order to contribute to public policies in the field of health and education, in networks teaching institutions. This was a descriptive exploratory cross-sectional study carried out in a public municipal and state education network, in a Brazilian capital, from 06/02/2020 to 07/02/2020. 172 directors participated in the survey, who answered an electronic form via Google Form, sent by email. The data were treated using simple descriptive statistics by the program IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 for Windows 10. In the perception of the directors of the municipal and state education network, COVID-19 "influenced a lot" in the socio-emotional-affective aspects of students, teachers, coordinators and school community. It is therefore necessary to work in a network with contributions linked to new technologies and emotional health in education.