ABSTRACT
This paper examines whether the relationship between tourism development and income inequality is sensitive to the media environment. Using panel data from 88 countries for the period 1996 to 2020, we find that countries with uncensored media environments experience lower income inequality as the tourism industry develops. We also find that a favourable media environment enhances tourism development. Further analysis shows that asymmetries in a hostile media environment;namely, media biasedness, media corruption, and harassment of journalists, inhibit tourism development, particularly in emerging countries. This paper calls for strong support for press freedom to develop the tourism industry as countries emerge from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has changed education, which stimulated the adoption of online teaching and learning. Therefore, the research on the impact of COVID-19 on online laboratories, which can be used for online teaching and learning assessment, is crucial to enlighten the effects of COVID-19 on engineering education. Using the online laboratory Networked Control System Laboratory (NCSLab) as a case study, the research in this paper is aimed to fill the gap of COVID-19 on education by exploring the visitors and users of this online laboratory. To illustrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a special 100-day time slot in 2020 within the COVID-19 pandemic is selected, and data are collected from a web analytics tool and records in the NCSLab database. For comparison, corresponding data in 2018 and 2019 are also collected within a specific 100-day time slot. The results show that there is an increase in both the numbers of visitors and users to NCSLab, and an increase in experiment configurations during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the previous two years in 2018 and 2019, which indicates that more learners are seeking alternatives for remote learning. The evaluation results show that the online laboratory is helpful to the comprehension of course content and achieves intended outcomes, while the use of online laboratories as a replacement for traditional laboratories is controversial. As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may continue for years globally, the research in this paper could provide insights for future research and development of online laboratories and also for other online education platforms.
ABSTRACT
Background: The 3C-like protease (3CLpro) of SARS-CoV-2 has been widely pursued as a target for COVID-19 anti-viral drug development because it is essential for viral replication and lacks significant homology to human proteases. However, drug development for 3CLpro has been hindered by a lack of cell-based reporter assays that can be performed in a BSL-2 setting. Current efforts to identify 3CLpro inhibitors largely rely upon in vitro screening, which fails to account for the cell permeability and cytotoxicity of compounds, or assays involving replication-competent virus, which must be performed in a BSL-3 facility and are not amenable to high-throughput screening. Methods: To address these limitations, we explored the use of a cell-based luciferase complementation reporter to identify inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro in a BSL-2 setting. We constructed lentiviral vectors that co-express 3CLpro and a split reporter in which two luciferase fragments were linked by a 3CLpro cleavage site. 3CLpro-mediated cleavage of the reporter was expected to result in loss of complementation and low luciferase activity, whereas inhibition of 3CLpro was expected to result in significantly higher levels of luciferase activity. Results: In the absence of inhibitors, we found that most of the luciferase reporter was cleaved by 3CLpro, resulting in low luciferase activity. However, inhibition of 3CLpro, either with the small molecule GC376 or an inactivating mutation (C145A), prevented cleavage and resulted in an ∼10-fold increase in luciferase reporter activity. We also found that our reporter assay can easily distinguish between cytotoxicity and true inhibition of 3CLpro. With this assay, we screened 31 additional small molecules for activity against SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro, including HIV protease inhibitors, HCV protease inhibitors, and various other compounds that have been reported to inhibit 3CLpro. Of these, only four compounds exhibited significant activity against SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro in cells: boceprevir, Z-FA-FMK, calpain inhibitor XII, and GRL-0496. Conclusion: We have developed a novel luciferase complementation reporter assay for identification of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro inhibitors in living cells. The assay is sensitive, rapid, easy to perform, and can readily differentiate cytotoxicity from 3CLpro inhibition, a powerful feature that should reduce false positives during screening. This assay should greatly facilitate efforts to identify more potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro.
ABSTRACT
The fumigation of Chinese herbal medicines, such as Artemisiae Argyi Folium, Atractylodis Rhizoma, and Angelicae Dahuricae Radix, is one of the creations of ancient Chinese medical practitioners during the struggle against the disease for thousands of years. Researches have showed the application of fumigation of Chinese medicinal materials in clinical practice, and there are clear pharmacological studies to prove its related effective ingredients. Therefore, we review the historical evolution and modern application progress of Chinese materia medica fumigation. In the light of the infectious features of COVID-19 including air droplet transmission and even possible aerosol transmission, the corresponding Chinese herbal medicine fumigation should be recommended and used in hospitals, communities, and families, which is expected to play an important role in fighting disease infections. Copyright © 2020, Editorial Office of Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs. All right reserved.