Four new eudesmane-type and one new eremophilane-type sesquiterpenes from the whole plant of Carpesium abrotanoides L.

The extract of the whole plant of Carpesium abrotanoides L. yielded five new sesquiterpenes including four eudesmanes (1-4) and one eremophilane (5). The new compounds were characterized by spectroscopic analysis especially 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and HRESIMS data. Structurally, both compounds 1 and 2 were sesquiterpene epoxides and 2 owned an epoxy group at C-4/C-15 position to form a spiro skeleton. Compounds 4 and 5 were two sesquiterpenes without lactones and 5 possessed a carboxy group in the molecule. Additionally, all the isolated compounds were preliminarily evaluated for the inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 main protease. As a result, compound 2 showed moderate activity with an IC50 value of 18.79 µM, while other compounds were devoid of noticeable activity (IC50 > 50 µM).

The Usability, Feasibility, Acceptability, and Efficacy of Digital Mental Health Services in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review, Systematic Review, and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: After the rapid spread of the novel SARS-CoV-2, the short-term and long-term mental health impacts of the pandemic on the public, in particular on susceptible individuals, have been reported worldwide. Although digital mental health services expand accessibility while removing many barriers to in-person therapy, their usability, feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy require continued monitoring during the initial phase of the pandemic and its aftermath. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to understand what mental health services are offered, whether they are practical or acceptable, and to what extent digital mental health services are effective in response to the COVID-19 pandemic across high-income and low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guideline. We implemented searches in PubMed (MEDLINE), Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases for studies that were published between December 2019 and November 2021 and that involved the use of digital mental health services. Two review authors screened, assessed, and extracted studies independently. The protocol was registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. RESULTS: This review identified 7506 articles through database searching. In total, 65 (0.9%) studies from 18 countries with 67,884 participants were eligible for the scoping review. Of the 65 studies, 16 (24.6%) were included in the meta-analysis. A total of 15 (23.1%) studies measured the usability; 31 (47.7%) studies evaluated the feasibility; 29 (44.6%) studies assessed the acceptability; and 51 (78.5%) studies assessed the efficacy. Web-based programs (21/65, 32.3%), videoconferencing platforms (16/65, 24.6%), smartphone apps (14/65, 21.5%), and SMS text messaging (5/65, 7.7%) were the main techniques. Psychotherapy (44/65, 67.7%) followed by psychoeducation (6/65, 9.2%) and psychological support (5/65, 7.7%) were commonly used. The results of the meta-analysis showed that digital mental health interventions were associated with a small reduction in depressive symptoms (standardized mean difference=-0.49; 95% CI -0.74 to -0.24; P<.001) and a moderate reduction in anxiety symptoms (standardized mean difference=-0.66; 95% CI -1.23 to -1.0; P=.02) significantly. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that digital mental health interventions may be practical and helpful for the general population, at-risk individuals, and patients with preexisting mental disorders across high-income and middle-income countries. An expanded research agenda is needed to apply different strategies for addressing diverse psychological needs and develop integrated mental health services in the post-COVID-19 era. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022307695; https://tinyurl.com/2jcuwjym.

Utility of Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Nasopharynx Swabs as a Reflex Test to Triage Seropositive Individuals in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Screening Programs.

BACKGROUND: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA detection in the nasopharynx is considered a biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We evaluated its performance as a reflex test to triage EBV seropositives within an NPC screening program in China. METHODS: The study population was embedded within an ongoing NPC screening trial and included 1111 participants who screened positive for anti-EBV VCA (antibodies against EBV capsid antigens)/EBNA1 (EBV nuclear antigen1)-IgA antibodies (of 18 237 screened). Nasopharynx swabs were collected/tested for EBNA1 gene EBV DNA load. We evaluated performance of EBV DNA in the nasopharynx swab as a reflex test to triage EBV serological high-risk (those referred to endoscopy/MRI) and medium-risk (those referred to accelerated screening) individuals. RESULTS: By the end of 2019, we detected 20 NPC cases from 317 serological high-risk individuals and 4 NPC cases from 794 medium-risk individuals. When used to triage serological high-risk individuals, nasopharynx swab EBV DNA was detected in 19/20 cases (positivity rate among cases: 95.0%; 95% CI, 75.1%-99.9%), with a referral rate of 63.4% (201/317, 95% CI, 57.8%-68.7%) and NPC detection rate among positives of 9.5% (19/201, 95% CI, 5.8%-14.4%). The performance of an algorithm that combined serology with triage of serology high-risk individuals using EBV DNA testing yielded a sensitivity of 72.4% (95% CI, 3.0%-81.4%) and specificity of 97.6% (95% CI, 97.2%-97.9%). When used to triage EBV serological medium-risk individuals, the positivity rate among cases was 75.0% (95% CI, 19.4%-99.4%), with a referral rate of 61.8% (95% CI, 58.4%-65.2%) and NPC detection rate among positives of 0.6% (95% CI, 0.1%-1.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Nasopharynx swab EBV DNA showed promise as a reflex test to triage serology high-risk individuals, reducing referral by ca. 40% with little reduction in sensitivity compared to a serology-only screening program.

2D Winograd CNN Chip for COVID-19 and Pneumonia Detection

In this paper, a two-dimensional Winograd CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) chip for COVID-19 and pneumonia detection is proposed. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have led to a dramatic increase in the effects of the virus on the lungs. Some studies have also pointed out that the clinical application of deep learning in the medical field is also increasing, and it is also pointed out that the radiation impact of CT exposure is more serious than that of X-ray films and that CT exposure is not suitable for viral pneumonia. This study will analyze the results of X-rays trained using CNN architecture and convolutional using Winograd. This research will also set up a popular model architecture to realize four kinds of grayscale image prediction to verify the actual prediction effect on this data. The experimental data is mainly composed of chest X-rays of four different types of grayscales as input material. Among them, the research method of this experiment is to design the basic CNN operation structure of the chip and apply the Winograd calculus method to the convolutional operation. Finally, according to the TSMC 0.18 μm process, the actual chip is produced, and each step is verified to ensure the correctness of the circuit. The experimental results prove that the accuracy of our proposed method reaches 87.87%, and the precision reaches 88.48%. This proves that our proposed method has an excellent recognition rate.

Acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children: A combination of factors.

On 5 April 2022, the World Health Organization was notified of 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children under 10 years of age in the United Kingdom. Although the exact cause of a proportion of pediatric acute hepatitis and acute liver failure cases was unclear, the above event has caused widespread concern worldwide. As of 14 September 2022, approximately 1,296 probable cases of acute hepatitis of unknown etiology have been reported from 37 countries/regions, of which approximately 55 required or received liver transplantation and 29 died. Although the etiology of acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children remains unclear, many hypotheses have been proposed about the disease. Instead of individual factors such as "adenovirus infection," "SARS-CoV-2 related," and "Adeno-associated virus 2 with helper virus coinfection," it is more likely due to a combination of factors. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for more data and research to clarify the disease etiology. This review aims to provide a historical perspective of acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children in the past decades and summarize the current hypothesis and evidence on this emerging disease.

TBR-NER: Research on COVID-19 Text Information Extraction Based on Joint Learning of Topic Recognition and Named Entity Recognition

There is a centralization of the core content in the text information of the new crown epidemic notification. This paper proposes a joint learning text information extraction method: TBR-NER (topic-based recognition named entity recognition) based on topic recognition and named entity recognition to predict the labeled risk areas and epidemic trajectory information in text information. Transfer learning and data augmentation are used to solve the problem of data scarcity caused by the initial local outbreak of the epidemic, and mutual understanding is achieved by topic self-labeling without introducing additional labeled data. Taking the epidemic cases in Hebei and Jilin provinces as examples, the reliability and effectiveness of the method are verified by five types of topic recognition and 15 types of entity information extraction. The experimental results show that, compared with the four existing NER methods, this method can achieve optimality faster through the mutual learning of each task at the early stage of training. The optimal accuracy in the independent test set can be improved by more than 20%, and the minimum loss value is significantly reduced. This also proves that the joint learning algorithm (TBR-NER) mentioned in this paper performs better in such tasks. The TBR-NER model has specific sociality and applicability and can help in epidemic prediction, prevention, and control.

A nanofluidic preconcentrator integrated with an aluminum-based nanoplasmonic sensor for Epstein-Barr virus detection

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positivity is one of the indexes for diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Moreover, systemic inflammatory responses can easily be triggered in patients who are both EBV- and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-positive. Development of rapid and highly sensitive EBV screening methods has become important. In this study, a nanofluidic preconcentrator integrated with a nanoslit Fano resonance biosensor was developed to detect latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) for an EBV diagnosis. Through nanoimprinting and aluminum deposition, the low-cost nanoslit plasmonic sensing chip can be mass-produced. The nanoporous membrane was patterned on a sensing chip as an ion selective channel to concentrate LMP1 proteins. Anti-LMP1 immunoglobulin G was then modified to a sensing chip to immunosense LMP1. The Fano resonant spectrum of the capped nanoslit array produced a transmission peak followed by a dip. We recorded and analyzed the spectrum using four methods, including area, center of mass, peak value, and dip value methods. With preconcentration, a limit of detection (LOD) of 100pg/ml and a sensing range of 100pg/ml to 10µg/ml was achieved using the peak value.

Correlation of Sexual Behavior Change, Family Function, and Male-Female Intimacy Among Adults Aged 18-44 Years During COVID-19 Epidemic.

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been declared a global pandemic. In this unprecedented situation, the intimate relationship, sexual behavior, and family functions of partners have also undergone unique changes. There are few reports on whether sexual behavior and family function affect intimate relationships between partners, especially among people aged 18 to 44 years. AIM: To analyze the influence of sociodemographic characteristics, family function, and changes in sexual behavior on male-female intimacy, the independent contributions of the aforementioned factors in this population group are required to be further investigated. METHODS: In the present study, 284 Chinese citizens aged 18-44 years completed the online questionnaire. The univariate analysis and cluster multiple linear regression were used to analyze the associations between sociodemographic factors, sexual-behavior changes, family function, and male-female intimacy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Family adaptation, partnership, growth, affection, resolve (APGAR) Scale and Relationship Assessment Scale were used to evaluate participants' family function and their intimacy. Details of the participants (sociodemographic and sexual factors) were obtained. RESULTS: The summary scores, with Relationship Assessment Scale and APGAR scales, were 27.19 ± 4.49 and 6.76 ± 2.28, respectively. About 43.3% of participants reported a decrease in sexual frequency. There were considerable differences among age, education level, sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, quality of sexual life, family function with male-female intimacy (P < .05). The sexual satisfaction and intimacy demonstrated a significant positive correlation (P < .05) by cluster multiple linear regression analysis. Compared with those who had a sexual life of mediocre quality, respondents who experienced a good quality sexual life had relatively higher scores in intimacy. The independent contributions of sociodemographic factors, sexual behavior factors, and family function in male-female intimacy were 13.0%, 38.2%, and 48.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual behavior factors and family function were important independent determinants of partner intimacy among people aged 18-44 years. It can provide supportive information for health care to develop intervention plans and services to promote the harmonious development of intimate relationship. Feng Y-J, Fan Y-J, Su Z-Z, et al. Correlation of Sexual Behavior Change, Family Function, and Male-Female Intimacy Among Adults Aged 18-44 Years During COVID-19 Epidemic. Sex Med 2021;9:100301.

Continuous polymerase chain reaction microfluidics integrated with a gold-capped nanoslit sensing chip for Epstein-Barr virus detection.

We present the first combination of a microfluidic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a gold nanoslit-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for detecting the DNA sequence of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1). The PCR microchannel was produced through a laser scribing technique, and the SPR nanoslit chip was manufactured via hot-embossing nanoimprinting lithography. Afterward, the LMP1 DNA probe was adsorbed onto the SPR chip of the integrated device through electrostatic interactions for further detection. The device can complete the analytical procedure in around 36 min, while the traditional machine requires 105 min to achieve similar signals under the same PCR thermal cycles. The calibration curve with serially diluted LMP1 DNA exhibited the accuracy (R2 > 0.99) and sensitivity (limit of detection: ∼10-11 g/mL) of the device. Moreover, extracted DNA from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive cells were directly detected through the integrated chip. In brief, this all-in-one chip can amplify gene fragments at the front-end and detect them at the back-end, decreasing the time required for the analysis without compromising accuracy or sensitivity. We believe this label-free, real-time, low-cost device has enormous potential for rapid detection of various viruses, such as EBV and COVID-19.

Safety and Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Different Vaccines at Phase 3.

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to compare the safety and efficacy of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines according to vaccine platform and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection severity. Articles published between 24 January 2020 and 30 May 2021 were retrieved via a PubMed and EMBASE search. A total of 12 reports on phase-3 clinical trials and observational studies of COVID-19 vaccines were included in the review. In terms of vaccine safety, mRNA vaccines showed more relevance to serious adverse events than viral vector and inactivated vaccines, but no solid evidence indicated that COVID-19 vaccines directly caused serious adverse events. Serious metabolic, musculoskeletal, immune-system, and renal disorders were more common among inactivated vaccine recipients, and serious gastrointestinal complications and infections were more common among viral vector and inactivated vaccine recipients. The occurrence of serious vessel disorders was more frequent in mRNA vaccines. In terms of efficacy, two mRNA vaccine doses conferred a lesser risk of SARS-COV-2 infection (odds ratio: 0.05; 95% confidence interval: 0.02-0.13) than did vaccination with viral vector and inactivated vaccines. All vaccines protected more against symptomatic than asymptomatic cases (risk ratio, 0.11 vs. 0.34), but reduced the risk of severe SARS-COV-2 infection. The COVID-19 vaccines assessed in this study are sufficiently safe and effective. The results indicate that two mRNA vaccine doses prevent SARS-COV-2 infection most effectively, but further research is needed due to the high degree of heterogeneity among studies in this sample. Interventions should be implemented continuously to reduce the risks of infection after one vaccine dose and asymptomatic infection.

Dynamic profiles of SARS-Cov-2 infection from five Chinese family clusters in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although several cases of family clusters with SARS-Cov-2 infection have been reported, there are still limited data preventing conclusions from being drawn regarding the characteristics and laboratory findings in the COVID-19 population within family clusters. In the present study, we retrospectively collected five family clusters with COVID-19 and summarized the dynamic profiles of the clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, immune markers, treatment and prognosis of this population. Furthermore, we also compared clinical and laboratory data between the SARS-Cov-2 infection with family cluster (n = 21) and those without family cluster (n = 16). We demonstrated that the duration of SARS-Cov-2 replication might be varied based on the different family clusters due to their different genetic backgrounds. The onset improved lung radiology might start at the end of the SARS-Cov-2 positive period. Furthermore, the obtained results demonstrated that similar basic characteristics and clinical findings seem to exist between the cases with SARS-Cov-2 and without family clusters. The serum level of ferritin might have a different biological function and be a new biomarker for the family cluster. Further studies with larger numbers of patients are required.

Comparative Analysis of 95 Patients with Different Severity in the Early Outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical characteristics of patients with different severity in the early outbreak of COVID-19, hoping to provide reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 95 COVID-19 patients in Wuhan Red Cross Hospital of China from January 17 to February 13, 2020. All patients were investigated with epidemiological questionnaires. Outcomes were followed up until April 1, 2020. RESULTS: There were 53 males and 42 females, aged 22-84 years (mean 57.3 years). Clinical classification included 54 cases of common type, 27 cases of severe type, and 14 cases of critical type. Six patients had been exposed to the local Huanan seafood market. There were 38 clusters of COVID-19, including 27 family clusters and 11 work unit clusters. Common symptoms included fever (86 (90.5%) of 95), cough (73 (76.8%)), and fatigue (50 (52.6%)). Laboratory findings showed that the most common abnormalities were lymphopenia (75 (78.9%)), elevated D-dimer (60 (63.2%)), and elevated C-reactive protein (56 (58.9%)) on admission. All patients had abnormal chest computed tomography, showing patchy shadows or ground-glass opacities. Severe and critical cases were older, more likely to have shortness of breath, more likely to have underlying comorbidities, and more likely to have abnormal laboratory findings than common cases. The prognosis of patients with different degrees of severity was significantly different. All common and severe patients (100%) were cured and discharged from the hospital, while 10 (71.4%) of 14 critical patients died. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 has fast transmission speed and high pathogenicity. We must assess the severity of the disease and take corresponding treatment measures as early as possible.