The impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifting on the health of the elderly :evidence from a quasi- experiment (preprint)

The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions has brought about positive changes, yet the adaptation of the elderly in the post-pandemic era still faces challenges. The purpose of this study is to investigate the health changes in the elderly after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions through a quasi-natural Experiment design, to unravel the effects of the lifting of the pandemic restrictions. The article is based on the data of the elderly in China and South Korea from 2020 to 2022 and employs the PSM-DID method for empirical testing to examine the impact of the lifting of pandemic restrictions on the health of the elderly. The results show that: (1) The lifting of the pandemic restrictions significantly improved the physical health of the elderly. (2) The lifting of the pandemic restrictions effectively improved the mental health of the elderly and significantly reduced their depression scores. (3) Heterogeneity tests indicate that the lifting of the pandemic restrictions had a more treatment effect on improving the health of elderly groups that are female, younger, lower-income, and suffering from chronic diseases. The gradual recovery of health in the elderly in the post-pandemic era is an important phenomenon, but more research is needed on the potential health impacts of pandemic lockdown measures to provide information for the fields of public health and elderly health.

Mediating Role of Anxiety and Depression in Relationship between Coping Style and Life Satisfaction in Medical Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic in China (preprint)

Objective: This study aimed to examine the mediating role of anxiety and depression on the relationship between coping styles and life satisfaction in medical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods：Five hundred and fourteen frontline medical workers from Zunyi were recruited to complete questionnaires, including the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ). Results：The results revealed the following: a) The prevalence of anxiety was 22.57%, and the prevalence of depression was 18.29%. b) Anxiety was positively correlated with depression; anxiety and depression were positively correlated with passive coping styles but negatively correlated with life satisfaction and active coping styles; life satisfaction was positively correlated with active coping styles and negatively correlated with passive coping styles. c) Anxiety and depression partially mediated the relationship between active coping styles and life satisfaction. Conclusion：Some frontline medical workers in the pandemic area had subclinical anxiety and depression, and anxiety and depression had a mediating effect on the relationship between coping styles and life satisfaction.

Assessment of Economic Recovery in Hebei Province, China, under the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Nighttime Light Data

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented disruptions to human society worldwide since late 2019, and lockdown policies in response to the pandemic have directly and drastically decreased human socioeconomic activities. To quantify and assess the extent of the pandemic's impact on the economy of Hebei Province, China, nighttime light (NTL) data, vegetation information, and provincial quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) data were jointly utilized to estimate the quarterly GDP for prefecture-level cities and county-level cities. Next, an autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) model was applied to predict the quarterly GDP for 2020 and 2021. Finally, economic recovery intensity (ERI) was used to assess the extent of economic recovery in Hebei Province during the pandemic. The results show that, at the provincial level, the economy of Hebei Province had not yet recovered;at the prefectural and county levels, three prefectures and forty counties were still struggling to restore their economies by the end of 2021, even though these economies, as a whole, were gradually recovering. In addition, the number of new infected cases correlated positively with the urban NTL during the pandemic period, but not during the post-pandemic period. The study results are informative for local government's strategies and policies for allocating financial resources for urban economic recovery in the short- and long-term.

The Effect of COVID-19 on the Menstrual Cycle of Female Medical Staff: A Cross-sectional Survey in China (preprint)

Objective Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can affect women 's health. This study aimed to investigate the association between Menopathy, COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety, sleep dysfunction and other factors among female medical staff.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted via administrating online questionnaires to female medical staff in China from February to May 2022. The study includes 160 women aged between 18–45 years old. The questionnaires contain sociodemographic characteristics, medical and reproductive history, lifestyle information of participants, Rating Scale for Clinical Manifestation of Menopathy (SCMM), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Sleep Dysfunction Rating Scale (SDRS). Data were analyzed using chi-square, t-tests, and linear regression analysis.Results A total of 160 female medical staff were randomly selected in this research, 7 of whom scored less than 3 points, 85 of whom scored more than 2 points and less than 12 points, and 68 of whom scored more than 11 points on the total score of SCMM. The score of dizziness and tinnitus was significantly higher during than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and scores of its following clinical symptoms of Menopathy: hypaphrodisia, dim complexion, abnormal urination, languidness, dim menstruation, thin menstruation, dysmenorrhea, and empty or saggy lower abdomen (p < 0.05). However, the score of vaginal bleeding quantity was significantly higher before than during the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.05). The score of vaginal bleeding quantity of the female medical staff was significantly lower in the cabin hospitals than others, and the same is true for vaginal bleeding duration (all p < 0.05). Besides, the findings of the univariable and multivariable linear regression analysis revealed a link between consistent exercise, the underlying illness, the SDRS score, the SAS score, and the total score of SCMM (p < 0.05).Conclusions In this study, we found that menstruation in female health staff was affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, where regular exercise and good physical condition were protective factors, while anxiety and insomnia were risk factors for regular menstruation.

Characterization of viral shedding of Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging pandemic of highly contagious caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus -2 (SARS-CoV-2). Understanding the infectivity of various clinical samples and its transmission routes have been the main focus of current researches since the causative pathogens was identified. In this comprehensive review, we discuss the viral shedding from different clinical samples and reveal that infectious virus may be mainly discharged through respiratory and digestive systems. Also, SARS-CoV-2 showed a potential tropism for eyes, kidney, testis, placenta and other extrapulmonary tissues and high viral loads correlated with severe conditions. A better understanding of viral shedding may help the studies on pathogenesis and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and provide suggestions for the disease control.

Cryo-EM structure of SARS-CoV-2 postfusion spike in membrane (preprint)

Entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into host cells depends on refolding of the virus-encoded spike protein from a prefusion conformation, metastable after cleavage, to a lower energy, stable postfusion conformation. This transition overcomes kinetic barriers for fusion of viral and target cell membranes. We report here a cryo-EM structure of the intact postfusion spike in a lipid bilayer that represents single-membrane product of the fusion reaction. The structure provides structural definition of the functionally critical membrane-interacting segments, including the fusion peptide and transmembrane anchor. The internal fusion peptide forms a hairpin-like wedge that spans almost the entire lipid bilayer and the transmembrane segment wraps around the fusion peptide at the last stage of membrane fusion. These results advance our understanding of the spike protein in a membrane environment and may guide development of intervention strategies.

The Financial Market in China under the COVID-19

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on financial markets in China. Results of correlation analysis indicate that higher financial correlation among provinces emerged after the official announcement regarding COVID-19 in China. The Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) results after the pandemic announcement denote that Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Chongqing become the new cores, and the overall linking type exhibits cluster mode, which is varied from the intertwined connection mode. In addition, through Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) and Wavelet analysis, we found that financial markets in China are more susceptible to unexpected incidents.

Dissection of the Active Ingredients and Potential Mechanism of Han-Shi-Yu-Fei-Decoction in Treating COVID-19 Based on In Vivo Substances Profiling and Clinical Symptom-Guided Network Pharmacology

This work was aimed to elucidate the mechanism of action of Han-Shi-Yu-Fei-decoction (HSYFD) for treating patients with mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) based on clinical symptom-guided network pharmacology. Experimentally, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography technique coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method was used to profile the chemical components and the absorbed prototype constituents in rat serum after its oral administration, and 11 out of 108 compounds were identified. Calculatingly, the disease targets of Han-Shi-Yu-Fei symptoms of COVID-19 were constructed through the TCMIP V2.0 database. The subsequent network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis explored the molecular mechanism of the absorbed prototype constituents in the treatment of COVID-19. A total of 42 HSYFD targets oriented by COVID-19 clinical symptom were obtained, with EGFR, TP53, TNF, JAK2, NR3C1, TH, COMT, and DRD2 as the core targets. Enriched pathway analysis yielded multiple COVID-19-related signaling pathways, such as the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and JAK-STAT pathway. Molecular docking showed that the key compounds, such as 6-gingerol, 10-gingerol, and scopoletin, had high binding activity to the core targets like COMT, JAK2, and NR3C1. Our work also verified the feasibility of clinical symptom-guided network pharmacology analysis of chemical compounds, and provided a possible agreement between the points of views of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine on the disease.

Intranasal delivery of NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored COVID-19 vaccine restrains the SARS-CoV-2 inflammatory response (preprint)

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) variants and "anatomical escape" characteristics threaten the effectiveness of current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines. There is an urgent need to understand the immunological mechanism of broad-spectrum respiratory tract protection to guide broader vaccines development. In this study, we investigated immune responses induced by an NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored intranasal COVID-19 vaccine (dNS1-RBD) which provides broad-spectrum protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Intranasal delivery of dNS1-RBD induced innate immunity, trained immunity and tissue-resident memory T cells covering the upper and lower respiratory tract. It restrained the inflammatory response by suppressing early phase viral load post SARS-CoV-2 challenge and attenuating pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-6, IL-1B, and IFN-{gamma}) levels, thereby reducing excess immune-induced tissue injury compared with the control group. By inducing local cellular immunity and trained immunity, intranasal delivery of NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored vaccine represents a broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine strategy to reduce disease burden.

Efficiency Droop and Degradation in AlGaN-Based UVB Light-Emitting Diodes

In this study, we found that the current droop (J-droop) in AlGaN-based UVB light-emitting diodes was more obvious at higher temperatures, despite both the main and parasitic peaks undergoing monotonic decreases in their intensity upon an increase in the temperature. The slower temperature droop (T-droop) did not occur when the forward current was increased to temperatures greater than 298 K. After an aging time of 6000 h, the emission wavelengths did not undergo any obvious changes, while the intensity of the parasitic peak barely changed. Thus, the degradation in the light output power during long-term operation was not obviously correlated to the existence of the parasitic peak.

Eight-year operation status and data analysis of the first human milk bank in East China.

BACKGROUND: Human milk banks (HMBs) are essential facilities for the selection, collection, testing, transportation,storage, and distribution of DHM for special medical needs. The aim of this analysis was to analyze the operation status and data over the last 8 years of operation of the first human milk bank (HMB) in East China. METHODS: Data related to the costs, donors, donation, pasteurization, and recipients were extracted from the web-based electronic monitoring system of the HMB for the period August 1, 2013 to July 31, 2021. RESULTS: Over the 8 years of operation, 1,555 qualified donors donated 7,396.5L of qualified milk at a cost of ¥1.94 million($306,051), with the average cost per liter of donor human milk being ¥262.3($41.4). The donors were between 25 and 30 years of age, and the majority (80.1%) were primipara. All the donated milk was pasteurized and subjected to bacteriological tests before and after pasteurization: 95.4% passed the pre-pasteurization tests, and 96.3% passed the post-pasteurization tests. A total of 9,207 newborns received 5,775.2L of pasteurized donor milk. The main reason for the prescription of donor human milk was preterm birth. As a result of continuous quality improvements, January 2016 witnessed a significant increase in the volume of qualified DHM and the number of qualified donors. However, in 2020, as a result of the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of qualified DHM and the number of qualified donors decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Over its 8 years of operation, our HMB has made steady quality improvements in its screening and information processes. Continuous quality improvement is on ongoing need, along with recruiting more qualified donors and collecting donor human milk for vulnerable newborns.

Construction and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Pseudorabies Virus Expressing SARS-CoV-2-S and SARS-CoV-2-N

Coronavirus (CoV) is an important pathogen of humans and animals, which can infect humans or animals through the respiratory mucosal route. Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is quite similar to syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) with the same receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S and N proteins are the most important protective antigens of the SARS-CoV-2. The S protein on the viral membrane mediates the virus attachment with the host cells, and the N protein is the most abundant expression during infection. In this study, the recombinant viruses expressing the S and N proteins of SARS-CoV-2 were successfully constructed by Red/ET recombinant technology using Pseudorabies virus (PRV) strain Bartha-K61 as a vector. Genetic stability and growth kinetics analysis showed that the recombinant viruses rPRV-SARS-CoV-2-S and rPRV-SARS-CoV-2-N had similar genetic stability and proliferation characteristics to the parental PRV. The immunoassay results showed that mice immunized with recombinant viruses could produce total IgG antibodies. Therefore, PRV is feasible and promising as a viral vector to express SARS-CoV-2-S and SARS-CoV-2-N genes. This study can provide a reference for future research on live vector vaccines for domestic animals, pets, and wild animals.

Preliminary discussion on hospital service areas distribution and the setting of isolation points under the COVID-19 epidemic. (Special Issue: Spatio-temporal dynamics analysis, risk assessment and emergency management for COVID-19 epidemic.) [Chinese]

Objective To explore the distributions of hospital service areas under epidemic situation and the methods of setting centralized isolation points based on service areas from the perspective of space facility layout optimization. Methods A Huff model was applied to analyze the distributions of service areas of tertiary hospitals in Shanghai. Candidate locations were set to achieve maximizing coverage, and a location-allocation model was applied to predict the optimal hospital location. Results Among the tertiary hospitals that can admit COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, the central area had a high density of hospitals. The distributions of service areas in urban and rural hospitals were obviously different, and the service areas of rural hospitals were large. It was recommended to optimize the allocation of a new hospital in the center region of Songjiang District and an appropriate number of hospitals in the central area of Pudong New District. Conclusion Considering the distribution of hospital service areas, isolation points can be set in the communities close to the affiliated hospitals, and the hospitals corresponding to each isolation point should be clearly identified when a case occurs. It is recommended to optimize the configuration to add tertiary hospitals in Songjiang District and Pudong New District.

Rapid assessment of disaster damage and economic resilience in relation to the flooding in Zhengzhou, China in 2021

The timely and accurate assessment of flooding disasters and economic resilience is significant for post-disaster reconstruction and recovery. In July 2021, the National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) daily data were explored as a proxy to assess the flooding damage caused by heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou City, China. A combination of the night-time light (NTL) changes and the radiation normalization method was used to rapidly identify affected areas and extract populations following the flooding disaster. A daily gross domestic product (GDP) prediction model was developed to evaluate the economic resilience of Zhengzhou City using multi-temporal DNB daily and monthly NTL data. The severity of the disaster was estimated by the extent of power outages, flooding crisis regions, and affected populations. It has been predicted that the Zhengzhou economy is unlikely to be restored to its normal level before the end of 2021 owing to the dual impact of the coronavirus outbreak and flooding disaster;the revised recovery-time prediction is late April 2022. We concluded that our NTL data provided new, simple, and effective insights into the post-flooding assessment of the affected areas, populations, GDP forecast, and economic recovery.

Optimized canopy structure improves maize grain yield and resource use efficiency

Improved canopy structure was instrumental in setting maize yield records, and yet it has rarely been examined in China. At Qitai Farm in Xinjiang, we conducted a 4‐year field experiment using China's six highest‐yielding maize hybrids sorted into three yield level groups that were grown at similar growth durations and at optimum densities. The average yield of high‐yield level (HL, 22.3 Mg ha−1) was 7.2% and 24.6% higher than that of medium‐yield level (ML) and low‐yield level (LL), respectively. For each yield level, we measured morphological traits that influence canopy structure and yield. They included plant height, ear height, ear ratio, internode length, leaf numbers, leaf angle, LOV, leaf area, and spatial density of leaf area. Among the preceding morphological traits of the three yield levels, HL’s best optimized the canopy structure, as shown by improved light distribution (19.0% light transmission at the ear) and increased light interception per unit leaf area per day (LIPA, 51.7 MJ m−2 day−1) in the canopy. In comparison, light transmission was 12.2% and 15.9% at the ear and the total LIPAs were 37.2 and 29.0 MJ m−2 day−1 at silking for ML and LL, respectively. HL had significantly longer leaf area duration and a higher photosynthetic rate, especially at the grain filling stage, and its total accumulated biomass at maturity was significantly better (by 13.9%) than LL’s. HL’s harvest index (0.54) was significantly higher than that of ML (0.52) and LL (0.48). HL’s radiation and heat use efficiencies were 2.61% and 1.37 g °C−1 day−1 m−2, both significantly greater than those of ML and LL. Therefore, optimum maize plant types can significantly improve canopy structure and increase resource use efficiency and grain yield.

The natural gas consumption and mortality nexus: A mediation analysis

Boosting natural gas consumption can contribute to a healthy China. To examine the link between natural gas consumption and mortality, this study utilizes a balanced panel dataset including 30 Chinese provinces from 2001 to 2019. The fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method is employed to reveal the long-term cointegration, and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) test is further applied to explore the causal relations. Moreover, this study estimates the mediation effects of particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions on mortality. The empirical results indicate that climbing natural gas consumption can effectively reduce the mortality rate. At the national level, a 1% increase in natural gas consumption leads to a 0.02% decrease in the mortality rate. In addition, the causality analysis uncovers the existence of significant regional heterogeneity. An increase in natural gas consumption will exert a stronger impact in curbing mortality in high gross domestic product (High-GDP) or high natural gas consumption (High-NG) regions. In addition to directly affecting mortality, natural gas consumption also has an indirect impact through the mediation effects of PM 2.5 emissions. Finally, implications for policy and practice are put forward for the Chinese government pertaining to build a healthy China and advance the natural gas industry. • The nexus between natural gas consumption and mortality in China is investigated for 2001–2019. • Natural gas consumption negatively affects mortality rates. • Bidirectional causality link between natural gas consumption and mortality rate is detected. • Natural gas consumption not only directly affects mortality but also indirectly affect mortality by influencing PM 2.5 emissions. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Energy is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

How Classy Servant Leader at Workplace? Linking Servant Leadership and Task Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Moderation and Mediation Approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a record global crisis, particularly and extremely, for the service sectors. Due to extensive security measures, many service sector employees have to work remotely to maintain services. Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, this research investigates the impact of servant leadership on the task performance of employees in virtual working environments during the COVID-19 crisis. Our theoretical model was tested using data collected from 335 individual employees in the education sector of Pakistan. SPSS version 26.0 was applied to find the hypothesized relationship between the study variables. To find the indirect mediating effect, we applied Model 4; for moderation, we applied Model 1; and for the moderation and mediation effect, we applied Model 7 of the Process Macro model of Hayes. The results of the study revealed that servant leadership is positively related to task performance in a virtual environment during crises. Furthermore, psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between servant leadership and task performance. Perceived supervisor support positively moderates the relationship between servant leadership and task performance. Moreover, the indirect effect of servant leadership on task performance via psychological empowerment is moderated by perceived supervisor support. The results provided guidance to the educational sector on how to lead effectively in times of crisis when service sector employees work predominantly in virtual environments. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.