Comparison of 14 respiratory pathogens among hospitalized children during and after the COVID-19 outbreak in Chaoshan area.

BACKGROUND: Since January 2020, measures has been adopted in the Chaoshan area to limit the spread of COVID-19. Restrictions were removed after August 2020. At the same time, children returned to school. We previously reported the changes of 14 main respiratory pathogens in hospitalized children before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in Chaoshan area. However, the changes of respiratory pathogen spectrum in hospitalized children after the epidemic are still unknown, which will be elucidated in this study. METHODS: There are 6201 children hospitalized with respiratory tract infection were enrolled in the study, which were divided into two groups: 2533 from outbreak group (1 January 2020-31 December 2020), and 3668 from post-outbreak group (1 January 2021-31 December 2021). Pharyngeal swab samples were collected. 14 respiratory tract pathogens were detected by liquid chip technology. RESULTS: The positive rate of pathogen detection is significantly lower in the outbreak group (65.42%, 1657/2533) than that in the post-outbreak group (70.39%, 2582/3668; χ2 = 17.15, P < 0.05). The Influenza A virus (FluA) detection rate was 1.9% (49) in 2020, but 0% (0) in 2021. The detection rates of Bordetella pertussis (BP) decreased from 1.4% (35) in 2020 to 0.5% (17) in 2021. In contrast, the detection rates of  Influenza B virus (FluB), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Haemophilus influenzae (HI), Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) increased from 0.3% (8), 24.7% (626), 2.0% (50) and 19.4% (491) in 2020 to 3.3% (121), 27.9% (1025), 4.6% (169), 22.8% (836) in 2021, respectively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The detection rates of pathogens such as FluA, FluB, CMV, HI, SP, BP were statistically different between 2020 and 2021. From 2020 to 2021, the positive rates of Flu, CMV, HI and SP increased, while the positive rates of FluA and BP decreased. After the COVID-19 prevention and control measures are gradually relaxed, the positive rate of respiratory pathogens in children aged from 6 months to 6 years will increase.

Global research hotspots and trends in the field of spine surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic: A bibliometric and visual analysis.

Background: The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) significantly affected the healthcare and research systems, including spine surgery, throughout the world. A bibliometric analysis allows graphical visualization of the development of an academic field and its frontiers. Since research concerning spine surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is being constantly upgraded, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of this literature to investigate the current status, research hotspots, and trends in this field. Methods: We searched the Web of Science database for literature published (from December 1, 2019, to March 24, 2022) using the terms "COVID-19" OR "2019-nCoV" OR "SARS-CoV-2" AND "spine surgery" OR "spinal surgery" OR "discectomy" OR "decompression" OR "laminectomy" OR "interbody fusion" OR "pedicle screws." Detailed bibliometric and visual analysis of the number of publications, geographical distribution, institutions, journals, authors, and keywords was done using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and R-Bibliometrix. Results: Of the initially screened 173 articles, we included 84 relevant articles-62 original articles, 10 editorial materials, 8 reviews, and 4 others. The United States, China, Egypt, and Argentina were most actively publishing in the field of spine surgery and COVID-19. The AOSpine International community contributed 7 articles (24 citations). The Hospital for Special Surgery (13.1%) and Johns Hopkins University (13.1%) were institutions with the most publications. Using the Law of Bradford, we found that World Neurosurgery, Global Spine Journal, and European Spine Journal are the core journals in this field, with P. K. Louie being the most influential author. "Elective surgery," "intensive care," "telehealth," "patient satisfaction," and "follow-up" had the strongest citation bursts. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, spine surgeons were more concerned with surgical timing, care, treatment, and patient's quality of life. Accordingly, research hotspots in spine surgery during the pandemic shifted from "early healthcare" to "virus management" and "experience and education."

Research trends and hotspots of breast cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic: A bibliometric analysis

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is disrupting routine medical care of cancer patients, including those who have cancer or are undergoing cancer screening. In this study, breast cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic (BCMP) is reviewed, and the research trends of BCMP are evaluated by quantitative and qualitative evaluation. Methods In this study, published studies relating to BCMP from 1 January 2020 to 1 April 2022 were searched from the Web of Science database (WoS). Bibliometric indicators consisted of publications, research hotspots, keywords, authors, journals, institutions, nations, and h-index. Results A total of 182 articles investigating BCMP were searched. The United States of America and the University of Rome Tor Vergata were the nation and the institution with the most publications on BCMP. The first three periodicals with leading published BCMP studies were Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, Breast, and In Vivo. Buonomo OC was the most prolific author in this field, publishing nine articles (9/182, 4.94%). The co-keywords analysis of BCMP suggests that the top hotspots and trends in research are screening, surgery, rehabilitation, emotion, diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine management of breast cancer during the pandemic. The hotspot words were divided into six clusters, namely, screening for breast cancer patients in the pandemic, breast cancer surgery in the pandemic, recovery of breast cancer patients in the pandemic, motion effect of the outbreak on breast cancer patients, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients in the pandemic, and vaccination management for breast cancer patients during a pandemic. Conclusion BCMP has received attention from scholars in many nations over the last 3 years. This study revealed significant contributions to BCMP research by nations, institutions, scholars, and journals. The stratified clustering study provided the current status and future trends of BCMP to help physicians with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer through the pandemic, and provide a reference for in-depth clinical studies on BCMP.

An integrated framework for building trustworthy data-driven epidemiological models: Application to the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City.

Epidemiological models can provide the dynamic evolution of a pandemic but they are based on many assumptions and parameters that have to be adjusted over the time the pandemic lasts. However, often the available data are not sufficient to identify the model parameters and hence infer the unobserved dynamics. Here, we develop a general framework for building a trustworthy data-driven epidemiological model, consisting of a workflow that integrates data acquisition and event timeline, model development, identifiability analysis, sensitivity analysis, model calibration, model robustness analysis, and projection with uncertainties in different scenarios. In particular, we apply this framework to propose a modified susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) model, including new compartments and model vaccination in order to project the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in New York City (NYC). We find that we can uniquely estimate the model parameters and accurately project the daily new infection cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, in agreement with the available data from NYC's government's website. In addition, we employ the calibrated data-driven model to study the effects of vaccination and timing of reopening indoor dining in NYC.

Reactivity of human antisera to codon optimized SARS-CoV2 viral proteins expressed in Escherichia coli.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus continues to pose a serious threat to public health worldwide. The development of rapid diagnostic kits can assist the Tzu Chi Foundation in supporting global volunteers working to provide relief during the current pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, nucleotide sequences derived from publicly available viral genome data for several domains of the SARS-CoV2 spike and nucleocapsid (N) proteins were chemically synthesized, with codon optimization for Escherichia coli protein expression. No actual viral particles were involved in these experiments. The synthesized sequences were cloned into an E. coli expression system based on pQE80L, and expressed viral proteins were subsequently purified using Ni-affinity chromatography. Western blotting was conducted using human antiviral sera to assess the response of codon-modified viral proteins to COVID-19 patient sera. RESULTS: N protein was expressed in amounts large enough to support large-scale production. The N-terminal domain, receptor-binding domain (RBD), Region 3, and the S2 domain were expressed in small but sufficient amounts for experiments. Immunoblotting results showed that anti-N IgG and anti-N IgM antibodies were detected in most patient sera, but only 60% of samples reacted with the recombinant RBD and S2 domain expressed by E. coli. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that codon-optimized SARS-CoV2 viral proteins can be expressed in E. coli and purified for rapid antibody detection kit preparation, with the codon-optimized N protein, RBD, and S2 protein demonstrating the most potential.

A multicentre observational study on neonates exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in China: the Neo-SARS-CoV-2 Study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) occurred in Wuhan, China starting in December 2019. Yet the clinical features and long-term outcomes of neonates with SARS-CoV-2 exposure are lacking. The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical course and prognosis of the neonates exposed to SARS-CoV-2. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicentre observational study conducted at the designated children and maternal and child hospitals in the mainland of China. Neonates exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection will be recruited. The data to be collected via case report forms include demographic details, clinical features, laboratory and imaging results, as well as outcomes. Primary outcomes are the mortality of neonates with COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 infection of neonates born to mothers with COVID-19. Secondary outcomes are the birth weight, premature delivery and neurological development of neonates exposed to SARS-CoV-2. The neurological development is assessed by the Chinese standardised Denver Developmental Screening Test at the corrected age of 6 months. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved by the Children's Hospital of Fudan University ethics committee (No. (2020)31). The study findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences in order to improve the understanding of the clinical course among neonates exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and to provide evidence-based treatment and prevention strategies for this group. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04279899.