Mediating Effects of Attitudes, Risk Perceptions, and Negative Emotions on Coping Behaviors: Evidence From a Survey of Older Chinese Adults

Based on the perspectives of social risk amplification and the knowledge-attitudes-practice model, this study aimed to test how the level of knowledge about COVID-19 and information sources can predict people's behavioral changes and to examine the effect mechanisms through the mediating roles of attitude, risk perception, and negative emotions in a survey of 498 older Chinese adults. The results showed that (1) older people had a lower level of factual knowledge regarding the variant strains and vaccines;(2) in the information sources-behavior, information sources had a critical influence on elderly individuals' coping behaviors;and (3) in the knowledge-behavior, factual knowledge had a significant effect on elderly individuals' coping behaviors. Specifically, for prevention behaviors, both risk perception and negative emotions played full mediating roles. The findings have significant implications for the development of an effective COVID-19 prevention program to older adults coping with pandemic conditions.

Carbon Footprint of Alternative Grocery Shopping and Transportation Options from Retail Distribution Centers to Customer.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and automated warehouses, vehicles, and robots and has created new options for grocery supply chains. We report and compare the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for a 36-item grocery basket transported along 72 unique paths from a centralized warehouse to the customer, including impacts of micro-fulfillment centers, refrigeration, vehicle automation, and last-mile transportation. Our base case is in-store shopping with last-mile transportation using an internal combustion engine (ICE) SUV (6.0 kg CO2e). The results indicate that emissions reductions could be achieved by e-commerce with micro-fulfillment centers (16-54%), customer vehicle electrification (18-42%), or grocery delivery (22-65%) compared to the base case. In-store shopping with an ICE pick-up truck has the highest emissions of all paths investigated (6.9 kg CO2e) while delivery using a sidewalk automated robot has the least (1.0 kg CO2e). Shopping frequency is an important factor for households to consider, e.g. halving shopping frequency can reduce GHG emissions by 44%. Trip chaining also offers an opportunity to reduce emissions with approximately 50% savings compared to the base case. Opportunities for grocers and households to reduce grocery supply chain carbon footprints are identified and discussed.

Worldwide Research Trends on Artemisinin: A Bibliometric Analysis From 2000 to 2021.

Objective: Artemisinin is an organic compound that comes from Artemisia annua. Artemisinin treatment is the most important and effective method for treating malaria. Bibliometric analysis was carried out to identify the global research trends, hot spots, scientific frontiers, and output characteristics of artemisinin from 2000 to 2021. Methods: Publications and their recorded information from 2000 to 2021 were retrieved through the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Using VOSviewer and Citespace, the hotspots and trends of studies on artemisinin were visualized. Results: A total of 8,466 publications were retrieved, and for the past 22 years, the annual number of publications associated with artemisinin kept increasing. The United States published most papers. The H-index and number of citations of the United States ranked first. The University of Oxford and MALARIA JOURNAL were the most productive affiliation and journal, respectively. A paper written by E.A. Ashley in 2011 achieved the highest global citation score. Keywords, such as "malaria," "artesunate," "plasmodium-falciparum," "in-vitro," "artemisinin resistance," "plasmodium falciparum," "resistance," and "artemether-lumefantrine," appeared most frequently. The research on artemisinin includes clinical research and animal and cell experiments. Conclusion: The biosynthesis, drug resistance mechanism, and combination of artemisinin have become more popular than before. Studies on artemisinin treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been carried out, and good research results have been obtained.

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Last-Mile Parcel Delivery by Automated Vehicles and Robots.

Increased E-commerce and demand for contactless delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled interest in robotic package delivery. We evaluate life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for automated suburban ground delivery systems consisting of a vehicle (last-mile) and a robot (final-50-feet). Small and large cargo vans (125 and 350 cubic feet; V125 and V350) with an internal combustion engine (ICEV) and battery electric (BEV) powertrains were assessed for three delivery scenarios: (i) conventional, human-driven vehicle with human delivery; (ii) partially automated, human-driven vehicle with robot delivery; and (iii) fully automated, connected automated vehicle (CAV) with robot delivery. The robot's contribution to life cycle GHG emissions is small (2-6%). Compared to the conventional scenario, full automation results in similar GHG emissions for the V350-ICEV but 10% higher for the V125-BEV. Conventional delivery with a V125-BEV provides the lowest GHG emissions, 167 g CO2e/package, while partially automated delivery with a V350-ICEV generates the most at 486 g CO2e/package. Fuel economy and delivery density are key parameters, and electrification of the vehicle and carbon intensity of the electricity have a large impact. CAV power requirements and efficiency benefits largely offset each other, and automation has a moderate impact on life cycle GHG emissions.

Chemoprophylaxis, diagnosis, treatments, and discharge management of COVID-19: An evidence-based clinical practice guideline (updated version).

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of a rapidly spreading illness, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), affecting more than seventeen million people around the world. Diagnosis and treatment guidelines for clinicians caring for patients are needed. In the early stage, we have issued "A rapid advice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (standard version)"; now there are many direct evidences emerged and may change some of previous recommendations and it is ripe for develop an evidence-based guideline. We formed a working group of clinical experts and methodologists. The steering group members proposed 29 questions that are relevant to the management of COVID-19 covering the following areas: chemoprophylaxis, diagnosis, treatments, and discharge management. We searched the literature for direct evidence on the management of COVID-19, and assessed its certainty generated recommendations using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Recommendations were either strong or weak, or in the form of ungraded consensus-based statement. Finally, we issued 34 statements. Among them, 6 were strong recommendations for, 14 were weak recommendations for, 3 were weak recommendations against and 11 were ungraded consensus-based statement. They covered topics of chemoprophylaxis (including agents and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) agents), diagnosis (including clinical manifestations, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respiratory tract specimens, IgM and IgG antibody tests, chest computed tomography, chest x-ray, and CT features of asymptomatic infections), treatments (including lopinavir-ritonavir, umifenovir, favipiravir, interferon, remdesivir, combination of antiviral drugs, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, interleukin-6 inhibitors, interleukin-1 inhibitors, glucocorticoid, qingfei paidu decoction, lianhua qingwen granules/capsules, convalescent plasma, lung transplantation, invasive or noninvasive ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)), and discharge management (including discharge criteria and management plan in patients whose RT-PCR retesting shows SARS-CoV-2 positive after discharge). We also created two figures of these recommendations for the implementation purpose. We hope these recommendations can help support healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients With Gastrointestinal Symptoms: An Analysis of Seven Patients in China.

Objectives: Patients with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can present with gastrointestinal symptoms as their initial symptoms or as the main manifestations during disease progression, but the clinical characteristics of these patients are still unknown. Methods: We identified COVID-19 patients who admitted to Xiangyang No. 1 People's Hospital and presented with gastrointestinal symptoms as their initial or main symptoms. Their medical records were reviewed by two independent clinical scientists. The epidemiological and clinical characteristics as well as the clinical outcomes were analyzed. Results: Among 142 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 7 (4.9%) of them presented with gastrointestinal symptoms. Three patients had gastrointestinal symptoms as the initial symptoms and chief complaints, and 4 patients as the main symptoms during disease progression. Six patients had symptoms of diarrhea (3-16 days), 7 with anorexia (7-22 days), 6 with upper abdominal discomfort (1-7 days), and 4 with nausea (1-7 days), 1 with heartburn lasting 2 days, and 2 with vomiting symptoms (1 day). The chest CT scan showed typical COVID-19 imaging features, and associated with the progression of the disease. During treatment, 2 patients died due to organ failure. Discussion: COVID-19 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms are relatively rare and might be misdiagnosed. The clinical features include watery stools, anorexia, and upper abdominal discomfort. These patients may have severe disease and be associated with a poor prognosis. The underlying mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 related gastrointestinal symptoms need to clarify in future studies.