Mediation Impact of Physical Literacy and Activity Between Psychological Distress and Life Satisfaction Among College Students During COVID-19 Pandemic.

The study aims to examine the mediation effects of physical literacy and physical activity behavior in a relationship between psychological distress and life satisfaction among Chinese college students during the real-life Coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) circumstance. This study implemented a cross-sectional design, and 1,516 participants from 12 universities participated in this study. Structural equation modeling was used to examine a hypothesized model. The findings indicated an acceptable model fit (X 2[61] = 508.2, Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = 0.958, Tucker Lewis Index [TLI] = 0.946, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = 0.076, 90% CI [0.070, 0.082], Standardized Root Mean Square Residual [SRMR] = 0.047). The results indicated that college students with low participation in physical activity could experience less than healthy living conditions. The findings offered empirical support to the theory that physical literacy could advance individuals' healthy living by promoting physical activity participation. The study suggested that educational institutions and physical activity programs should cultivate individuals' physical literacy in order to promote lifelong healthy living.

Urban Heat Islands Significantly Reduced by COVID-19 Lockdown

The significant reduction in human activities during COVID-19 lockdown is anticipated to substantially influence urban climates, especially urban heat islands (UHIs). However, the UHIs variations during lockdown periods remain to be quantified. Based on the MODIS daily land surface temperature and the in-situ surface air temperature observations, we reveal a substantial decline in both surface and canopy UHIs over 300-plus megacities in China during lockdown periods compared with reference periods. The surface UHI intensity (UHII) is reduced by 0.25 (one S.D. = 0.22) K in the daytime and by 0.23 (0.20) K at night during lockdown periods. The reductions in canopy UHII reach 0.42 (one S.D. = 0.26) K in the daytime and 0.39 (0.29) K at night. These reductions are mainly due to the near-unprecedented drop in human activities induced by strict lockdown measures. Our results provide an improved understanding of the urban climate variations during the global pandemic.

3D-printed swab with cover for precision diagnosis.

The collection capacity of common nasopharyngeal swabs and irregularities of medical personnel limit the accuracy of PCR testing. This study describes a newly designed 3D-printed swab that is combined with a 3D-printed cover to prevent the extraction of undesired nasal secretions. This swab improved the accuracy of PCR test results. The results of a series of experiments showed that, because of the mucus extraction effect, 3D-printed swabs can replace ordinary cotton swabs. The crisis of the worldwide medical supply shortage can be ameliorated to a certain extent by applying 3D printing technology.

Vaccine design based on 16 epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) urgently requires an effective vaccine for prevention. In this study, 66 epitopes containing pentapeptides of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the IEDB database were compared with the amino acid sequence of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, and 66 potentially immune-related peptides of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were obtained. Based on the single-nucleotide polymorphisms analysis of spike protein of 1218 SARS-CoV-2 isolates, 52 easily mutated sites were identified and used for vaccine epitope screening. The best vaccine candidate epitopes in the 66 peptides of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were screened out through mutation and immunoinformatics analysis. The best candidate epitopes were connected by different linkers in silico to obtain vaccine candidate sequences. The results showed that 16 epitopes were relatively conservative, immunological, nontoxic, and nonallergenic, could induce the secretion of cytokines, and were more likely to be exposed on the surface of the spike protein. They were both B- and T-cell epitopes, and could recognize a certain number of HLA molecules and had high coverage rates in different populations. Moreover, epitopes 897-913 were predicted to have possible cross-immunoprotection for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. The results of vaccine candidate sequences screening suggested that sequences (without linker, with linker GGGSGGG, EAAAK, GPGPG, and KK, respectively) were the best. The proteins translated by these sequences were relatively stable, with a high antigenic index and good biological activity. Our study provided vaccine candidate epitopes and sequences for the research of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.