Teaching a geography field methods course amid the COVID-19 pandemic: reflections and lessons learned

Field-based education is interactive, hands-on, and based on real world experience and methodology, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has faced special challenges. As many institutions may struggle to maintain this vital component of geographic education, this resource paper aims to illustrate the impacts of the pandemic and provide some strategies to overcome the challenges from the experience of teaching a field methods course at a university in Texas. While many studies have focused on evaluating field instruction amidst the pandemic, our commentary focuses on both a ground-based perception from instructors and students and a comparison before and after the outbreak of the pandemic. We found that virtual attendance is disadvantageous to teaching and learning, and transferable skills like teamwork and communication are compromised due to a reduction in social interaction. However, intrapersonal skills such as observation, note-taking, and organization were better received in students' learning. Students expressed minimal safety concerns about the on-campus fieldwork given the conformity to the safety and health protocols. Based on the existing literature and our experience, we conclude with four generalized recommendations to share with colleagues in a similar situation, hoping to help retain the critical role of field-based education even under disruption. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Geography in Higher Education is the property of Routledge 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.)

Omicron BA.1 breakthrough infections in inactivated COVID-19 vaccine recipients induced distinct pattern of antibody and T cell responses to different Omicron sublineages.

The adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain and Omicron sublineages induced by BA.1 breakthrough infection in vaccinees of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines have not been well characterized. Here, we report that BA.1 breakthrough infection induced mucosal sIgA and resulted in higher IgG titers against prototype strain and Omicron sublineages in vaccinees than in vaccine naïve-infected individuals. BA.1 breakthrough infection boosted antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis to prototype strain and BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, and BA.2.75 but not BA.4/5 and induced neutralization against prototype strain and BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.2.75, and BA.4/5 but not BF.7, BQ.1, and XBB. In total, BA.1 breakthrough infection individuals produced less extensive sIgA, plasma IgG and NAb responses against Omicron sublineages compared with those against prototype strain. Further, BA.1 breakthrough infection induced recall B cell response to prototype strain and Omicron variant, primarily targeting memory B cells producing conserved epitopes. Memory T cell responses against Omicron is largely preserved. Individuals with vaccine booster did not induce more beneficial immune responses to Omicron sublineages upon BA.1 breakthrough infection than those with primary vaccine dose only. The breakthrough infection individuals produced stronger adaptive immunity than those of inactivated vaccine-healthy individuals. These data have important implications for understanding the vaccine effectiveness and adaptive immunity to breakthrough infection in individuals fully immunized with inactivated vaccines. Omicron sublineages, especially for those emerged after BA.4/5 strain, evade NAb responses induced by BA.1 breakthrough infection. It is urgent to optimize the vaccine immunogen design and formulations to SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Jin-Zhen oral liquid for pediatric coronavirus disease (COVID-19): A randomly controlled, open-label, and non-inferiority trial at multiple clinical centers.

Background: As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic progressed, especially with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the proportion of infected children and adolescents increased significantly. Some treatment such as Chinese herbal medicine has been administered for COVID-19 as a therapeutic option. Jin-Zhen Oral Liquid is widely used for pediatric acute bronchitis, while the efficacy and safety in the treatment of pediatric COVID-19 are unclear. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled, open-label, multicenter, non-inferiority clinical study involving hospitalized children with mild to moderate COVID-19. Children eligible for enrollment were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to Jin-Zhen Oral Liquid (the treatment group) and Jinhua Qinggan Granules (the positive control group) and received the respective agent for 14 days, followed by a 14-day follow-up after discontinuation of the treatment. The primary efficacy endpoint was the time to first negative viral testing. The secondary endpoints were the time and rate of major symptoms disappearance, duration of hospitalization, and the proportion of symptoms changed from asymptomatic or mild to moderate or severe/critical illness. In addition, the safety end points of any adverse events were observed. Results: A total of 240 child patients were assigned randomly into the Jin-Zhen Oral Liquid (117 patients) and Jinhua Qinggan Granules (123 patients) groups. There was no significant difference of the baselines in terms of the clinical characteristics and initial symptoms between the two groups. After 14-day administration, the time to first negative viral testing in the Jin-Zhen group (median 6.0 days, 95% CI 5.0-6.0) was significantly shorter compared with the positive control Jinhua Qinggan Granules group (median 7.0 days, 95% CI 7.0-8.0). The time and rate of major clinical symptoms disappearance were comparable to the positive control. The symptom disappearance time of pharyngalgia and hospitalization duration were significantly shortened in the Jin-zhen Oral Liquid group. No participants in either group experienced post-treatment exacerbation to severe or critical illness. No adverse events were observed in the Jin-Zhen Oral Liquid treatment group (0.0%) while 1 patient with adverse events occurred in the positive control Jinhua Qinggan granules group (0.8%). No serious adverse events were observed during the study period in both groups. Conclusion: Jin-Zhen Oral Liquid is safe and effective in the treatment of mild to medium COVID-19 in children. It is non-inferior to Jinhua Qinggan granules in shortening the time to first negative viral testing, the time and rate of major clinical symptoms disappearance, and the hospitalization duration. The results suggest that Jin-Zhen Oral Liquid can be a recommended drug for treatment of pediatric COVID-19 patients.

Trends in operating room-based glaucoma procedures at a single eye center from 2016-2020.

AIM: To evaluate trends in glaucoma procedures at the Peking University Eye Center in 2016-2020. METHODS: A retrospective search of all glaucoma procedures performed at our institution were performed. Data were analyzed by calculating the absolute numbers and relative weightage of each procedure per year. RESULTS: The average age of glaucoma patients undergoing surgical procedures was 62.33±17.87y, and 55% were women. From 2016 to 2019, the number of surgical procedures performed in glaucoma patients showed an overall upward trend from 749 to 1460, although it decreased slightly in 2020 (n=1393), probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of trabeculectomies did not change significantly in 2016 (n=161) to 2018 (n=164) but decreased in 2019 (n=139) to 2020 (n=121), indicating a reduction in its relative weightage among glaucoma procedures (from 21.50% to 8.69%). The number of glaucoma drainage device implantations and minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries both increased (50 and 58 respectively in 2019), except in 2020. The number of transscleral cyclophotocoagulation procedures was relatively stable, increasing until 2017 (n=218) and then decreasing. Cataract surgeries with or without glaucoma procedures accounted for a large number of the total surgeries, increasing from 247 (32.97%) in 2016 to 967 (69.42%), among which cataract extraction combined with goniosynechialysis was the most frequent. CONCLUSION: The overall increase in the number of operating room-based surgical procedures is significant. Trabeculectomy is one of the most commonly performed procedures, despite the relative decline in its weightage. Other procedures, including use of glaucoma drainage devices and mini shunts and minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries, are gaining greater acceptance. Notably, lens-related surgery plays an important role in glaucoma management.

Bibliometric and visual analysis of cardiovascular diseases and COVID-19 research.

Background: The global community has been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which emerged in December 2019. Since then, many studies have been conducted on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and COVID-19. The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric and visual analysis of the published relationship between CVDs and COVID-19. Methods: 1,890 publications were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database on January 5, 2022. Microsoft Office Excel and CiteSpace were then used to carry out scientometric analysis on the relevant literature according to seven aspects: document type, countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, references, and keywords. Results: The research on CVDs and COVID-19 is currently in a period of rapid development, with China, USA, England, and Italy leading the field. There is active cooperation between most countries and institutions. Harvard Medical School stands out among the many institutions not only for the largest number of publications, but also for their high quality. Banerjee A, Solomon SD and Narula J are three representative authors in this field. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine was the journal with the highest number of published studies, and The Lancet was the most cited journal. Two documents with a high degree of significance in this field were identified. Popular research topics in this field are specific diseases, such as acute coronary syndrome and heart failure; pathogenesis related to ACE2, insulin resistance and pericyte; the specific therapeutic drug chloroquine; and clinical characteristics, physical activity, and mental health. ACE2 and NF-κB will be the focus of future research. Conclusions: This study provides useful information for the research of CVDs and COVID-19, including potential collaborators, popular research topics, and a reference for more extensive and in-depth research in the future.

Application of network composite module analysis and verification to explore the bidirectional immunomodulatory effect of Zukamu granules on Th1 / Th2 cytokines in lung injury.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Zukamu granules (ZKMG), as the preferred drug for the treatment of colds in Uygur medical theory, has been used for 1500 years. It is also widely used in China and included in the National Essential Drugs List (2018 edition). It has unique anti-inflammatory, antitussive and analgesic effects. AIM OF THE STUDY: Aiming at the research of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with the characteristics of overall regulation of body diseases and the immune regulation mechanism with the concept of integrity, this paper put forward the integrated application of network composite module analysis and animal experiment verification to study the immune regulation mechanism of TCM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The active components and targets of ZKMG were predicted, and network module analysis was performed to explore their potential immunomodulatory mechanisms. Then acute lung injury (ALI) mice and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) rats were used as pathological models to observe the effects of ZKMG on the pathological conditions of infected ALI and IPF rats, determine the contents of Th1, Th2 characteristic cytokines and immunoglobulins, and study the intervention of GATA3/STAT6 signal pathway. RESULTS: The results of network composite module analysis showed that ZKMG contained 173 pharmacodynamic components and 249 potential targets, and four key modules were obtained. The immunomodulatory effects of ZKMG were related to T cell receptor signaling pathway. The validation results of bioeffects that ZKMG could carry out bidirectional immune regulation on Th1/Th2 cytokines in the stage of ALI and IPF, so as to play the role of regulating immune homeostasis and organ protection. CONCLUSIONS: The network composite module analysis and verification method is an exploration to study the immune regulation mechanism of TCM by combining the network module prediction analysis with animal experiments, which provides a reference for subsequent research.

Application of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) specific antibody detection for suspected cases screening

Comparing the accuracy of antibody detection reagents which based on different principles by the diagnosis of suspected cases of new crown, propose an efficient screening plan for suspected cases, and further provide a scientific basis for establishing a clinical screening path for high-risk populations. For 76 suspected cases of COVID-19 that were transferred to designated hospitals for isolation and observation due to the initial IgM antibody test, nasopharyngeal swab nucleic acid tests, serum trace virus neutralizing antibodies and three commercially available antibody test reagents with different principles were tested, combined with lung CT and the examination and clinical symptoms or other information, comprehensively judge the diagnosis or exclusion of the new crown, and compare the three kinds of serological antibody detection reagents with the clinical judgment results to compare the detection rates of the three detection methods. Through comprehensive judgment, 3 suspected cases are confirmed cases, and 73 suspected cases are excluded cases. Compared with the clinical diagnosis/exclusion results, among the three serological antibody detection methods, the chemiluminescence total antibody kit detect positive for all the 9 serums collected from the 3 confirmed cases in different time points, the detection specificity is 97.26% for 73 excluded cases, it's significantly higher than that of the chemiluminescence method IgM/IgG and the colloidal gold method IgM/IgG Separate testing (the specificity is 73.97% on the first day of admission). The chemiluminescence method for the detection of total antibodies to the 2019-nCoV has high sensitivity and high specificity, and can be used for preliminary screening of antibody detection in suspected cases. For the screening of target populations, the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test should be performed first. If the nucleic acid test is negative, the screening path with the detection of serum total antibodies as the main indicator should be adopted.

H2O2 generation enhancement by ultrasonic nebulisation with a zinc layer for spray disinfection.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, microbial pollution has gained increasing attention as a threat to human health. Consequently, many research efforts are being devoted to the development of efficient disinfection methods. In this context, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) stands out as a green and broad-spectrum disinfectant, which can be produced and sprayed in the air directly by cavitation in ultrasonic nebulisation. However, the yield of H2O2 obtained by ultrasonic nebulisation is too low to satisfy the requirements for disinfection by spraying and needs to be improved to achieve efficient disinfection of the air and objects. Herein, we report the introduction of a zinc layer into an ultrasonic nebuliser to improve the production of H2O2 and generate additional Zn2+ by self-corrosion, achieving good disinfecting performance. Specifically, a zinc layer was assembled on the oscillator plate of a commercial ultrasonic nebuliser, resulting in a 21-fold increase in the yield of H2O2 and the production of 4.75 µg/mL Zn2+ in the spraying droplets. When the generated water mist was used to treat a bottle polluted with Escherichia coli for 30 min, the sterilisation rate reached 93.53%. This ultrasonic nebulisation using a functional zinc layer successfully enhanced the production of H2O2 while generating Zn2+, providing a platform for the development of new methodologies of spray disinfection.

Cross-neutralization of RBD mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 by convalescent patient derived antibodies.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an urgent need for the development of therapeutic interventions. Of which, neutralizing antibodies play a crucial role in the prevention and resolution of viral infection. METHODS: We generated antibody libraries from 18 different COVID-19 recovered patients and screened neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and its mutants. After 3 rounds of panning, 456 positive phage clones were obtained with high affinity to RBD (receptor binding domain). Clones were then reconstituted into whole human IgG for epitope binning assay and all 19 IgG were classified into 6 different epitope groups or Bins. RESULTS: Although all antibodies were found to bind RBD, the antibodies in Bin2 had superior inhibitory ability of the interaction between spike protein and angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptor (ACE2). Most importantly, the antibodies from Bin2 showed stronger binding affinity or ability to mutant RBDs (N501Y, W463R, R408I, N354D, V367F, and N354D/D364Y) derived from different SARS-CoV-2 strains as well, suggesting the great potential of these antibodies in preventing infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its mutations. Furthermore, such neutralizing antibodies strongly restricted the binding of RBD to hACE2 overexpressed 293T cells. Consistently, these antibodies effectively neutralized wildtype and more transmissible mutant pseudovirus entry into hACE2 overexpressed 293T cells. In Vero-E6 cells, one of these antibodies can even block the entry of live SARS-CoV-2 into cells at 12.5 nM. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the neutralizing human antibodies from the patient-derived antibody libraries have the potential to fight SARS-CoV-2 and its mutants in this global pandemic.

The Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Climatic Factors of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China

COVID-19 is threatening the whole world. This paper aims to explore the correlation between climatic factors and the morbidity of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, mainly by using a geographic detector and GWR model. It was found that the response of the morbidity of COVID-19 to meteorological factors in Wuhan is different at different stages. On the whole, the morbidity of COVID-19 has a strong spatial aggregation, mainly concentrated in the central area of Wuhan City. There is a positive correlation between wind speed and the spread of COVID-19, while temperature has a negative correlation. There is a positive correlation between air pressure and the number of COVID-19 cases. Rainfall is not significantly correlated with the spread of COVID-19. It is concluded that wind speed, relative humidity, temperature, and air pressure are important meteorological factors affecting the spread of COVID-19 in Wuhan. Any two variables have greater interaction with the spatial distribution of the incidence rate of COVID-19 than any one factor alone. Those findings not only provide a new insight for the key intervention measures and the optimal allocation of health care resources accordingly but also lay a theoretical foundation for disease prevention, disease intervention and health services.

Acute cerebrovascular disease following COVID-19: a single center, retrospective, observational study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Apart from respiratory complications, acute cerebrovascular disease (CVD) has been observed in some patients with COVID-19. Therefore, we described the clinical characteristics, laboratory features, treatment and outcomes of CVD complicating SARS-CoV-2 infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Demographic and clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, treatments and clinical outcomes were collected and analysed. Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of patients with COVID-19 with or without new-onset CVD were compared. RESULTS: Of 219 patients with COVID-19, 10 (4.6%) developed acute ischaemic stroke and 1 (0.5%) had intracerebral haemorrhage. COVID-19 with new onset of CVD were significantly older (75.7±10.8 years vs 52.1±15.3 years, p<0.001), more likely to present with severe COVID-19 (81.8% vs 39.9%, p<0.01) and were more likely to have cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes and medical history of CVD (all p<0.05). In addition, they were more likely to have increased inflammatory response and hypercoagulable state as reflected in C reactive protein (51.1 (1.3-127.9) vs 12.1 (0.1-212.0) mg/L, p<0.05) and D-dimer (6.9 (0.3-20.0) vs 0.5 (0.1-20.0) mg/L, p<0.001). Of 10 patients with ischemic stroke; 6 received antiplatelet treatment with aspirin or clopidogrel; and 3 of them died. The other four patients received anticoagulant treatment with enoxaparin and 2 of them died. As of 24 March 2020, six patients with CVD died (54.5%). CONCLUSION: Acute CVD is not uncommon in COVID-19. Our findings suggest that older patients with risk factors are more likely to develop CVD. The development of CVD is an important negative prognostic factor which requires further study to identify optimal management strategy to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

Consensus for prevention and management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for neurologists.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic disease globally. Although COVID-19 directly invades lungs, it also involves the nervous system. Therefore, patients with nervous system involvement as the presenting symptoms in the early stage of infection may easily be misdiagnosed and their treatment delayed. They become silent contagious sources or 'virus spreaders'. In order to help neurologists to better understand the occurrence, development and prognosis, we have developed this consensus of prevention and management of COVID-19. It can also assist other healthcare providers to be familiar with and recognise COVID-19 in their evaluation of patients in the clinic and hospital environment.

A human antibody of potent efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques showed strong blocking activity to B.1.351.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), interacts with the host cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) via its spike 1 protein during infection. After the virus sequence was published, we identified two potent antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) from antibody libraries using a phage-to-yeast (PtY) display platform in only 10 days. Our lead antibody JMB2002, now in a Phase 1 clinical trial (ChiCTR2100042150), showed broad-spectrum in vitro blocking activity against hACE2 binding to the RBD of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants, including B.1.351 that was reportedly much more resistant to neutralization by convalescent plasma, vaccine sera and some clinical-stage neutralizing antibodies. Furthermore, JMB2002 has demonstrated complete prophylactic and potent therapeutic efficacy in a rhesus macaque disease model. Prophylactic and therapeutic countermeasure intervention of SARS-CoV-2 using JMB2002 would likely slow down the transmission of currently emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants and result in more efficient control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learning from Large-Scale Wearable Device Data for Predicting the Epidemic Trend of COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered a new response involving public health surveillance. The popularity of personal wearable devices creates a new opportunity for tracking and precaution of spread of such infectious diseases. In this study, we propose a framework, which is based on the heart rate and sleep data collected from wearable devices, to predict the epidemic trend of COVID-19 in different countries and cities. In addition to a physiological anomaly detection algorithm defined based on data from wearable devices, an online neural network prediction modelling methodology combining both detected physiological anomaly rate and historical COVID-19 infection rate is explored. Four models are trained separately according to geographical segmentation, i.e., North China, Central China, South China, and South-Central Europe. The anonymised sensor data from approximately 1.3 million wearable device users are used for model verification. Our experiment's results indicate that the prediction models can be utilized to alert to an outbreak of COVID-19 in advance, which suggests there is potential for a health surveillance system utilising wearable device data.

The clinical feature and imaging analysis of patients with new coronavirus infection in Shijiazhuang

Objective: To investigate clinical features and imaging manifestation of patients with the COVID-19 infection in Shijiazhuang.

A facile assay for rapid detection of COVID-19 antibodies.

The outbreak of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has quickly spread all over the world. Real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for nucleic acid detection has become the standard method for clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. But these rRT-PCR tests have many inherent limitations, and carry a high false negative rate. It is an urgent to develop a method to accurately identify the vast infected patients and asymptomatic viral carriers from the population. In this article, we present the principle and procedure of developing a colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay (GICA) for rapid detection of COVID-19-specific antibodies. The detection kit can be used to detect immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG of COVID-19 in human blood samples within 15 minutes, and to identify different stages of viral infection. Test results can be digitalized using an office scanner and a FiJi software with appropriate confidence interval (CI) setting. Based on analysis from 375 samples, we calculated that overall sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 95.85% and 97.47%, respectively. Compared with rRT-PCR, this assay has many advantages including convenience and rapid detection. The detection kit can be widely used in hospitals, clinics and laboratories for rapid screening of both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers in large scale.

Potential of Arbidol for Post-exposure Prophylaxis of COVID-19 Transmission: A Preliminary Report of a Retrospective Cohort Study.

The efficient transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from patients to health care workers or family members has been a worrisome and prominent feature of the ongoing outbreak. On the basis of clinical practice and in-vitro studies, we postulated that post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) using Arbidol is associated with decreased infection among individuals exposed to confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. We conducted a retrospective cohort study on family members and health care workers who were exposed to patients confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 infection by real-time RT-PCR and chest computed tomography (CT) from January 1 to January 16, 2020. The last follow-up date was Feb. 26, 2020. The emergence of fever and/or respiratory symptoms after exposure to the primary case was collected. The correlations between post-exposure prophylaxis and infection in household contacts and health care workers were respectively analyzed. A total of 66 members in 27 families and 124 health care workers had evidence of close exposure to patients with confirmed COVID-19. The Cox regression based on the data of the family members and health care workers with Arbidol or not showed that Arbidol PEP was a protective factor against the development of COVID-19 (HR 0.025, 95% CI 0.003-0.209, P=0.0006 for family members and HR 0.056, 95% CI 0.005-0.662, P=0.0221 for health care workers). Our findings suggest Arbidol could reduce the infection risk of the novel coronavirus in hospital and family settings. This treatment should be promoted for PEP use and should be the subject of further investigation.