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Handan is a typical city affected by regional particulate pollution. In order to investigate particulate matter (PM) characterization, source contributions and health risks for the general populations, we collected PM samples at two sites affected by a pollution event (12–18 May 2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed the major components (SNA, OCEC, WSIIs, and metal elements). A PCA-MLR model was used for source apportionment. The carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks caused by metal elements in the PM were assessed. The results show that the renewal of old neighborhoods significantly influences local PM, and primarily the PM10;the average contribution to PM10 was 27 μg/m3. The source apportionment has indicated that all other elements came from dust, except Cd, Pb and Zn, and the contribution of the dust source to PM was 60.4%. As PM2.5 grew to PM10, the PM changed from basic to acidic, resulting in a lower NH4+ concentration in PM10 than PM2.5. The carcinogenic risk of PM10 was more than 1 × 10−6 for both children and adults, and the excess mortality caused by the renewal of the community increased by 23%. Authorities should pay more attention to the impact of renewal on air quality. The backward trajectory and PSCF calculations show that both local sources and short-distance transport contribute to PM—local sources for PM10, and short-distance transport in southern Hebei, northern Henan and northern Anhui for PM2.5, SO2 and NO2. © 2023 by the authors.
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The fresh e-commerce industry has seen a sudden and substantial rise since the outbreak of COVID-19. The rapid development of this industry calls for a comprehensive and systematic review of its research status, hotspots and future trends, which will have significant implications for researchers in related fields. This paper first conducts a current situation analysis of the core literature on fresh e-commerce retrieved from four databases – CNKI, CSSCI, Wanfang and VIP – to categorize the research status of fresh e-commerce in three dimensions: the year of publication, article sources, and distribution of subjects. CiteSpace is then used to perform a bibliometric analysis of the data and to create visualized knowledge maps. The results show that the research on fresh e-commerce can be divided into three stages: rapid development (2012-2015), exploration and transformation (2016-2019), maturity and upgrade (2020-present). At each stage, the research evolves toward diversity and maturity with policy developments and changes in the external environment. Cold chain logistics, business models, freshness-keeping of products and e-commerce are ongoing research hotspots in fresh produce e-commerce, while later studies focus more on the transformation and upgrade of products, logistics, distribution and platforms to better serve consumers' consumption habits and environmental requirements. This study provides valuable insights for researchers and enterprises who are engaged in the industry and for those who are interested in the development of fresh e-commerce in China. © 2022 International Consortium for Electronic Business. All rights reserved.
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Background Several studies have shown that new medical graduates feel unprepared for their role as clinicians. In October 2019 Salisbury District Hospital (SDH) piloted a successful 'hold-the-bleep' simulation day for 5th year Southampton medical students. In March 2020, in response to COVID-19, medical students were given early registration. The majority of FiY1s had not received or missed out on formal bleep training due to graduating early. Methodology Over 2 days 8 FiY1s were issued with a bleep for a half-day period, continuing normal daily tasks whilst being bleeped for phone advice or to assess a simulated patient. 4 clinical stations and 4 phone calls were designed to simulate roles of FY1s with SIM-Man simulating the patients. Immediate feedback was recorded and generic themes discussed at a structured session, discussing what went well or was challenging. Each FiY1 completed a feedback for assessing confidence and wrote a reflective piece. Results Feedback was qualitatively and quantitatively positive. All found the SIM session useful and would recommend it. 7 of 8 candidates had a numerical increase in confidence in managing and prioritising calls. Conclusions and recommendations The stations addressed communication skills, prioritisation, clinical and practical skills, and drug prescribing. The improvement in FiY1s confidence and skills is likely to lead to improved patient outcome and satisfaction. Faculty who role played, reported an improvement in the trainees' performance. These results are similar to those from Liverpool and previous bleep SIM sessions we held at SDH.
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INTRODUCTION: Neurosurgery is one of the youngest and rapidly evolving surgical disciplines. After adequate training, residents graduate with the capability to practice across different settings such as academic centers, community hospitals, and others. We present the effect of COVID 19 pandemic on the surgical case volume in a US training program. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed operative case volume at our program for the year 2019 and January-mid April 2020.We chose to include the mid-March to mid-April period as it corresponded to the time when our institution started deferring elective cases. We categorized cases as an elective cranial, elective spine, and emergency (trauma and other non-elective cases). We then summarized and compared the number of cases during this period. RESULTS: The average number of cases in 2019 was 99 cases per month (37 elective cranial, 42 elective spine, and 20 emergent). In 2020, The total case number in January, February, March, and mid-March to mid-April was 97, 86, 71, and 41cases respectively. In comparison to January 2020, February, March, mid-March to mid-April showed a 12%, 27%, and 58% reduction in the number of cases. The absolute number of emergent cases was comparable in January through mid-April 2020 (17,11,15, and 16) but in mid-March to mid-April emergent cases constituted 39% of the total case number. CONCLUSION: Neurosurgical residency is an eighty-four months of rigorous training with a minimum of 800 cases is required to prepare residents for a successful career in neurosurgery. The significant decline in the number of cases due to COVID 19 might affect the quality of training, especially for senior residents.
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Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious contagious disease that arises from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease is transmitted primarily through droplets transmission, which does not exclude the possibility of transmission through aerosols and digestive tract and other means. The majority of COVID-19 cases present as common and mild, while a few cases progress rapidly to the severe and critical stage, making it more difficult to save the disease. Current laboratory diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 are on the basis of pathogenic tests for viral nucleic acids, serological tests by specific antibody detection, and general tests. For now, Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) is the gold standard for the detection of COVID-19, but the method is complicated and may have false-negative results. Therefore, in order to diagnose and prevention COVID-19 more effectively, it is needful to develop highly sensitive diagnostic methods with portable instruments and visualized results. This mini-review provides an overview of the current portable and visual assays of detection of COVID-19, in order to achieve early effective and more accurate diagnosis of COVID-19.
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Purpose: To identify factors associated with an increased or decreased risk of SUDEP. Method: The EpiNet study group is undertaking a prospective case-control study, aiming to recruit 200 participants from approximately 40 international centres over four years. Patients with epilepsy from a pre-defined cohort who die of definite or probable SUDEP will be included. Cases must be alive when the cohort is defined. For each case, three true controls and one proxy control will be recruited from the same cohort. A structured telephone interview with the next-of-kin of SUDEP cases will be conducted. Controls will be asked about their epilepsy and lifestyle. Proxy controls will be asked about the control patient they know. Information regarding seizure type and medication, sleeping arrangements, nocturnal supervision, use of seizure-detection devices, socio-economic factors and other health issues will be entered into the EpiNet database. Pathologists' and coroners' data regarding circumstances and cause of death will also be recorded if available. The data will be analysed to identify risk factors for SUDEP. Odds ratios will be calculated using the Mantel-Haenszel method and logistic regression to control for covariates. 200 cases and 800 controls will detect an odds ratio of 1.7 over a control exposure range of 22-65%, with 80% power and 95% confidence level (2-sided). Result: The study is now underway in 8 countries through Asia-Oceania, Europe and North America. COVID-19 has adversely affected case enrolment, and new centres are being sought. Conclusions: SUDEP is second only to stroke as the leading neurological cause of years of potential life lost. The causes remain uncertain. A large prospective case-control study is the best way to determine the extent of the association between specific variables and SUDEP, in particular, those that could be modified to prevent this tragedy. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to contact: epinetadmin@adhb.govt.nz.
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We develop an online convex optimization method for predicting time series based on streaming observations. We first approximate the evolution of time-varying autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) processes and then propose a discounted online Newton method for estimating time-varying ARIMA time series. Under practical assumptions, we establish dynamic regret bounds that quantify the tracking performance of our algorithm. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of our method, we conduct experiments on prediction problems based on both artificial data and real-world COVID-19 data. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to report a COVID-19 prediction that utilizes online learning.
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The global health, economic, and social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are growing day by day. Over the past few months, first China, and now the whole world has been grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in businesses, employees, customers, communities, and each other. The people worldwide are strongly committed to working together and supporting each other in every way possible during this critical period filled with fear and uncertainty. Grounded on stakeholder theory and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature, the study attempts to explore business responses to the COVID-19 pandemic to support its vital stakeholders such as employees, customers, communities, and society as a whole through CSR initiatives. The study based on the contemporary phenomenon considered multi-items as data sources such as press releases, newsletters, and letters to shareholders, which were retrieved from the top 25 (the sample) corporations of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens-2019 (the population) in the United States’ respective websites on the internet. The outcomes of this research report that sampled companies show respect to their employees and focus on stewardship relations between corporations and customers and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will have a significant theoretical application and practical implication on business duty to society and future research on CSR as a strong arm to deal with a critical disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic. © The Author(s) 2021.
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Background: Compared to the healthy people, people with comorbid medical conditions are more vulnerable in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including the people with epilepsy. Besides a consensus recommendation by multi-national epilepsy specialists, the situation of the epilepsy management during the pandemic has seldom been reported. Methods: The China Association Against Epilepsy carried out an online nationwide survey among its board members in April 2020. One hundred and thirty board members from 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 4 municipalities across China responded to the questionnaires. They reported the situation of clinical practice and gave opinions on the management of people with epilepsy between January 13th and March 31st, 2020, a time period concentrated with confirmed COVID-19 cases. Results: The proportions of patients consulting through telephone or online (88.4%) and of patients with regular case review (93.9%) were highest in the high-risk area, as reported by the responders. The patients in the high-risk area were more likely to have increased episodes of seizures (17.7%), aggravated psychological disorders (30.2%), and less accessibility to anti-seizure medications (ASMs) (77.2%). Regular ASMs supply (74.6%), medical consultation (69.2%), and psychological aids (29.2%) were urgently needed for people with epilepsy. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the most common dilemma faced by people with epilepsy in policy circumstances during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. The opinions raised by Chinese epileptologists may provide reference for epilepsy care in other countries.
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We report a critically ill pregnant woman in the third trimester with severe pneumonia due to COVID-19 who presented to Xiaolan People's Hospital of Zhongshan in February 2020. The 32-year-old patient was admitted at 35+2 gestational weeks with a 4-day history of a sore throat and a fever for three hours. The patient had been to Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, and the symptoms occurred during a period of self-isolation after back home. The condition of the patient deteriorated rapidly, with left-sided chest and back pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, progressing to respiratory failure and septic shock 7 hours after her admission. In view of her critical condition and a history of two previous cesarean sections, an emergency cesarean section was performed. Blood gas analysis of the mother before the operation suggested respiratory failure, respiratory acidosis, and metabolic acidosis. During the operation, a baby boy was born. The Apgar score of the boy, birth weight of 2 700 g, was one at 1, 5, and 10 minutes despite the resuscitation efforts. The neonate died after withdrawing treatment. The patient was treated with tracheal intubation ventilator and other supportive treatments after the operation. The result of the new coronavirus nucleic acid test, taken on admission, but which was reported after delivery, was positive. The patient was transferred to the designated hospital for further treatment and was recovering with the withdrawal of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and ventilation at 26 and 36 days after surgery, respectively. Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.