COVID-19 pandemic underscores role of green space in urban carbon dynamics.

For Detroit Michigan the arrival of COVID-19 led to intensive measures to prevent further spread of the virus resulting in consequent changes in traffic and energy use. We take advantage of these different emission scenarios to explore CO2 dynamics in a postindustrial city with a declining population and increasing green space. We present atmospheric CO2 concentration and net urban ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NUE) from a typical eddy covariance system and canopy greenness from a field camera on the Wayne State University campus in midtown Detroit. We categorized our study period (January 18, 2020-July 31, 2020) into three subperiods associated with the state-wide shelter-in-place order. Our results support that the city was a net carbon source throughout the period, particularly during the shelter-in-place period, although reduced traffic lowered CO2 concentrations and NUE. However, during the post-order period when traffic was highest, atmospheric CO2 concentrations and NUE were lowest, suggesting that the greening of urban vegetation may have greater carbon mitigation potential than lowering anthropogenic carbon emissions through traffic reductions.

3D engineered tissue models for studying human-specific infectious viral diseases

Viral infections cause damage to various organ systems by inducing organ-specific symptoms or systemic multi-organ damage. Depending on the infection route and virus type, infectious diseases are classified as respiratory, nervous, immune, digestive, or skin infections. Since these infectious diseases can widely spread in the community and their catastrophic effects are severe, identification of their causative agent and mechanisms underlying their pathogenesis is an urgent necessity. Although infection-associated mechanisms have been studied in two-dimensional (2D) cell culture models and animal models, they have shown limitations in organ-specific or human-associated pathogenesis, and the development of a human-organ-mimetic system is required. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) engineered tissue models, which can present human organ-like physiology in terms of the 3D structure, utilization of human-originated cells, recapitulation of physiological stimuli, and tight cell-cell interactions, were developed. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that these models can recapitulate infection-associated pathologies. In this review, we summarized the recent advances in 3D engineered tissue models that mimic organ-specific viral infections. First, we briefly described the limitations of the current 2D and animal models in recapitulating human-specific viral infection pathology. Next, we provided an overview of recently reported viral infection models, focusing particularly on organ-specific infection pathologies. Finally, a future perspective that must be pursued to reconstitute more human-specific infectious diseases is presented. Copyright © 2022 The Authors

Post-COVID-19 modular building review on problem-seeking framework: function, form, economy, and time

Modular building is an innovative and sustainable construction method and a notable architectural, engineering, and construction trend. Owing to the new constructability and sustainability, significant research efforts have been focused on the engineering aspects of modular building. Since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, space utilization has changed radically, and a rethinking of modular building design has become essential. However, current literature lacks a comprehensive understanding of occupants' newly developed requirements and the relevant changes associated with engineering developments. Therefore, this study aims to review the current status of residential modular building design and construction, define its problems, and identify the key factors necessary for modular design and construction during the post-COVID-19 period from the perspective of architectural design. A total of 220 articles were selected from the Scopus database, out of which 94 papers were selected for a systematic review. The findings indicate that the present academic research primarily focuses on the technical aspects of optimizing architecture and on modularized plans to facilitate cost-effective factory production. Modular residential design has rarely considered people and cultural factors. Therefore, the authors derived 15 problems by adapting four architectural programming frameworks;function, form, economy, and time. The identified problems are mapped for future development with 11 problem-solving proposals. The proposed method contributes to developing new insights into COVID-19's impacts on dwelling environments and can help introduce modular residential design responses that enhance the quality of life by creating better residentials in the post-pandemic.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants-Possibility of universal vaccine design: A review

Both novel and conventional vaccination strategies have been implemented worldwide since the onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Despite various medical advances in the treatment and prevention of the spread of this contagious disease, it remains a major public health threat with a high mortality rate. As several lethal SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge, the development of several vaccines and medicines, each with certain advantages and disadvantages, is underway. Additionally, many modalities are at various stages of research and development or clinical trials. Here, we summarize emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, including delta, omicron, and "stealth omicron," as well as available oral drugs for COVID-19. We also discuss possible antigen candidates other than the receptor-binding domain protein for the development of a universal COVID-19 vaccine. The present review will serve as a helpful resource for future vaccine and drug development to combat COVID-19.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Research Network of Computational and Structural Biotechnology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Constructing Corpus and Word Embedding for Spanish Covid-19 Data

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID 19), colloquially referred to as coronavirus, escalated into a global pandemic with severe transmission and mortality rates in 2019. Despite the escalation of the virus' worldwide impact in 2020, numerous studies on Natural Language Processing in Spanish have neglected corpus construction or word embedding, especially conspicuous in its absence being the corpora involving coronavirus or infectious diseases. Additionally, corpus construction or word embedding conducted in the medical field do not display efficacy in production pertaining to coronavirus or infectious diseases. To supplement this potentially detrimental insufficiency, this study collects Spanish Language data to build a relevant coronavirus corpus through appropriate preprocessing and then obtains a word embedding. Performance of the corpus and word embedding are then tested through word similarity evaluations, a cosine similarity evaluation, and a visualization evaluation with the existing Spanish corpus. After comparison, corpus and word embedding suitable for coronavirus will be suggested.

An Earth-mass planet in a time of COVID-19: KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lb

We report the discovery of KMT-2020-BLG-0414Lb, with a planet-to-host mass ratio q (2) = 0.9-1.2 x 10(-5) = 3-4 circle plus at 1 sigma, which is the lowest mass-ratio microlensing planet to date. Together with two other recent discoveries (4 less than or similar to q/q (circle plus) less than or similar to 6), it fills out the previous empty sector at the bottom of the triangular (log s, log q) diagram, where s is the planet-host separation in units of the angular Einstein radius theta E. Hence, these discoveries call into question the existence, or at least the strength, of the break in the mass-ratio function that was previously suggested to account for the paucity of very low-q planets. Due to the extreme magnification of the event, A (max) similar to 1450 for the underlying single-lens event, its light curve revealed a second companion with q (3) similar to 0.05 and ;log s (3);similar to 1, i.e., a factor similar to 10 closer to or farther from the host in projection. The measurements of the microlens parallax pi (E) and the angular Einstein radius theta E allow estimates of the host, planet and second companion masses, (M (1), M (2), M (3)) similar to (0.3 M (circle dot), 1.0 M (circle plus), 17 M-J ), the planet and second companion projected separations, (a (perpendicular to,2), a (perpendicular to,3)) similar to (1.5, 0.15 or 15) au, and system distance D (L) similar to 1 kpc. The lens could account for most or all of the blended light (I similar to 19.3) and so can be studied immediately with high-resolution photometric and spectroscopic observations that can further clarify the nature of the system. The planet was found as part of a new program of high-cadence follow-up observations of high-magnification events. The detection of this planet, despite the considerable difficulties imposed by COVID-19 (two KMT sites and OGLE were shut down), illustrates the potential utility of this program.

Gross hematuria is associated with more severe disease and poorer clinical outcomes in covid-19 patients

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in 2.5 million deaths globally. Previous studies have suggested the virus may affect the kidneys, resulting in hematuria, proteinuria and acute kidney injury;however, the studies did not differentiate microscopic hematuria (MH) from gross hematuria (GH). In this study, we investigated the clinical outcomes and risk factors associated with GH compared to MH in COVID patients. METHODS: Following IRB approval, 250 consecutive medical records of COVID patients admitted to a tertiary care university hospital from 3/15/20 were analyzed. Patients without a urinalysis during the admission were excluded, the remaining 157 patients were included in the analysis. Patients were divided into three categories based on the presence of hematuria during the admission: none, microscopic hematuria (MH) and gross hematuria (GH). Outcomes including length of hospitalization, ICU admission, intubation, and lab values were compared amongst the categories. Chi-square test was used to compare the categorical variables, while ANOVA and t-test were used for the parametric variables. RESULTS: Of the 157 patients, 66 (42%) did not have hematuria, 36 (22.9%) had MH and 55 (35%) had GH. As seen in Fig.1, GH was associated with worse clinical outcomes such as higher intubation rate at 49.1%, compared to 27.8% in MH (p <0.05). In those with no hematuria, the intubation rate was 7.6%, significantly lower than patients with GH and MH (p <0.05). Mortality rate was also higher in those with GH compared to MH, at 30.9% and 22.2% respectively (p <0.05). Regarding kidney function, patients with GH, MH and no hematuria had acute kidney injury (AKI) at a rate of 67.3%, 58.3% and 39.4%, respectively (p <0.05). Peak C-reactive protein (CRP) values were higher in patients with GH and MH compared to those with no hematuria, at 24.04, 18.07 and 15.36, respectively (p <0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Gross hematuria was associated with poor kidney function, higher intubation rate and mortality compared to those with microscopic or no hematuria. Gross hematuria was linked to elevated biomarkers linked to inflammation and disease severity, such CRP and D-dimer, indicating possible direct effect of the virus on the kidneys. More studies are needed to further delineate the etiology behind hematuria in COVID patients.

A novel magnetic respiratory sensor for human healthcare

Breathing is vital to life. Therefore, the real-time monitoring of a patient′ s breathing pattern is crucial to respiratory rehabilitation therapies, such as magnetic resonance exams for respiratory-triggered imaging, chronic pulmonary disease treatment, and synchronized functional electrical stimulation. While numerous respiratory devices have been developed, they are often in direct contact with a patient, which can yield limited data. In this study, we developed a novel, non-invasive, and contactless magnetic sensing platform that can precisely monitor a patient′ s breathing, movement, or sleep patterns, thus providing efficient monitoring at a clinic or home. A magneto-LC resonance (MLCR) sensor converts the magnetic oscillations generated by a patient′ s breathing into an impedance spectrum, which allows for a deep analysis of one′ s breath variation to identify respiratory-related diseases like COVID-19. Owing to its ultrahigh sensitivity, the MLCR sensor yields a distinct breathing pattern for each patient tested. It also provides an accurate measure of the strength of a patient′ s breath at multiple stages as well as anomalous variations in respiratory rate and amplitude. The sensor can thus be applied to detect symptoms of COVID-19 in a patient, due to shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, as well as track the disease′ s progress in real time. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.