The Analysis of Oral and Fecal Virome Detects Multiple Novel Emerging Viruses in Snakes

Wild animals are considered reservoirs for emerging and reemerging viruses, such as the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Previous studies have reported that bats and ticks harbored variable important pathogenic viruses, some of which could cause potential diseases in humans and livestock, while viruses carried by reptiles were rarely reported. Our study first conducted snakes' virome analysis to establish effective surveillance of potential transboundary emerging diseases. Consequently, Adenoviridae, Circoviridae, Retroviridae, and Parvoviridae were identified in oral samples from Protobothrops mucrosquamatus, Elaphe dione, and Gloydius angusticeps based on sequence similarity to existing viruses. Picornaviridae and Adenoviridae were also identified in fecal samples of Protobothrops mucrosquamatus. Notably, the iflavirus and foamy virus were first reported in Protobothrops mucrosquamatus, enriching the transboundary viral diversity in snakes. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis revealed that both the novel-identified viruses showed low genetic similarity with previously reported viruses. This study provided a basis for our understanding of microbiome diversity and the surveillance and prevention of emerging and unknown viruses in snakes.

Comparison of High-Flow Nasal Canula and Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation in Treating COVID-19 Patients

Objectives: The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020. Multiple COVID-19 waves are putting tremendous stress on healthcare systems. Evidence showed that high-flow nasal canula (HFNC) reduced the need for mechanical ventilation and shortened the time to clinical recovery among patients with severe COVID-19. This study aimed to assess the effect of using HFNC compared to non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIV), on adult patients with COVID-19. Method(s): This retrospective study included patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 between October 2020 to December 2021 with appropriate ICD-10 diagnosis recorded in a commercially available, all-payer administrative database across 300+ hospitals. The identified patients were divided in two cohorts, one being the patients treated with HFNC as the first line respiratory support and another with NIV. Outcomes included all-cause mortality rate and length of stay. Multivariable analyses were performed to adjust for baseline characteristics. Result(s): Out of 16,534 eligible patients, 4,334 patients received HFNC as the first line respiratory support, whereas 12,200 received NIV. The all-cause mortality rate was 20.24% and 37.14% in the HFNC and NIV group, respectively. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, the all-cause mortality rate in the HFNC group was lower compared to NIV (odds ratio [OR], 0.51;95% confidence interval [CI], 0.47-0.55;p<0.001). The total length of stay was around 15 days for all patients. No different was observed between groups ( mean difference 0.3 days;95% CI, -0.27 - 0.92 days;p>0.05). Conclusion(s): Patients treated with HFNC showed lower mortality rates compared to NIV for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. However, further studies are still needed to better elucidate the clinical and economic benefit of HFNC in COVID-19 patients.Copyright © 2023

Interpersonal Distance Tracking with mmWave Radar and IMUs

Tracking interpersonal distances is essential for real-time social distancing management and ex-post contact tracing to prevent spreads of contagious diseases. Bluetooth neighbor discovery has been employed for such purposes in combating COVID-19, but does not provide satisfactory spatiotemporal resolutions. This paper presents ImmTrack, a system that uses a millimeter wave radar and exploits the inertial measurement data from user-carried smartphones or wearables to track interpersonal distances. By matching the movement traces reconstructed from the radar and inertial data, the pseudo identities of the inertial data can be transferred to the radar sensing results in the global coordinate system. The re-identified, radar-sensed movement trajectories are then used to track interpersonal distances. In a broader sense, ImmTrack is the first system that fuses data from millimeter wave radar and inertial measurement units for simultaneous user tracking and re-identification. Evaluation with up to 27 people in various indoor/outdoor environments shows ImmTrack's decimeters-seconds spatiotemporal accuracy in contact tracing, which is similar to that of the privacy-intrusive camera surveillance and significantly outperforms the Bluetooth neighbor discovery approach. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Recommendations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has spread worldwide and threatened human's health. With the passing of time, the epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 evolves and the knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 infection accumulates. To further improve the scientific and standardized diagnosis and treatment of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in China, the Chinese Society of Perinatal Medicine of Chinese Medical Association commissioned leading experts to develop the Recommendations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection under the guidance of the Maternal and Child Health Department of the National Health Commission. This recommendations includes the epidemiology, diagnosis, management, maternal care, medication treatment, care of birth and newborns, and psychological support associated with maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is hoped that the recommendations will effectively help the clinical management of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection.Copyright © Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Misinformation and the Paradox of Trust during the covid-19 pandemic in the U.S.: pathways to Risk perception and compliance behaviors

As declared "infodemic” by the World Health Organization, the proliferation of Covid-19 misinformation has posed a significant challenge to public health efforts to tackle the pandemic. Despite initial evidence on the association between misinformation and behavior, researchers have yet to fully identify intervening variables to account for the behavioral effects of Covid-19 misinformation. To address this question, this study aims to examine whether and how consuming misinformation would predict public trust in health and political institutions, and in turn, shape risk perception and adherence to preventive behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey using a nationally representative sample of 1,400 U.S. adults in October 2020. We found that Covid-19 misinformation exposure was linked to lower trust in public health experts but higher trust in government, which led to a decrease in the perceived severity of Covid-19 and less compliance with public health guidance. Our findings uncover the complex social and psychological processes by which misinformation consumption undermines public health efforts during the pandemic crisis. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Short-Term State Electricity Load Forecasting Based on Transfer-Informer

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has caused an enormous impact on the operation mode of human society. Such sudden events bring sharp fluctuations and data inadequacy in datasets of several areas, which leads to challenges in solving related problems. Traditional deep learning models like CNN have shown relatively poor performance with small datasets during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because the data insufficiency and fluctuations lead to serious problems in the training process. In our work, an Informer framework combined with Transfer learning methods (Transfer-Informer) is proposed to solve the data insufficiency in emergency situations, as well as to provide a more efficient self-attention mechanism for deep feature mining, with two distinctive advantages: (1) The ProbSpares self-attention mechanisms, which enables the proposed model to highlight dominant information and extract more typical features from time-series datasets. (2) The Transfer learning framework improves the generalization capability of the model, by transferring basic knowledge from normal situations to emergency cases with fewer data. In our experiments, Transfer-Informer is applied to short-term load forecasting, which achieves better predicting accuracy than traditional models. The empirical results indicate that the proposed model has put forward a baseline for short-term load forecasting in emergency situations and provided a feasible method to tackle sudden fluctuations in real problem-solving. © 2022 IEEE.

Short-Term State Electricity Load Forecasting Based on Transfer-Informer

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has caused an enormous impact on the operation mode of human society. Such sudden events bring sharp fluctuations and data inadequacy in datasets of several areas, which leads to challenges in solving related problems. Traditional deep learning models like CNN have shown relatively poor performance with small datasets during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because the data insufficiency and fluctuations lead to serious problems in the training process. In our work, an Informer framework combined with Transfer learning methods (Transfer-Informer) is proposed to solve the data insufficiency in emergency situations, as well as to provide a more efficient self-attention mechanism for deep feature mining, with two distinctive advantages: (1) The ProbSpares self-attention mechanisms, which enables the proposed model to highlight dominant information and extract more typical features from time-series datasets. (2) The Transfer learning framework improves the generalization capability of the model, by transferring basic knowledge from normal situations to emergency cases with fewer data. In our experiments, Transfer-Informer is applied to short-term load forecasting, which achieves better predicting accuracy than traditional models. The empirical results indicate that the proposed model has put forward a baseline for short-term load forecasting in emergency situations and provided a feasible method to tackle sudden fluctuations in real problem-solving. © 2022 IEEE.

Walvis Ridge Hotspot: drilling Walvis Ridge, Southeast Atlantic Ocean, to test models of ridge-hotspot interaction, isotopic zonation, and the hotspot reference frame

Hotspot tracks (quasilinear chains of seamounts, ridges, and other volcanic structures) provide important records of plate motions, as well as mantle geodynamics, magma flux, and mantle source compositions. The Tristan-Gough-Walvis Ridge (TGW) hotspot track, extending from the active volcanic islands of Tristan da Cunha and Gough through a province of guyots and then along Walvis Ridge to the Etendeka flood basalt province, forms one of the most prominent and complex global hotspot tracks. The TGW hotspot track displays a tight linear age progression in which ages increase from the islands to the flood basalts (covering ~135 My). Unlike Pacific tracks, which are simple chains of seamounts that are often compared to chains of pearls, the TGW track is alternately a steep-sided narrow ridge, an oceanic plateau, subparallel linear ridges and chains of seamounts, and areas of what appear to be randomly dispersed seamounts. The track displays isotopic zonation over the last ~70 My. The zonation appears near the middle of the track just before it splits into two to three chains of ridge- and guyot-type seamounts. The older ridge is also overprinted with age-progressive late-stage volcanism, which was emplaced ~30–40 My after the initial eruptions and has a distinct isotopic composition. The plan for Expedition 391 was to drill at six sites, three along Walvis Ridge and three in the seamount (guyot) province, to gather igneous rocks to better understand the formation of track edifices, the temporal and geochemical evolution of the hotspot, and the variation in paleolatitudes at which the volcanic edifices formed. After a delay of 18 days to address a shipboard outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus, Expedition 391 proceeded to drill at four of the proposed sites: three sites on the eastern Walvis Ridge around Valdivia Bank, an ocean plateau within the ridge, and one site on the lower flank of a guyot in the Center track, a ridge located between the Tristan subtrack (which extends from the end of Walvis Ridge to the island of Tristan da Cunha) and the Gough subtrack (which extends from Walvis Ridge to the island of Gough). One hole was drilled at Site U1575, located on a low portion of the northeastern Walvis Ridge north of Valdivia Bank. At this location, 209.9 m of sediments and 122.4 m of igneous basement were cored. The latter comprised 10 submarine lava units consisting of pillow, lobate, sheet, and massive lava flows, the thickest of which was ~21 m. Most lavas are tholeiitic, but some alkalic basalts were recovered. A portion of the igneous succession consists of low-Ti basalts, which are unusual because they appear in the Etendeka flood basalts but have not been previously found on Walvis Ridge. Two holes were drilled at Site U1576 on the west flank of Valdivia Bank. The first hole was terminated because a bit jammed shortly after penetrating igneous basement. Hole U1576A recovered a remarkable ~380 m thick sedimentary section consisting mostly of chalk covering a nearly complete sequence from Paleocene to Late Cretaceous (Campanian). These sediments display short and long cyclic color changes that imply astronomically forced and longer term paleoenvironmental changes. The igneous basement yielded 11 submarine lava units ranging from pillows to massive flows, which have compositions varying from tholeiitic basalt to basaltic andesite, the first occurrence of this composition recovered from the TGW track. These units are separated by seven sedimentary chalk units that range in thickness from 0.1 to 11.6 m, implying a long-term interplay of sedimentation and lava eruptions. Coring at Site U1577, on the extreme eastern flank of Valdivia Bank, penetrated a 154 m thick sedimentary section, the bottom ~108 m of which is Maastrichtian–Campanian (possibly Santonian) chalk with vitric tephra layers. Igneous basement coring progressed only 39.1 m below the sediment-basalt contact, recovering three massive submarine tholeiite basalt lava flows that are 4.1, 15.5, and >19.1 m thick, respectively. Paleomag etic data from Sites U1577 and U1576 indicate that their volcanic basements formed just before the end of the Cretaceous Normal Superchron and during Chron 33r, shortly afterward, respectively. Biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic data suggest an east–west age progression across Valdivia Bank, becoming younger westward. Site U1578, located on a Center track guyot, provided a long and varied igneous section. After coring through 184.3 m of pelagic carbonate sediments mainly consisting of Eocene and Paleocene chalk, Hole U1578A cored 302.1 m of igneous basement. Basement lavas are largely pillows but are interspersed with sheet and massive flows. Lava compositions are mostly alkalic basalts with some hawaiite. Several intervals contain abundant olivine, and some of the pillow stacks consist of basalt with remarkably high Ti content. The igneous sequence is interrupted by 10 sedimentary interbeds consisting of chalk and volcaniclastics and ranging in thickness from 0.46 to 10.19 m. Paleomagnetic data display a change in basement magnetic polarity ~100 m above the base of the hole. Combining magnetic stratigraphy with biostratigraphic data, the igneous section is inferred to span >1 My. Abundant glass from pillow lava margins was recovered at Sites U1575, U1576, and U1578. Although the igneous penetration was only two-thirds of the planned amount, drilling during Expedition 391 obtained samples that clearly will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolution of the Tristan-Gough hotspot and its track. Relatively fresh basalts with good recovery will provide ample samples for geochemical, geochronologic, and paleomagnetic studies. Good recovery of Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic chalk successions provides samples for paleoenvironmental study. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Chinese tilapia supply and demand without and with the COVID-19 epidemic impact

We analyzed the supply and demand for tilapia in China while assessing the future developmental trends. China has become the world’s largest producer, exporter, and consumer of tilapia. China entered a period of rapid aquaculture development in the 1990s, and the tilapia supply has increased yearly. Tilapia products are mainly supplied to the international market, especially in the US. The global market for the Chinese tilapia has grown dramatically, but a downward trend occurred in 2019–2020. The Chinese domestic market demand is relatively stable, and even the COVID-19 epidemic did not significantly impact the supply and demand of tilapia. Internationally, it is expected that the demand for tilapia will decline considerably in the near future. However, this decline could be alleviated after the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic passes, and increasing demand will resume. The increased supply of Chinese tilapia might slow down or even decrease due to market uncertainty, the increasing constraints on natural resources, and the Chinese government's requirements for high-quality aquaculture environments. © 2022, Israeli Journal of Aquaculture - Bamidgeh. All rights reserved.

Feasibility Study of Portable Simulated Pet ‘KEDAMA’ for Relieving Depression

The sudden arrival of COVID-19 has brought a lot of inconvenience to people’s lives. It also has an adverse impact on people’s mental health. Because COVID-19 can spread directly, aerosol and contact, this uncontrollable and rapid mode of communication restricts people’s going out, and all the original party and entertainment activities are restricted, which for today’s young people, is tantamount to reducing the way to vent stress, but also brings a sense of loneliness. Young people have become the biggest victims of COVID-19’s restricted activities, and more and more young people suffer from mental health diseases. Keeping pets is used to improve mental health disorders, and more and more people are starting to keep pets, but on the other hand, the number of people who abandon their pets is also on the rise, and a large number of them are forced to separate from their pets for external reasons. To get rid of this situation, more and more people use virtual pets to replace real pets, but the current virtual pets are also in a state of saturation and there are many problems. Therefore, we have developed a portable simulated pet ‘KEDAMA’, which can be customized according to the user’s personal preferences, based on the five senses, and the price is very cheap and easy to order. Not only to replace pets, but also hope that KEDAMA can improve people’s mental health and prevent more young people from depression. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The effects of self-generated and other-generated eWOM in inoculating against misinformation

This study examines the effects of self-generated and other-generated electronic word-of-mouth communication (eWOM) in inoculating individuals against potential misinformation. A three-phase between-subject experiment (N = 543) was conducted to compare the persuasive effects of inoculation messages combined with different eWOM content (self-generated, other-generated, and inoculation only) over two health topics (Covid-19 vaccine and e-cigarette). The results show that exposure to inoculation messages did not significantly increase resistance to misinformation. But inoculation messages combined with other-generated eWOM helped the participants develop more negative attitudes toward alternative smoking immediately after exposure to the inoculation stimuli. The participants who wrote eWOM after exposure to inoculation messages were more resistant to the attack of misinformation in Phase 3. Self-generated and other-generated eWOM did not significantly differ in their persuasive effects in any phases. The findings extend the literature on the effects of WOM in the inoculation process and offer theoretical implications over inoculation theory in online contexts. The study provides empirical guidance on using inoculation messages to combat misinformation in social media. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

UI/UX Design Methodology of Portable Customizable Simulated Pet System Considering Human Mental Health

The economic depression accompanied by COVID-19 pandemic has also had some adverse effects on people's mental health. 4 in 10 adults have symptoms of anxiety and depression, and these symptoms may continue to increase. In particular, the reported rate of mental health disorders among adolescents is as high as 56.2%. Recently, pet ownership has become widely accepted as a means of improving mental health. However, due to various reasons, the separation of owners and pets has also increased significantly. Therefore, we have developed a portable simulated pet "KEDAMA", which can be used in place of real pets, and can be customized with fur and sound. The price is relatively cheap and can be ordered easily. We conducted a statistical analysis on 20 users, and the results show that the "KEDAMA"has a positive effect on users' mental health. © 2022 IEEE.

Overview and applications of master protocol in clinical trials

Master protocol is a novel and more efficient design for clinical trial research than the traditional clinical trials. Usually a master protocol includes several sub-protocols which could investigate treatment effects of a single drug on several diseases or multiple drugs targeting a single disorder. This review compared master protocol with traditional trials in terms of the research design principle, application, and procedure flow as well as advantages and limitations. We also presented some examples of ongoing applications of master protocol designs including treatment of COVID-19 related illness. Finally, we discussed about potential implementation of master protocol in China especially under the COVID-19 pandemic with an evaluation on the relevant opportunities and challenges. © 2021, Chinese Journal of New Drugs Co. Ltd. All right reserved.

Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Economy Using Machine Learning Method

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pneumonia in 2019 has caused great damage to the world economy. With the continuous growth of the amount of data, using machine learning algorithm to analyze and predict the economic development of different countries and regions is a hot topic in recent years. In this paper, three machine learning algorithms (XGBoost, AdaBoost and random forest algorithms) are coupled together, and a new algorithm is proposed. Combined with data preprocessing and fine feature engineering processing, GDP values of different countries and regions are predicted. Experimental results show that our coupled method has better performance than each single machine learning algorithm used in this paper. Specifically, the MSE metrics of proposed model is 1.64%, 3.69% and 8.95% lower than XGBoost, AdaBoost and Random Forest algorithm, respectively. In addition, we also study the correlation coefficient between features and get some constructive guidance to improve the accuracy of the algorithm and restrain the further development of the epidemic situation. © 2021 IEEE.

Players' Stories and Secrets in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Exploring Design Factors for Positive Emotions and Social Interactions in a Multiplayer Online Game

Animal Crossing is an online multiplayer game that supports social communication and collaboration. Its recent version, New Horizons, is immensely popular having sold over 32 million copies worldwide, with many players attracted to the opportunities it provides to remotely socialize during the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand players' increased positive emotions and social interactions, we surveyed 119 of them betweenMay and December 2020 and conducted remote interviews with 25 respondents. We identified the social dynamics among players and with non-player characters (NPCs), and analyzed how positive social interactions were facilitated under player-generated narratives and game-determined narratives. Based on our empirical analyses, we have extended our understanding of how to create positive, safe, and friendly interactions: (1)the design of mood-improving game worlds with flexible game tasks, (2) implementation of game-determined activities with social implications, (3) provision of player rewards to reinforce their social interactions, and (4)creation of opportunities to integrate NPCs' game-determined narratives into player-generated narratives. © 2021 ACM.

Research progress on of infection status evaluation of organ transplant donors

In early 2020, the outbreak of new coronavirus pneumonia broke out globally, and the assessment criteria for organ transplant donor infections also brought new changes. Under the situation of the new crown epidemic, it is necessary to update the infection assessment criteria for organ transplantation with regard to donor quality. The infectious pathogen spectrum of the absolute contraindications of donor organ donation has been updated, and the procedures for evaluating donor quality infections have changed accordingly. This review analyzes the infections from the donors by classification, and summarizes the treatment measures taken by the donors infected by different pathogens, and summarizes the evaluation standards and evaluation procedures of the donors' infection quality. © 2021, Editorial Board of Medical Journal of Wuhan University. All right reserved.

P31.01 A False Alarm of COVID-19 Pneumonia in Lung Cancer: A Case Report of Anti-PD-1 Related Pneumonitis

Introduction: The inhibition of immune checkpoint therapy emerged as the novel treatment in advanced lung cancer, including anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies. The fatal toxicity of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 agents is pneumonitis, which is defined as a noninfectious inflammation to the lung parenchyma. The diagnosis of pneumonitis consists of the history of immunotherapy, clinical symptoms and presentation of computed tomography (CT) imaging. The typical CT findings include ground-glass opacities. Based on the similar radiographic feature with 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia, clinicians are cautious to evaluate diagnosis especially in COVID-19 epidemic areas. Methods: Herein we report a 67-year-old male patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer developed pneumonitis post 10 cycles of Sintilimab injection. The dyspnea appeared at the 15th day of close contact with his son who returned from Wuhan, but not accompanied with fever. The chest CT (Fig. 1A) indicated peripherally subpleural lattice opacities at the inferior right lung lobe and bilateral thoracic infusion. The complete blood count showed increased white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophilic granulocyte with concurrent decreased lymphocyte. The C reaction protein (CRP) level was high with normal value of procalcitonin. As suspect of COVID-19 infection, the patient was treated in isolation ward and real-time reverse-transcription polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) from double swab samples within 72 hours remained negative. No pathogen was found from sputum culture. The patient was thereafter treated the daily dose of 80 mg prednisolone and meropenem for 7 days. At the third day post treatment, the chest CT (Fig. 1B) showed attenuated inflammatory lesion. The daily dose of prednisolone was stepwise reduced to 40mg for 7 days and then minimally 20mg. Secondary to 7 days of piperacillin tazobactam injection, the chest CT (Fig. 1C) demonstrated the former lesion almost absorbed, in line with prominently falling CRP level. [Formula presented] Results: The anti-PD-1 related pneumonitis with bacterial infection was diagnosed finally based on the clinical evidence and good response to the prednisolone and antibiotics. Conclusion: Both ani-PD-1 related pneumonitis and COVID-19 pneumonia harbor the common clinical symptom and the varied features of CT imaging. Differential diagnosis was based on the epidemiological and immunotherapy histories, RT-PCR tests. The response to glucocorticoid can indirectly help the diagnosis. Keywords: COVID-19, Immunotherapy, pneumonitis