SARS-CoV-2 N protein-induced Dicer, XPO5, SRSF3, and hnRNPA3 downregulation causes pneumonia (preprint)

Age is a major risk factor for coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-associated severe pneumonia and mortality; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Herein, we investigated whether age-related deregulation of RNAi components and RNA splicing factors affects COVID-19 severity. Decreased expression of RNAi components (Dicer and XPO5) and splicing factors (SRSF3 and hnRNPA3) correlated with increased severity of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein-induced pneumonia. N protein induced autophagic degradation of Dicer, XPO5, SRSF3, and hnRNPA3, repressing miRNA biogenesis and RNA splicing and inducing DNA damage, proteotoxic stress, and pneumonia. Dicer, XPO5, SRSF3, and hnRNPA3 were downregulated with age in mouse lung tissues. Older mice experienced more severe N protein-induced pneumonia than younger mice. However, treatment with a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor (PJ34) or aromatase inhibitor (anastrozole) relieved N protein-induced pneumonia by restoring Dicer, XPO5, SRSF3, and hnRNPA3 expression. These findings will aid in developing improved treatments for SARS-CoV-2-associated pneumonia.

Exploring crucial social media marketing factors for improving customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in bed and breakfast sectors in Taiwan

PurposeThe Bed and Breakfast (B&B) enterprises generally lack sufficient human resources and time to conduct research on important social media marketing factors for visitors' satisfaction and visitors' intentions. Therefore, this study aims to provide crucial social media marketing and factors and service quality elements for improving customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in B&B sectors. This study also provides some recommendations for attracting more visitors and increasing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty through social media.Design/methodology/approachFirst, social media marketing factors and service quality elements were identified through the systematic literature review. Then these identified factors and elements were used to design a survey questionnaire for collecting data. The research data included responses of 64 B&B enterprises and 625 customers. The collected data was analyzed by feature selection approaches including Decision Tree algorithm and Information Gain to identify the key factors for improving customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.FindingsThe findings of this study determined that featured choice is an important social media marketing factor, and assurance is the common service quality element for both B&B enterprises and their customers in terms of satisfaction and loyalty.Originality/valueThis study adds a value to the growing literature on customer satisfaction and loyalty in B&B sectors by exploring key social media marketing factors and service quality elements. The study reveals several implications for theories and practices. The findings hopefully help B&B enterprises better social media marketing with less workforce and budget.

Clinical characteristics, socioeconomic factors and COVID-19 were associated with delayed surgery in children with hypospadias: a retrospective study of 4439 cases in a single center (preprint)

Background Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital diseases of the genitourinary system in children. The European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines recommend that children undergoing hypospadias surgery should be between 6-18 months. In China, where many children have hypospadias, it remains unknown whether clinical characteristics, socioeconomic factors and COVID-19 were associated with delayed surgery in children with hypospadias.Methods We retrospectively analyzed children with hypospadias who underwent primary surgery at the Department of Pediatric Urology in Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center between January 2010 and October 2021. Patients who had two-stage surgery or a second round of surgery due to complications were excluded to eliminate data duplication. The clinical characteristics and demographic information were collected. We defined delayed surgery as primary surgery performed after 18 months following the EAU guideline.Results A total of 4439 children diagnosed with hypospadias were included in the study. The median age (29.1±16.7 months) of surgery for hypospadias in our study was much higher than the recommended age reported in the EAU guidelines, and 76.6% of the children underwent surgery after the age of 18 months. Children without comorbidities including cryptorchidism (odds ratio [OR]=1.562; 95% confidence interval [CI]1.199-2.034; p=0.001), prostatic cyst (OR=2.613; 95% CI 1.579-4.324; p<0.001), penile hypoplasia (OR=1.778; 95% CI 1.225-2.580; p=0.002), inguinal hernia (OR=2.070; 95% CI 1.394-3.075; p<0.001), and penoscrotal transposition (OR=4.125; 95% CI 1.250-13.619; p=0.020) were more likely to receive delayed surgery. Living in a low economic area (OR=1.731; 95% CI 1.068-2.806; p=0.026) or not close to a main medical center (OR=1.580; 95% CI 1.370-1.824; p<0.001) was highly associated with delayed surgery. The proportion of children undergoing delayed surgery and the median age of surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly higher than those before the COVID-19 pandemic (p=0.004 and < 0.001, respectively).Conclusions Most children with hypospadias received delayed surgery (surgical age >18 months). Comorbidities, living in a low economic area, too far from a major city medical center and the COVID-19 pandemic were also highly associated with delayed surgery. It is vital to improve the public awareness of hypospadias and strengthen the re-education of primary community doctors to reduce delayed surgery. Trial registration Not applicable. 

Research progress of novel Coronavirus pneumonia

Since December 2019, a series of unexplained pneumonia cases have been reported in Hubei Province, China. Scientists have isolated a new type of coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2), which has been infected by the virus. The epidemic in China and many countries around the world has attracted global attention. This is the third type of coronavirus discovered after the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). At present, many scholars have conducted a lot of research on it. This article focuses on SARS-CoV. The etiology, epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, imaging examinations, laboratory examinations, diagnosis and treatment of CoV-2 are reviewed.