Alterations in smell or taste in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 during periods of Omicron variant dominance.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the prevalence, severity, correlation with initial symptoms, and role of vaccination in patients with COVID-19 with smell or taste alterations (STAs). METHODS: We conducted an observational study of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron admitted to three hospitals between May 17 and June 16, 2022. The olfactory and gustatory functions were evaluated using the taste and smell survey and the numerical visual analog scale at two time points. RESULTS: The T1 and T2 time point assessments were completed by 688 and 385 participants, respectively. The prevalence of STAs at two time points was 41.3% vs 42.6%. Furthermore, no difference existed in the severity distribution of taste and smell survey, smell, or taste visual analog scale scores between the groups. Patients with initial symptoms of headache (P = 0.03) and muscle pain (P = 0.04) were more likely to develop STAs, whereas higher education; three-dose vaccination; no symptoms yet; or initial symptoms of cough, throat discomfort, and fever demonstrated protective effects, and the results were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of STAs did not decrease significantly during the Omicron dominance, but the severity was reduced, and vaccination demonstrated a protective effect. In addition, the findings suggest that the presence of STAs is likely to be an important indicator of viral invasion of the nervous system.

Doctor of Public Health-Crisis Management and COVID-19 Prevention and Control: A Case Study in China.

In the fields of public health policy and public health care, advanced educational programs are an important strategy in dealing with public health crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the global need for skilled public health leaders and managers to address complex public health challenges, which requires the strengthening of public health education at the highest levels. This paper is a qualitative case study of a special educational program for doctors of public health in China. The program's educational objectives are in line with epidemic prevention and control. With the goal of developing the world's leading national public health management system, the Chinese government established an advanced academic program for public health crisis management. The program offers doctoral students a multidisciplinary degree based upon the theoretical knowledge of crisis management, supported by advanced training in the foundational concepts, theories, and practices of public health, and the study of basic medicine which provides the theoretical support for developing essential clinical skills. Program graduates develop the theoretical, practical, and leadership-related capabilities required for the management of national emergencies. The program introduced in this paper meets current epidemic prevention and control needs and should be considered by public health policy makers, leaders, and scholars in the discussion of advanced public health policy and health care education in China, including the development of an internationally recognized Doctor of Public Health program.

How Green Finance Sparks Sustainability: Using Big Data Analysis and Visualization Software to Unite Future Economic and Social Value Potential

The core concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era is to promote the optimization and upgrading of the economic system and the construction of sustainable ecological civilization. In the wake of the COVID-19, it has become a major issue for countries around the world to pursue green recovery. Green is a necessary condition for sustainable development, finance is the leading force of social economy, and the development of green finance is the core call of today's era. Guangdong, as the main force of the national economic lifeline, took the lead in green finance innovation and promoted the transformation and adjustment of leading industries. At present, the banking industry has repeatedly disclosed the environment, society and governance (ESG) in its social responsibility reports in order to achieve the strategic goal of carbon peak and carbon neutral, but there is a lack of systematic review on the measures and implementation. Aiming at objective problems, this paper mainly discusses how green finance stimulates sustainability and explores the value potential of the future economy and society. Based on this, this paper selected 300 literatures from the Web of Science (WOS) database, mapped the coword cluster, and analyzed their annual trend, topic scope, literature sources, etc. With the help of big data analysis technology and visualization software function, scientometrics is used to demonstrate the possibility and feasibility of the research contents in relevant fields, and to produce cutting-edge academic achievements with insight. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of green development with capital and financial design for diversified and deep thinking, to provide reference value theory for co-construction environment, data-driven investment scale and sustainable development, to accelerate the green finance reform in Guangdong Province and even the country to make a forward-looking small contribution. © 2021 ACM.

Dynamic Cross-Market Volatility Spillover Based on MSV Model: Evidence from Bitcoin, Gold, Crude Oil, and Stock Markets

This paper examines the spillover effect between bitcoin, gold, crude oil, and major stock markets by using the MSV model with dynamic correlation and Granger causality. The empirical results of the DC-GC-MSV model are logically correct and convergent. The DIC test result has proved that the DC-GC-MSV model is better and more accurate. Bitcoin has no significant Granger causality spillover effect than other assets. As a safe haven product for stock assets, gold price has one-way spillover effect from stock market volatility. Moreover, crude oil has the highest correlation with the stock market. In the recent COVID-19 epidemic and the sluggish economic environment, investors need to consider a balanced asset allocation among low-correlation assets, medium-correlation assets, and high-correlation assets to reduce risks.

Sleep problems among Chinese adolescents and young adults during the coronavirus-2019 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of insomnia symptoms among Chinese adolescents and young adults affected by the outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: This cross-sectional study included Chinese adolescents and young adults 12-29 years of age during part of the COVID-19 epidemic period. An online survey was used to collect demographic data, and to assess recognition of COVID-19, insomnia, depression, and anxiety symptoms using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaires, respectively. The Social Support Rate Scale was used to assess social support. RESULTS: Among 11,835 adolescents and young adults included in the study, the prevalence of insomnia symptoms during part of the COVID-19 epidemic period was 23.2%. Binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that female sex and residing in the city were greater risk factors for insomnia symptoms. Depression or anxiety were risk factors for insomnia symptoms; however, social support, both subjective and objective, was protective factors against insomnia symptoms. Furthermore, anxiety and depression symptoms were mediators of social support and insomnia symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study revealed a high prevalence of sleep problems among adolescents and young adults during the COVID-19 epidemic, especially senior high school and college students, which were negatively associated with students' projections of trends in COVID-19. The adverse impact of COVID-19 was a risk factor for insomnia symptoms; as such, the government must devote more attention to sleep disorders in this patient population while combating COVID-19.

Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of psychological health problems in Chinese adolescents during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Psychological health problems, especially emotional disorders, are common among adolescents. The epidemiology of emotional disorders is greatly influenced by stressful events. This study sought to assess the prevalence rate and socio-demographic correlates of depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. We conducted a cross-sectional study among Chinese students aged 12-18 years during the COVID-19 epidemic period. An online survey was used to conduct rapid assessment. A total of 8079 participants were involved in the study. An online survey was used to collect demographic data, assess students' awareness of COVID-19, and assess depressive and anxiety symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire, respectively. The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and a combination of depressive and anxiety symptoms was 43.7%, 37.4%, and 31.3%, respectively, among Chinese high school students during the COVID-19 outbreak. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that female gender was the higher risk factor for depressive and anxiety symptoms. In terms of grades, senior high school was a risk factor for depressive and anxiety symptoms; the higher the grade, the greater the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Our findings show there is a high prevalence of psychological health problems among adolescents, which are negatively associated with the level of awareness of COVID-19. These findings suggest that the government needs to pay more attention to psychological health among adolescents while combating COVID-19.

The scRNA-seq expression profiling of the receptor ACE2 and the cellular protease TMPRSS2 reveals human organs susceptible to COVID-19 infection (preprint)

BackgroundCOVID-19 caused by SARA-CoV-2 is a disaster sweeping over 200 countries, and more than 2,150,000 people are suffering from the disease and 140,000 people died. ACE2 is a receptor protein of SARS- CoV-2, and TMPRSS2 promotes virus proliferation and transmission. Some patients developed multiple organ dysfunction syndromes other than lungs. Therefore, studying the viral susceptibility of other organs is important for a deeper understanding of viral pathogenesis. MethodsThe advantage of scRNA-seq data is the identification of cell types by clustering the gene expression of cells. ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are highly expressed in AT2 of lungs, we compared the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression levels of cell types from 31 organs, with AT2 of lungs to evaluate the risk of the viral infection using scRNA-seq data. FindingsFor the first time, we found the brain, gall bladder, and fallopian tube are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Besides, the nose, heart, small intestine, large intestine, esophagus, testis and kidney are also identified to be high-risk organs with high expression levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Moreover, the susceptible organs are grouped into three risk levels based on the TMPRSS2 expression. As a result, the respiratory system, digestive system and reproductive system are at the top-risk level to COVID-19 infection. InterpretationThis study provides evidence for COVID-19 infection in the human nervous system, digestive system, reproductive system, respiratory system, circulatory system and urinary system using scRNA-seq data, which helps for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients.

The effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on children’s behavior and parents’ mental health in China: A research study (preprint)

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on children’s behavior and their parents’ mental health in China. MethodsA total of 30861 children’s parents were selected from throughout China to complete the self-made Child behavior Questionnaire and Child Parents Mental Health Questionnaire. ResultsThe results showed that there were significant differences in children’s behavior scores in variables such as age, whether or not an only child and place of residence; There were significant differences in physical, emotional and cognitive scores of parents in variables such as gender, age, education, occupation, place of residence, whether there are medical staff in family, the relationship with children, and children’s age. The correlation analysis showed that children’s behavior and parents’ physical, emotion and cognition were significantly correlated with epidemic-related factors. The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that epidemic-related factors can significantly predict children’s behavior and parents’ physical, emotion, and cognition. ConclusionsThese results can provide theoretical basis for the behavior management of children at home and the psychological adjustment of parents during the epidemic.