ABSTRACT
Countries around the world are facing enormous challenges in their economic and social development as COVID-19 continues to spread, resulting in slower economic recovery in the post-pandemic era. Considering the impact of economic growth on future sustainable development in this new era, green economic recovery (GER) can achieve a win-win situation between economic recovery and environmental improvement and bring forth environmentally sustainable economic growth. This research first lists related COVID-19 literature surveys and GER policies in the post-pandemic era in China. Based on a comparative study of the international experience of GER policy practices, this paper then analyzes the opportunities and challenges China faces for GER and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions on how to promote its sustainable development in the post-epidemic era. We believe our research presents useful enlightenments for sustainable economic and social development in the post-epidemic era.
ABSTRACT
BackgroundExisting clinical studies supported the potential efficacy of mesenchymal stromal cells as well as derived exosomes in the treatment of COVID-19. We aimed to explore the safety and efficiency of aerosol inhalation of the exosomes derived from human adipose-derived MSCs (haMSC-Exos) in patients with COVID-19.MethodsThe MEXCOVID trial is a phase 2a single-arm, open-labelled, interventional trial and patients were enrolled in Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan, China. Eligible 7 patients were assigned to receive the daily dose of haMSCs-Exos (2.0×108 nano vesicles) for consecutively 5 days. The primary outcomes included the incidence of prespecified inhalation-associated events and serious adverse events. We also observed the demographic data, clinical characteristics, laboratory results including lymphocyte count, levels of D-dimer and IL-6 as well as chest imaging.ResultsSeven severe COVID-19 related pneumonia patients (4 males and 3 females) were enrolled and received nebulized haMSC-Exos. The median age was 57 year (IQR, 43 year to 70 year). The median time from onset of symptoms to hospital admission and administration of nebulized haMSC-Exos was 30 days (IQR, 15 days to 40 days) and 54 d (IQR, 34 d to 69 d), respectively. All COVID-19 patients tolerated the haMSC-Exos nebulization well, with no evidence of prespecified adverse events or clinical instability during the nebulization or during the immediate post-nebulization period. All patients presented a slight increase of serum lymphocyte counts (median as 1.61×109/L vs. 1.78×109/L). Different degrees of resolution of pulmonary lesions after aerosol inhalation of haMSC-Exos were observed among all patients, more obviously in 4 of 7 patients.ConclusionsOur trial shows that a consecutive 5 days inhalation dose of clinical grade haMSC-Exos up to a total amount of 2.0×109 nano vesicles was feasible and well tolerated in seven COVID-19 patients, with no evidence of prespecified adverse events, immediate clinical instability, or dose-relevant toxicity at any of the doses tested. This safety profile is seemingly followed by CT imaging improvement within 7 days. Further trials will have to confirm the long-term safety or efficacy in larger population.Trial RegistrationMEXCOVID, NCT04276987
Subject(s)
COVID-19ABSTRACT
The SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein mediates viral entry into cells expressing the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S protein engages ACE2 through its receptor-binding domain (RBD), an independently folded 197-amino acid fragment of the 1273-amino acid S-protein protomer. The RBD is the primary SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing epitope and a critical target of any SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here we show that this RBD conjugated to each of two carrier proteins elicited more potent neutralizing responses in immunized rodents than did a similarly conjugated proline-stabilized S-protein ectodomain. Nonetheless, the native RBD expresses inefficiently, limiting its usefulness as a vaccine antigen. However, we show that an RBD engineered with four novel glycosylation sites (gRBD) expresses markedly more efficiently, and generates a more potent neutralizing responses as a DNA vaccine antigen, than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein, especially when fused to multivalent carriers such as an H. pylori ferritin 24-mer. Further, gRBD is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD when administered as a subunit protein vaccine. Our data suggest that multivalent gRBD antigens can reduce costs and doses, and improve the immunogenicity, of all major classes of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
ABSTRACT
At the time of writing, more than 22 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, and at least 770 thousand deaths. Under the pressure of the pandemic, promoting global mobility has become an emerging issue in higher education settings. Although various methods of enhancing student mobility have been implemented, little research has as yet confirmed the pandemic challenges for students. This study investigates the global mobility of Chinese college students and the factors influencing their travel decisions. A self-designed questionnaire, consisting of 15 critical indicators of mobile capabilities, intentions, and implementation decisions, was administered to collect data from 2226 participants. The Minitab and Amos software were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and to detect latent relationships among the data with structural equation modeling (SEM). The SEM and logistic regression model provide a clear picture of the relations among the variables, and show that international intention is the key indicator of global mobility implementation under pressure.