Game Analysis of Oil Trade among Major Countries: Taking China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia as Examples

A new pattern of oil trade has emerged under the influence of geopolitics and the COVID-19 pandemic. To explore China's oil security in these changed times, this study takes the new pattern of global oil trade as the background and adopts the oil trade models of Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, and China itself. Since Saudi Arabia's oil trade with China and India has been safe and stable for long, this study uses evolutionary game theory to make a quantitative analysis of the energy competition between China and India and the energy cooperation between China and Russia. The research results reveal the following: 1) The continued increase in India's Russian oil imports will pose a threat to China's oil security. When India's oil imports from Russia reach 16.5%, it will change the oil trade structure of the four countries and become a crucial threat to China and 2) Russia's willingness to export has a direct impact on the results. As Russia's willingness to export declines, it will affect the results and pose a threat to China's oil security. This study is of great significance as it provides meaningful insights to ensure China's oil security in the post pandemic era with key changes in the world's oil trade pattern. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.

Intergroup Contact, Traditional and Social Media Use, and Attitudes Toward Chinese People in COVID-19: US College Students' Perspective

Guided by cultivation theory and intergroup contact theory, we examined how U.S. college students' traditional media use and social media use for information about COVID-19, and direct contact with Chinese were associated with their behavioral attitudes toward Chinese people in this survey study. Findings indicated that contact quality was positively associated with attitudes toward Chinese people. Moderation analyses indicated that traditional media use negatively predicted behavioral attitudes toward Chinese people for those with no Chinese friends and was a nonsignificant predictor for those with one or more Chinese friends. Furthermore, results indicated that social media use was positively associated with attitudes toward Chinese people for those who had high contact quality with Chinese but was a nonsignificant predictor for those who had low contact quality. Overall findings ruminate the critical role of intergroup contact quality and friendship in reducing intergroup prejudice in COVID-19.

Research on fatigue identification methods based on low-load wearable ECG monitoring devices

The identification of fatigue in personal workers in particular environments can be achieved through early warning techniques. In order to prevent excessive fatigue of medical workers staying in infected areas in the early phase of the coronavirus disease pandemic, a system of low-load wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) devices was used as intelligent acquisition terminals to perform a continuous measurement ECG collection. While machine learning (ML) algorithms and heart rate variability (HRV) offer the promise of fatigue detection for many, there is a demand for ever-increasing reliability in this area, especially in real-life activities. This study proposes a random forest-based classification ML model to identify the four categories of fatigue levels in frontline medical workers using HRV. Based on the wavelet transform in ECG signal processing, stationary wavelet transform was applied to eliminate the main perturbation of ECG in the motion state. Feature selection was performed using ReliefF weighting analysis in combination with redundancy analysis to optimize modeling accuracy. The experimental results of the overall fatigue identification achieved an accuracy of 97.9% with an AUC value of 0.99. With the four-category identification model, the accuracy is 85.6%. These results proved that fatigue analysis based on low-load wearable ECG monitoring at low exertion can accurately determine the level of fatigue of caregivers and provide further ideas for researchers working on fatigue identification in special environments. © 2023 Author(s).

Hyperkalemia caused by Qingfei Paidu decoction() in a patient with novel coronavirus pneumonia.

A 23-year-old male patient received moxifloxacin, recombinant human interferon alpha-2b for injection, and lopinavir and ritonavir for 7 days for novel coronavirus pneumonia. There was no abnor-malityof serum potassium. Moxifloxacin was stopped, Qingfei Paidu decoction() was given, and then the patient's serum potassium began to rise. On day 10 after taking the decoction, laboratory tests showed serum potassium 5.7 mmol/L and the patient was diagnosed with hyperkalemia. Insulin injection 4 U diluted to 5% glucose injection 250 ml was given once by IV infusion, and then the serum potassium decreased to 5.0 mmol/L 6 hours later and 4.6 mmol/L 2 days later. After 5 days, the serum potassium rose again and finally to 5.4 mmol/L on day 17 after taking the decoction. Insulin was given once that day and 2 days later once daily according to the previous method. Then the serum potassium decreased and did not rise again. The patient recovered from novel coronavirus pneumonia and was discharged on day 28 after hospitalization.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

From Stuck in a Dark Tunnel to Shining New Light: The Stories of Early Childhood Practitioners During the Pandemic

South Korea was one of the few countries in the world to face a major outbreak in the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study portrays the lived experiences of Korean early childhood practitioners striving to thrive between 2020 and 2021. Their stories offer their reflections on their challenges, struggles, and lessons learned throughout the pandemic. Findings reveal that, as time passed, there were longstanding struggles and newly emerging challenges. This study sheds light on early childhood practitioners' experiences of teaching during the unique and uncertain time of the pandemic, which can offer in-depth understanding for the betterment of future teaching © Copyright 2023 by THE PACIFIC

Ileal perforation in a tocilizumab-treated patient with rheumatoid arthritis in SARS-CoV- 2 infection

Introduction: Tocilizumab, a monoclonal anti-interleukin- 6 receptor antibody, has been widely used as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Gastrointestinal perforation is a rare but critical complication that occurs in patients treated with tocilizumab. In the COVID-19 pandemic, tocilizumab has been recently highlighted for its beneficial effect in reducing the risk of death in severely ill COVID-19 patients. In this current study, we report the ileal perforation in a COVID-19 confirmed patient who had received tocilizumab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Case Presentation: A 57-year- old woman with a medical history of rheumatoid arthritis and hypertension presented to our emergency room with abrupt onset of severe abdominal pain and nausea. Physical examination revealed direct and indirect tenderness of the whole abdomen. She had a history of COVID-19 infection 1 month ago and recovered without severe complications. She also has been treated for rheumatoid arthritis, and the disease activity has been maintained low with the administration of tocilizumab since 2019. The latest administration of tocilizumab to the patient was 2 weeks ago. The plain radiograph of the abdomen showed intraperitoneal free air suggesting pneumoperitoneum. The abdominal computed tomography was also conducted to find the origin of free extraluminal air, and it revealed heterogenous wall enhancement of the ileal loop and the mesenteric haziness. The emergency surgery was performed, and the ileal perforation was noted. The small bowel segmental resection was performed through the surgical procedure. Conclusion(s): COVID-19 has been founded to cause gastrointestinal inflammation. The use of tocilizumab in COVID-19 patients should be carefully conducted because it could act as a permissive of gastrointestinal perforation. Furthermore, the physician should be aware of the possible complication of tocilizumab because early diagnosis and timely management are crucial to preventing high mortality complications.

Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection With Multiorgan Involvement Followed by MIS-C in an Adolescent

Children and adolescents with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) generally have mild symptoms. Severe infection due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) involving multiorgan dysfunction is rare in this population. Herein, we present an unusual case of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection with multiorgan involvement followed by multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in a vaccinated 16-year-old boy. The patient was unconscious on initial presentation, and had severe paralytic ileus. On laboratory examination, there was severe metabolic acidosis, lymphocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, elevated inflammatory markers, elevated liver enzymes, and evidence of acute kidney injury with proteinuria and hematuria. His symptoms improved with the administration of remdesivir and dexamethasone. The patient briefly experienced MIS-C 2 weeks after the diagnosis of COVID-19, but the patient was discharged without any complications. © 2022 The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

CAPRL Scoring System for Prediction of 30-day Mortality in 949 Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China: A Retrospective, Observational Study

Background:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious and even lethal respiratory illness. The mortality of critically ill patients with COVID-19, especially short term mortality, is considerable. It is crucial and urgent to develop risk models that can predict the mortality risks of patients with COVID-19 at an early stage, which is helpful to guide clinicians in making appropriate decisions and optimizing the allocation of hospital resoureces.Methods:In this retrospective observational study, we enrolled 949 adult patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to Tongji Hospital in Wuhan between January 28 and February 12, 2020. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval for assessing the risk factors for 30-day mortality.Results:The 30-day mortality was 11.8% (112 of 949 patients). Forty-nine point nine percent (474) patients had one or more comorbidities, with hypertension being the most common (359 [37.8%] patients), followed by diabetes (169 [17.8%] patients) and coronary heart disease (89 [9.4%] patients). Age above 50 years, respiratory rate above 30 beats per minute, white blood cell count of more than10 × 109/L, neutrophil count of more than 7 × 109/L, lymphocyte count of less than 0.8 × 109/L, platelet count of less than 100 × 109/L, lactate dehydrogenase of more than 400 U/L and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein of more than 50 mg/L were independent risk factors associated with 30-day mortality in patients with COVID-19. A predictive CAPRL score was proposed integrating independent risk factors. The 30-day mortality were 0% (0 of 156), 1.8% (8 of 434), 12.9% (26 of 201), 43.0% (55 of 128), and 76.7% (23 of 30) for patients with 0, 1, 2, 3, ≥4 points, respectively.Conclusions:We designed an easy-to-use clinically predictive tool for assessing 30-day mortality risk of COVID-19. It can accurately stratify hospitalized patients with COVID-19 into relevant risk categories and could provide guidance to make further clinical decisions. © 2021 The Chinese Medical Association, Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

CASPR-2 Antibody Associated Autoimmunity in the Setting of COVID-19 (Infection, Vaccination, or Both?) and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Objective To report a case of Anti-Contactin-Associated Protein-like2 (CASPR-2) autoimmunity in a patient with low-grade Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) following COVID-19 vaccination and infection. Background Anti-CASPR2 antibody disorder has been associated with neoplastic disorders like thymoma. Recent reports enlist COVID-19 as apotential trigger of CASPR2 autoimmunity. While the clinical presentations are similar, management differs based on the underlying etiology. Design/Methods We review a case of anti-CASPR2-antibody associated disorder with concurrent low grade CLL and recent history of COVID-19 vaccination and infection. Additionally, we review the literature and discuss the therapeutic challenges. Results A 73-years old male presented with five months of progressive fatigue, weight loss, diffuse sweating, muscle cramps, and neuropathic pain. He eventually developed bilateral upper and lower facial weakness. Patient contracted a mild COVID-19 infection two months prior and COVID- 19 vaccination one month prior to his symptom onset. His exam was remarkable for bilateral facial weakness, diffuse fasciculations and sensory neuropathy on his trunk and extremities. His diagnostic work up including bone marrow biopsy was consistent with a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)-like immunophenotype. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis was remarkable for five WBC (lymph-dominant) and protein of 74 mg/dl. Serum paraneoplastic panel revealed positive CASPR2 antibody with a titer of 1:100. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain showed enhancement of bilateral cranial nerve VII. After lack of clinical response to IV methylprednisone (1 gram for 5 days), patient was treated with a single cycle of IV immunoglobulin (IVIG). He had complete recovery of his symptoms except for residual facial weakness. He remains stable at his six months post-treatment follow-up. Conclusions Anti-CASPR2 associated autoimmunity following COVID-19 infection or in the setting of CLL has previously been reported. However, cranial neuropathy in association with CASPR2 antibody has never been. A trial of IVIG could be beneficial in patients with viral-spike protein-induced autoimmunity and CLL who do not otherwise meet the criteria for CLL treatment.

Association Between Sleep and COVID-19 Vaccination Response in Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Hemodialysis (HD) patients are less likely to mount a response to the COVID-19 vaccination (CoVac). Poor sleep is associated with blunted vaccination response in the general population. We aim to explore the association between CoVac and sleep quality (SQ) in HD patients. Method(s): Patients from 3 HD clinics were enrolled if they were >=18 years and able to give written consent. Patients were administered the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Blood specimen were collected after the primary series of COVID-19 vaccination. SARS-CoV-2 neutralization antibodies (nAB) were assayed using the GenScript SARS-CoV-2 Surrogate Virus Neutralization Test Kit (Cat#L00847-A). nAB titers are presented as Unit/ml on a natural log scale. PSQI scores of >5 were categorized as poor SQ and <=5 as good SQ. ISI scores were grouped as no clinically significant insomnia (NI;score 0-7), subthreshold insomnia (SI;score 8-14), and clinical insomnia (CI;score 14-28). T-test and ANOVA analysis were performed on PSQI and ISI scores, respectively, to determine the statistical association between SQ and nAB levels Results: 58 patients were included (60+/-9 years old, HD vintage 4.7+/-4.5 years, 62% male, 66% Black, 21% Hispanic). In the PSQI, 72% (n=42) had poor SQ. In the ISI, 52% = NI, 31% = SI, and 17% CI. Box plots of nAB levels with median and IQR are shown in Fig. 1. There is no association between SQ and nAB levels. Conclusion(s): There is no association between SQ and CoVac response. Given the immune dysfunction in this population, any modifying effect SQ has on CoVac, as observed in the general population, is unlikely. Other methods of improving CoVac response in this vulnerable population should be explored. (Figure Presented).

Automatic Detection of Dental Lesions Based on Deep Learning

Objective Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many hospitals have become overloaded with patients seeking examination, resulting in an imbalance between medical staff and patients. These high concentrations of people in hospital settings not only aggravate the risk of cross-infection among patients, but also stall the public medical system. Consequently, mild and chronic conditions cannot be treated effectively, and eventually develop into serious diseases. Therefore, the use of deep learning to accurately and efficiently analyze X-ray images for diagnostic purposes is crucial in alleviating the pressure on medical institutions during epidemics. The method developed in this study accurately detects dental X-ray lesions, thus enabling patients to self-diagnose dental conditions. Methods The method proposed in this study employs the YOLOV5 algorithm to detect lesion areas on digital X-ray images and optimize the network model's parameters. When hospitals and medical professionals collect and label training data, they use image normalization to enhance the images. Consequently, in combination with the network environment, parameters were adjusted into four modules in the YOLOV5 algorithm. In the Input module, Mosaic data enhancement and adaptive anchor box algorithms are used to generate the initial box. The focus component was added to the Backbone module, and a CSP structure was implemented to determine the image features. When the obtained image features are input into the Backbone module, the FPN and PAN structures are used to realize feature fusion. Subsequently, GIOU_Loss function is applied to the Head moudule, and NMS non-maximum suppression is used to generate a regression of results. Results and Discussions The proposed YOLOV5-based neural network yields satisfactory training and testing results. The training algorithm produced a recall rate of 95%, accuracy rate of 95%, and F1 score of 96%. All evaluation criteria are higher than those of the target detection algorithms of SSD and Faster-RCNN (Table 1). The network converges to smoothness after loss is reduced in the training process (Fig. 6), which proves that the network successfully learns the necessary features. Thus, the difference between predicted and real values is very small, which indicates good model performance. The mAP value of network training is 0.985 (Fig. 7), which proves that the network training meets the research requirements. Finally, an observation of the visualized thermodynamic diagram reveals that the network's region of interest matches the target detection region (Fig. 8). Conclusions This study proposes the use of the YOLOV5 algorithm for detecting lesions in dental X-ray images, training and testing on the dataset, modifying the network's nominal batch size, selecting an appropriate optimizer, adjusting the weight parameters, and modifying the learning rate attenuation strategy. The model's training results were compared with those of algorithms used in previous studies. Finally, the effect of feature extraction was analyzed after the thermodynamic diagram was visualized. The experimental results show that the algorithm model detects lesion areas with an accuracy rate of more than 95%, making it an effective autonomous diagnostic tool for patients. © 2022 Science Press. All rights reserved.

Measurements of Exhaled Airflow Velocity Via Human Coughs Using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)

The sudden global outbreak of coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) has infected over seventy million people and resulted in over one million deaths by the end of 2020, posing a significant threat to human health. As potential carries of the novel coronavirus, exhaled airflow of infected individuals via coughs, are significant in virus transmission. This study measures human coughs' airflow velocity in a chamber filled with stage fog employing a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system. The purpose of this study is to examine and provide accurate boundary conditions for the prediction of the virus transmission routes using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Sixty cough cases from ten healthy nonsmoking volunteers (five male and five female, averaged age of 29.3 +/- 4.0) are taken respectively, and ensemble-average operations are conducted to eliminate individual variations. Velocity distribution measurements are obtained in the vertical and horizontal planes around the mouth area. Temporal and spatial cough flow ensemble-averaged velocity profiles and standard deviations, cough duration time (CDT), peak velocity time (PVT), maximum cough velocities, and average spread angle of the cough jet are measured. Results show that the CDT of the cough airflow is 520-560 ms, and PVT is 20 ms. The male/ female averaged maximum velocity is 15.2/13.1 m/s, respectively. The average vertical/horizontal spread angle from the mouth is 15.3 degrees/13.3 degrees for males and 15.6 degrees/14.2 degrees for females, respectively. With the measurement data, it is possible to refine the initial boundary conditions of a simulated cough and model cough flows more accurately.

In-depth analysis of college students' online discussion interaction based on behavior sequence

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper focuses on discussing this important teaching segment online in blended learning. Taking the junior as the research objects, the behavioral characteristics and interaction depth of different types of students are studied through Cluster Analysis and Lag Sequence Analysis. The purposes are to dig out the problems existing in the online discussion process and to propose teachers' intervention suggestions so as to improve the effect of the discussion. The research found that discussion behavior is mainly construction, and there is no discussion mechanism with communication and interaction as knowledge development. The behavior transformation is mainly based on the priming-single type and priming-arguing type, and there are fewer students who achieve the ideal state of the argumentative type. Most students integrate into the discussion atmosphere slowly, so teachers should take corresponding measures to help students enter the discussion quickly at the beginning of the discussion. © 2022 ACM.

Visualization Analysis of Organizational Resilience Research Based on CiteSpace From 1990-2022

The world is currently dealing with the aftermath of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has resulted in momentous changes, the likes of which had not been witnessed within the previous century. These adverse events and the resulting uncertainty have posed enormous challenges to organizations, and many are on the verge of collapse. Organizations urgently need to enhance their risk management abilities and capacity to cope with crises, and organizational resilience, as such a tool, has attracted widespread attention in China and abroad. The purpose of this study is to understand the research status and development trend of organizational resilience. In this study, we applied CiteSpace to perform a visual analysis. Searching for topics related to organizational resilience, we retrieved papers published from 1990-2022 in the Web of Science Core database. Second, we constructed an author, institution, and country/region collaboration network to identify the most prolific authors, institutions and countries, respectively. The distribution of core journals determined by journal co-citations, the document co-citation network, and a clustering analysis revealed the research topics and knowledge structure, the author co-citation network revealed which authors were influential, the keyword co-citation network indicated popular research topics, and the keyword bursts highlighted the research fields. This paper analyzes the main contributions of organizational resilience research at the author, institution, and country levels;knowledge sources;interdisciplinary characteristics and research areas in organizational resilience;and direction of future research. © 2013 IEEE.

Adaptive B-cell and T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with Multiple Sclerosis on disease modifying immunotherapy

Objective: To expand understanding of the human immunological response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal therapy and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) modulators. Background: Immunomodulatory therapy prescribed for patients with MS has been associated with decreased or absent anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin production following COVID-19 vaccination. We investigate broader adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination measuring IgG immunoglobulin production and T-cell reactivity in a small cohort. Design/Methods: We used the Stanford Research Repository database to identify 55 MS patients by ICD10 code who were tested for B-cell and T-cell responses via SARS-CoV-2-IgG and SARS-CoV-2 Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA), respectively. 96% (53/55) of patients were fully vaccinated (98% mRNA/2% Janssen). A Chi-square test compared differences in vaccine response between 3 different disease modifying treatment (DMT) groups: anti-CD20 therapy (n=24), S1P modulators (n=11), and off DMT/other MS therapies (n=20). Results: In patients on anti-CD20 therapy, 71% (17/24) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 IGRA but negative for SARS-CoV-2 IgG, among which 65% (11/17) had low CD-19 levels (0-64 cells/uL, normal 100-500 cells/uL) with normal absolute lymphocyte count (ALC). Among patients who delayed vaccination by 4-6 months following anti-CD20 therapy, 13% (3/24) expressed SARS-CoV-2-IgG. 82% (9/11) of patients on S1P modulators showed absent SARS-CoV-2-IgG and SARS-CoV-2 IGRA responses, in association with low ALC (range 210-600 cells/uL, normal 1000-3000 cells/uL). 95% (19/20) of patients off DMT/on other MS therapies showed positive SARS-CoV-2-IgG and SARS-CoV-2 IRGA responses. All vaccinated patients were assessed between 4 weeks and 6 months post-vaccination. These differential responses between treatment groups were significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: We demonstrate that among MS patients treated with anti-CD20 therapy, T-cell response was largely preserved despite greatly reduced B-cell response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. MS patients on S1P modulators demonstrated absence of both B-cell and T-cell response. The clinical correlation of this is to be determined.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN IMMUNE SYSTEM FUNCTION AS DETERMINED BY HEPATITIS B INFECTION/VACCINATION STATUS AND RISK OF COVID-19 INFECTION

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, >290 million people were infected by SARS-CoV-2 and >5.4 million have died from or with COVID-19 (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/). Patients with chronic health conditions such as end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) experience particularly high morbidity and mortality because of COVID-19. ESKD patients on hemodialysis are widely vaccinated for hepatitis B (HBV) and seroconversion is routinely measured. This practice presents a rare opportunity to study immune function on a wide scale. It can be reasonably assumed that patients who are able to produce a vaccinal or post-HBV antibodies titers have a better immune function than those who are unable to mount such a serological response. We aim to jointly analyze results of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR and hepatitis B serology to determine if presence of vaccinal or post-HBV antibodies is associated with likelihood of developing COVID-19 infection. METHOD: Patients who were tested for COVID-19 at Fresenius Medical Care North America dialysis clinics from May 2020 to September 2020 were included in this analysis. HBV infection/vaccination status, demographic parameters and clinical parameters were obtained from the medical record. Nasopharyngeal swab specimen was tested via RT-PCR to detect presence of SARS-CoV-2. Patients were categorized as having good immune function or poor immune function based on vaccinal and post-HBV sero-status. Patients who were vaccinated against HBV but did not seroconvert were considered to have poor immune function. On the other hand, patients who mounted vaccinal or post-HBV antibodies were considered to have good immune function. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were utilized to study the association between immune function and other demographic, anthropometric and clinical parameters on the likelihood of not being diagnosed with COVID-19. Four models were constructed: Model 1: unadjusted;Model 2: adjusted for age. Model 3: adjusted for age, gender, race, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI). Model 4: adjusted for parameters in model 3 and dialysis vintage (in years), diabetes and congestive heart failure (CHF). RESULTS: 11 870 patients were included in this analysis. 54% patients were male, 33% were Black, 24% of the patients were Hispanic, 69% had diabetes and 22% had CHF. Patients were 61.2 ± 14.4 years old with dialysis vintage of 3.9 ± 3.9 years, BMI of 29.6 ± 9.7 kg/m2 and eKt/V 1.5 ± 0.3. Of these patients, 21% had poor immune function and 79% had good immune function. Results of the logistic regression models are shown in Table 1. In the unadjusted model, poor immune function was associated with an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with COVID-19. In models, 2, 3 and 4 age, vintage and presence of diabetes were all significantly associated with a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with COVID-19. However, poor immune function was not a significant predictor of COVID-19 diagnosis in the adjusted models. CONCLUSION: Patients who have vaccinal or post-HBV antibodies did not have a lower likelihood of COVID-19 compared with patients who were unable to mount an adequate vaccinal or post-HBV antibody response. Response to HBV vaccination or infection may not be adequate to characterize a patient as having good immune response. Other factors that are routinely measured in hemodialysis patients, which may allow us to make inferences about a patient's immune function should be explored.

Intra tumoral electroporation of IL-12 and SARS-Cov-2 spike plasmids drives a coordinated vaccine response and elicits robust anti-tumor immunity

Despite extensive clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, there remains a paucity of data on their effectiveness in cancer patients who are actively receiving antineoplastic therapeutics. A recent study demonstrated only ∼30% of cancer patients had positive serologic test following 2 doses of FDA-authorized SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, in contrast to ∼80% positivity rate in healthy individuals, regardless of the age. Therefore, furtherinvestigation into novel approaches to boost immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in cancer patients isrequired. Our previous preclinical and clinical studies have established intratumoral IL-12 plasmid (TAVO)electroporation (EP) induces localized expression of IL-12p70, converting immune-excluded tumors into inflamedimmunogenic lesions, thereby generating objective responses in both treated and untreated, distant tumors. Basedon the enhancement of immunotherapy efficacy by IL-12, we leveraged the flexibility of our DNA plasmid-EPplatform to express SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in addition to IL-12 (CORVax12) as an intratumoral vaccine candidate which we hypothesized could not only drive anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses but also generate aproductive anti-tumor response. Naïve mice were vaccinated via intradermal injection of SARS-CoV-2 spike plasmidfollowed immediately by EP with or without plasmid-encoded mIL-12 on days 1 and 21. Longitudinal serum samples were collected to interrogate virus-specific cellular responses as well anti-spike IgG antibody. A surrogate viralneutralization test (sVNT) assessed serum blockade of soluble human ACE2 binding to immobilized SARS-CoV-2spike. Our data demonstrated that intradermally electroporated CORVax12 elicits significantly higher anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG antibodies and neutralization when compared with EP of SARS-CoV-2 spike alone. Next, we askedif improved SARS-CoV-2 immune response may be observed when CORVax12 is incorporated into intratumoral EPin single-tumor bearing mice. CORVax12 robustly inhibited tumor growth, induced high percentages of germinal-center B cells and class switched B cells in tumor draining lymph nodes, and generated high of anti-spike IgG and neutralization antibodies. To further investigate systemic effects of this combination, we continued with contralateraltumor mice models. In both CT26 and B16-F10 tumor models, CORVax12 intratumoral EP induced strong systemicanti-tumor responses similar to IL-12 EP alone while also producing high serum levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spikeIgG and neutralization antibodies. Critically, this anti-viral immunity did not limit this IL-12-based intratumoral anti-tumor therapy. In summary, our preclinical data indicates that intratumoral EP of CORVax12 can induce IgGresponses to SARS-CoV-2 spike as well as apparent viral neutralizing activity all while maintaining local and systemic anti-tumor effects expected from TAVO Treatment. This combined intratumoral therapy represents a novelstrategy to address both tumor burden and anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity in patients with cancer.

Bioinformatics analysis of high-throughput sequencing to identify key genes and signaling pathways in vero E6 cells infected by SARS-CoV-2

Background: In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 began spreading widely across the world. We aim to study the biological changes of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero cells using high-throughput sequencing data, which will be helpful for vaccine development and drug screening. Methods: The data GSE153940 was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. R software was used to screen out differentially expressed genes and perform Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. The protein-protein interaction network was built by STRING. Cytoscape 3.7.2 was applied for the visualization of the protein-protein interaction network and the identification of the hub genes. GraphPad Prism 8.4.3 was used to perform the statistical analysis to verify the obtained central genes. Results: A total of 3640 differentially expressed genes were obtained. The most significant enrichment items of Gene Ontology in the biological process, cellular component, and molecular function were the regulation of mRNA metabolic process, organelle inner membrane, and cadherin binding respectively. Ten enrichment pathways were identified by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. A protein-protein interaction network with 328 nodes and 498 edges was established. Six hub genes were screened out, among which four genes (MRPS7, DAP3, CHCHD1 and MRPL3) were confirmed to be statistically significant. Conclusions: Our results suggest that mitochondrial activity has a significant role in the process of SARS-CoV-2 infecting Vero E6 cells. Further experimental studies are needed to obtain abundant data to verify the predicted results of the bioinformatics analysis.

Therapeutic effects and safety of oral Chinese patent medicine for COVID-19: A rapid systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Introduction: Chinese patent medicine (CPM) is an indispensable part of traditional Chinese medicine. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) manifests is an acute respiratory infectious disease. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of oral CPM for COVID-19. Methods: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that tested oral CPM for the treatment of COVID-19 identified from publications in CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Web of Science, SinoMed, PubMed, Embase, BioRxiv, MedRxiv and arXiv before November 2nd, 2020. The risk of bias for each trial was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 2.0. RevMan 5.4 software was used for data analyses. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the online GRADEpro tool. Results: Seven RCTs including 1079 participants were identified. The overall bias was assessed as “some concerns” for all included trials. Oral CPM investigated were: Lianhua Qingwen capsule/granules (连花清瘟胶囊/颗粒, LHQW), Jinhua Qinggan granules (金花清感颗粒, JHQG), Huoxiang Zhengqidripping pills (藿香正气滴丸, HXZQ), Toujie Quwen granules (透解祛瘟颗粒, TJQW) and Lianhua Qingke granules (连花清咳颗粒, LHQK). Compared with conventional western therapy alone for people with COVID-19: regarding the main outcomes, the results showed that oral CPM combined with conventional western therapy improved cure rate (RR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.38, involving LHQW and TJQW), reduced aggravation rate (RR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.85, involving LHQW, JHQG, LHQK and TJQW);with regard to additional outcomes, the results showed that add-on oral CPM shortened the duration of fever, cough and fatigue, improved the recovery rate of cough and fatigue, and increased the improvement and recovery rate of chest CT manifestations. There were some differences in therapeutic effects among various CPMs for the same COVID-19 outcome. The use of TJQW and LHQG appeared not to increase the risk of adverse events, but JHQG may cause mild diarrhea. Conclusions: Low-certainty or very low-certainty evidence demonstrated that oral CPM may have add-on potential therapeutic effects for patients with non-serious COVID-19. There are some differences in therapeutic effects between different oral CPMs for the same outcome of COVID-19. The use of TJQW and LHQG probably does not increase the risk of adverse events, but JHQG may cause mild diarrhea in patients. The conclusion of this review needs to be further confirmed by well-designed clinical trials with adequate sample sizes. Keywords: Coronavirus Disease 2019;COVID-19;Chinese patent medicine;Chinese herbal medicine;Systematic review;Meta-analysis