Face Mask Reduces Gaze-Cueing Effect (preprint)

Recent studies have found that face masks affect social cognition and behaviour in the context of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The eyes, the only part of the face not covered by face masks, are an important spatial attention cue that can trigger social attention orienting. Here, we adopted a spatial gaze-cueing task to investigate whether face masks affect social attention orienting triggered by eye gaze cues. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to determine the orientation of a target line under two types of cues—masked and non-masked faces—and two stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) conditions (300 ms and 1000 ms). The results showed that masked faces induced a smaller gaze-cueing effect (GCE) compared to non-masked faces at 300 ms SOA, while two face types induced similar GCEs at 1000 ms SOA. Experiment 2 used mouth-obscured faces and non-masked faces as cues and found that no significant difference in GCE between the two types at either 1000 ms or 300 ms SOA, indicating that the reduction of GCE caused by the masked face was due to the social meaning expressed by the mask rather than a physical effect of masking. The present study extends previous findings to support the idea that high-level social information affects the processing of eye gaze direction and provides evidence that face masks affect social cognition and behaviour in the context of COVID-19.

Efficacy of a 6-Week Home-Based Online Supervised Exercise Program Conducted During COVID-19 in Patients With Post Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a 6-week cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program designed for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) that involved an online supervised exercise program that they could access during COVID-19. Methods: One hundred patients were randomly allocated into control group (CG) and supervision group (SG). CG accepted conventional health education with a home exercise program booklet delivered before discharge, SG had an additional home-based online supervised exercise program (HOSEP). Questionnaires, motor function and lipid profile were administered at baseline. Questionnaires included the Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity questionnaire (GSLTPAQ) and Bandura's Exercise Self-efficacy (ESE). Motor function included: 6-min walk test (6 MWT), timed up and go test (TUG), 30-s sit to stand (30-s STS), and Hand Grip Strength (HG). Lipid profile included: low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG). The questionnaires were re-administered after 2-weeks, all tests were re-evaluated after 6-weeks. Results: the questionnaire results showed that scores on GSLTPAQ and ESE were significantly improved in the SG. The changes in GSLTPAQ scores from baseline to 2- and 6-weeks in the SG were significantly higher than in the CG (2-week: 6.9 ± 13.0 for SG and 0.2 ± 10.2 for CG, p = 0.005; 6-week: 9.4 ± 18.1 for SG and 0.2 ± 11.8 for CG, p = 0.003). in terms of motor function, both the CG and SG improved TUG and 6 MWT performance, with the 6 MWT improvement being significantly greater in the SG than CG (43.7 ± 39.2 m for SG and 16.6 ± 39.1 m for CG, p = 0.001). Improvement in the 30-s STS was significantly greater in the SG than CG (2.4 ± 3.6 repetitions for SG and 0.4 ± 3.5 repetitions for CG, p = 0.007). the lipid profile level significantly improved over baseline in both SG and CG after 6-week intervention, and these changes were not statistically different between groups. Conclusion: This pilot randomized control study demonstrated that a 6-week HOSEP, when added to education delivered pre-hospital discharge for CAD patients following PCI, was beneficial with respect to exercise self-efficacy, exercise behavior, motor function and lipid profile. Supervised exercise programs delivered online in addition to education providing effective and accessible CR during COVID-19.

Combining Direct PCR Technology and Capillary Electrophoresis for an Easy-to-Operate and Highly Sensitive Infectious Disease Detection System for Shrimp.

Infectious diseases are considered the greatest threat to the modern high-density shrimp aquaculture industry. Specificity, rapidity, and sensitivity of molecular diagnostic methods for the detection of asymptomatic infected shrimp allows preventive measures to be taken before disease outbreaks. Routine molecular detection of pathogens in infected shrimp can be made easier with the use of a direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In this study, four direct PCR reagent brands were tested, and results showed that the detection signal of direct PCR in hepatopancreatic tissue was more severely affected. In addition, portable capillary electrophoresis was applied to improve sensitivity and specificity, resulting in a pathogen detection limit of 25 copies/PCR-reaction. Juvenile shrimp from five different aquaculture ponds were tested for white spot syndrome virus infection, and the results were consistent with the Organization for Animal Health's certified standard method. Furthermore, this methodology could be used to examine single post larvae shrimp. The overall detection time was reduced by more than 58.2%. Therefore, the combination of direct PCR and capillary electrophoresis for on-site examination is valuable and has potential as a suitable tool for diagnostic, epidemiological, and pathological studies of shrimp aquaculture.

The changing pattern of enteric pathogen infections in China during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nation-wide observational study.

BACKGROUND: Non pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) including hand washing directives were implemented in China and worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which are likely to have had impacted a broad spectrum of enteric pathogen infections. METHODS: Etiologically diagnostic data from 45 937 and 67 395 patients with acute diarrhea between 2012 and 2020, who were tested for seven viral pathogens and 13 bacteria respectively, were analyzed to assess the changes of enteric pathogen infections in China during the first COVID-19 pandemic year compared to pre-pandemic years. FINDINGS: Test positive rates of all enteric viruses decreased during 2020, compared to the average levels during 2012-2019, with a relative decrease of 71•75% for adenovirus, 58•76% for norovirus, 53•50% for rotavirus A, and 72•07% for the combination of other four uncommon viruses. In general, a larger reduction of positive rate in viruses was seen among adults than pediatric patients. A rebound of rotavirus A was seen after September 2020 in North China rather than South China. Test positive rates of bacteria decreased during 2020, compared to the average levels during 2012-2019, excepting for nontyphoidal Salmonella and Campylobacter coli with 66•53% and 90•48% increase respectively. This increase was larger for pediatric patients than for adult patients. INTERPRETATION: The activity of enteric pathogens changed profoundly alongside the NPIs implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Greater reductions of the test positive rates were found for almost all enteric viruses than for bacteria among acute diarrhea patients, with further large differences by age and geography. Lifting of NPIs will lead to resurgence of enteric pathogen infections, particularly in children whose immunity may not have been developed and/or waned. FUNDING: China Mega-Project on Infectious Disease Prevention; National Natural Science Funds.

Limiting potential COVID-19 contagion in squatting public toilets.

BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten global stability. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is mostly by respiratory droplets and direct contact but viral RNA fragments have also been detected in the faecal waste of patients with COVID-19. Cleanliness and effective sanitation of public toilets is a concern, as flushing the toilet is potentially an aerosol generating procedure. When the toilets are of the squatting type and without a cover, there exists a risk of viral contamination through the splashing of toilet water and aerosol generation. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine whether the cleanliness of public toilets was a concern to the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether a squatting toilet was preferred to a seated design. METHODS: A questionnaire was designed and posted on "WeChat" contact groups of the investigators. RESULTS: The survey showed that 91% of participants preferred squatting toilets, but that 72% were apprehensive of personal contamination when using public toilets. Over 63% of the respondents had encountered an incidence of water splash and would prefer public toilets to be covered during flushing and 83% of these respondents preferred a foot-controlled device. CONCLUSION: This survey suggests that consideration should be given to the installation of a simple foot-controlled device to cover public squatting toilets to help restrict potential COVID-19 contamination and to meet hygienic expectations of the public.

MicroLet-7b Regulates Neutrophil Function and Dampens Neutrophilic Inflammation by Suppressing the Canonical TLR4/NF-κB Pathway.

Sepsis is a heterogeneous syndrome caused by a dysregulated host response during the process of infection. Neutrophils are involved in the development of sepsis due to their essential role in host defense. COVID-19 is a viral sepsis. Disfunction of neutrophils in sepsis has been described in previous studies, however, little is known about the role of microRNA-let-7b (miR-let-7b), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity in neutrophils and how they participate in the development of sepsis. In this study, we investigated the regulatory pathway of miR-let-7b/TLR4/NF-κB in neutrophils. We also explored the downstream cytokines released by neutrophils following miR-let-7b treatment and its therapeutic effects in cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced septic mice. Six-to-eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice underwent CLP following treatment with miR-let-7b agomir. Survival (n=10), changes in liver and lungs histopathology (n=4), circulating neutrophil counts (n=4), the liver-body weight ratio (n=4-7), and the lung wet-to-dry ratio (n=5-6) were recorded. We found that overexpression of miR-let-7b could significantly down-regulate the expression of human-derived neutrophilic TLR4 at a post-transcriptional level, a decreased level of proinflammatory factors including interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and an upregulation of anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 in vitro. After miR-let-7b agomir treatment in vivo, neutrophil recruitment was inhibited and thus the injuries of liver and lungs in CLP-induced septic mice were alleviated (p=0.01 and p=0.04, respectively), less weight loss was reduced, and survival in septic mice was also significantly improved (p=0.013). Our study suggested that miR-let-7b could be a potential target of sepsis.

MR1-Restricted T Cells with MAIT-like Characteristics Are Functionally Conserved in the Pteropid Bat Pteropus alecto.

Bats are reservoirs for a large number of viruses which have potential to cause major human disease outbreaks, including the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Major efforts are underway to understand bat immune response to viruses, whereas much less is known about their immune responses to bacteria. In this study, MR1-restricted T (MR1T) cells were detected through the use of MR1 tetramers in circulation and tissues of Pteropus alecto (Pa) bats. Pa MR1T cells exhibited weak responses to MR1-presented microbial metabolites at resting state. However, following priming with MR1-presented agonist they proliferated, upregulated critical transcription factors and cytolytic proteins, and gained transient expression of Th1/17-related cytokines and antibacterial cytotoxicity. Collectively, these findings show that the Pa bat immune system encompasses an abundant and functionally conserved population of MR1T cells with mucosal-associated invariant T-like characteristics, suggesting that MR1 and MR1T cells also play a significant role in bat immune defense.