Written and spoken corpus of real and fake social media postings about COVID-19 (preprint)

This study investigates the linguistic traits of fake news and real news. There are two parts to this study: text data and speech data. The text data for this study consisted of 6420 COVID-19 related tweets re-filtered from Patwa et al. (2021). After cleaning, the dataset contained 3049 tweets, with 2161 labeled as 'real' and 888 as 'fake'. The speech data for this study was collected from TikTok, focusing on COVID-19 related videos. Research assistants fact-checked each video's content using credible sources and labeled them as 'Real', 'Fake', or 'Questionable', resulting in a dataset of 91 real entries and 109 fake entries from 200 TikTok videos with a total word count of 53,710 words. The data was analysed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to detect patterns in linguistic data. The results indicate a set of linguistic features that distinguish fake news from real news in both written and speech data. This offers valuable insights into the role of language in shaping trust, social media interactions, and the propagation of fake news.

Some examples of privacy-preserving sharing of COVID-19 pandemic data with statistical utility evaluation.

BACKGROUND: A considerable amount of various types of data have been collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, the analysis and understanding of which have been indispensable for curbing the spread of the disease. As the pandemic moves to an endemic state, the data collected during the pandemic will continue to be rich sources for further studying and understanding the impacts of the pandemic on various aspects of our society. On the other hand, naïve release and sharing of the information can be associated with serious privacy concerns. METHODS: We use three common but distinct data types collected during the pandemic (case surveillance tabular data, case location data, and contact tracing networks) to illustrate the publication and sharing of granular information and individual-level pandemic data in a privacy-preserving manner. We leverage and build upon the concept of differential privacy to generate and release privacy-preserving data for each data type. We investigate the inferential utility of privacy-preserving information through simulation studies at different levels of privacy guarantees and demonstrate the approaches in real-life data. All the approaches employed in the study are straightforward to apply. RESULTS: The empirical studies in all three data cases suggest that privacy-preserving results based on the differentially privately sanitized data can be similar to the original results at a reasonably small privacy loss ([Formula: see text]). Statistical inferences based on sanitized data using the multiple synthesis technique also appear valid, with nominal coverage of 95% confidence intervals when there is no noticeable bias in point estimation. When [Formula: see text] and the sample size is not large enough, some privacy-preserving results are subject to bias, partially due to the bounding applied to sanitized data as a post-processing step to satisfy practical data constraints. CONCLUSIONS: Our study generates statistical evidence on the practical feasibility of sharing pandemic data with privacy guarantees and on how to balance the statistical utility of released information during this process.

The social psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical staff in China: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 outbreak required the significantly increased working time and intensity for health professionals in China, which may cause stress signs. METHODS: From March 2-13 of 2020, 4,618 health professionals in China were included in an anonymous, self-rated online survey regarding their concerns on exposure to the COVID-19 outbreak. The questionnaires consisted of five parts: basic demographic information and epidemiological exposure; occupational and psychological impact; concerns during the episode; coping strategies; and the Huaxi Emotional-Distress Index (HEI). RESULTS: About 24.2% of respondents experienced high levels of anxiety or/and depressive symptoms since the COVID-19 outbreak. Respondents who worried about their physical health and those who had COVID-19 infected friends or close relatives were more likely to have high HEI levels, than those without these characteristics. Further, family relationship was found to have an independent protective effect against high HEI levels. Their main concerns were that their families would not be cared for and that they would not be able to work properly. Compared to respondents with clear emotional problems, those with somewhat hidden emotional issues adopted more positive coping measures. CONCLUSIONS: About a quarter of medical staff experienced psychological problems during the pandemic of COVID-19. The psychological impact of stressful events was related to worrying about their physical health, having close COVID-19 infected acquaintances and family relationship issues. Therefore, the psychological supprot for medical staff fighting in the COVID-19 pandemic may be needed.

Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses Induced by Aspergillus fumigatus Conidia and Hyphae.

Previous research indicated that hyphae of Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) rather than conidia could successfully build a pulmonary aspergillosis model in immunocompetent mice. In this study, we compared the immune responses induced by hyphae and conidia to explore the possible mechanism of this striking phenomenon. Herein, a novel method was designed and adopted to quantify hyphal fragments. Murine macrophages RAW264.7 and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated by A. fumigatus hyphae and conidia in vitro, respectively, and then immunological reactions were measured. Male C57BL/6 mice were challenged with conidia and hyphae through intratracheal inoculation. Dynamic conditions of mice were recorded, and RNA-seq measured corresponding immune responses. The results of the study confirmed that hyphae could induce more intensive inflammation than conidia in vitro and in vivo. However, macrophages revealed a higher production of ROS and M1 polarisation in response to conidia stimuli. Additionally, conidia could promote Th1 cell differentiation, while hyphae could increase the CD4/CD8 ratio. RNA-seq validated the fact that those multiple immunologically relevant pathways were more strongly activated by hyphae than conidia, which also promoted Th2 cell differentiation and suppressed Th1 signalling. Both hyphae and conidia could activate Th17 signalling. In general, conidia and hyphae induced distinctly different host immune responses, and the immune responses induced by conidia played a better protective effect. Therefore, the unique function of hyphae in the spread and infection of Aspergillus should be emphasised, and more research is required to clarify the underlying mechanisms for better understanding and management of aspergillosis.

Estimation of NO2 emission strengths over Riyadh and Madrid from space from a combination of wind-assigned anomalies and a machine learning technique

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution provides valuable information for quantifying NOx (NOx = NO + NO2) emissions and exposures. This study presents a comprehensive method to estimate average tropospheric NO2 emission strengths derived from 4-year (May 2018–June 2022) TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) observations by combining a wind-assigned anomaly approach and a machine learning (ML) method, the so-called gradient descent algorithm. This combined approach is firstly applied to the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh, as a test site, and yields a total emission rate of 1.09×1026 molec. s-1. The ML-trained anomalies fit very well with the wind-assigned anomalies, with an R2 value of 1.0 and a slope of 0.99. Hotspots of NO2 emissions are apparent at several sites: over a cement plant and power plants as well as over areas along highways. Using the same approach, an emission rate of 1.99×1025 molec. s-1 is estimated in the Madrid metropolitan area, Spain. Both the estimate and spatial pattern are comparable with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) inventory.Weekly variations in NO2 emission are highly related to anthropogenic activities, such as the transport sector. The NO2 emissions were reduced by 16 % at weekends in Riyadh, and high reductions were found near the city center and in areas along the highway. An average weekend reduction estimate of 28 % was found in Madrid. The regions with dominant sources are located in the east of Madrid, where residential areas and the Madrid-Barajas airport are located. Additionally, due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, the NO2 emissions decreased by 21 % in March–June 2020 in Riyadh compared with the same period in 2019. A much higher reduction (62 %) is estimated for Madrid, where a very strict lockdown policy was implemented. The high emission strengths during lockdown only persist in the residential areas, and they cover smaller areas on weekdays compared with weekends. The spatial patterns of NO2 emission strengths during lockdown are similar to those observed at weekends in both cities. Although our analysis is limited to two cities as test examples, the method has proven to provide reliable and consistent results. It is expected to be suitable for other trace gases and other target regions. However, it might become challenging in some areas with complicated emission sources and topography, and specific NO2 decay times in different regions and seasons should be taken into account. These impacting factors should be considered in the future model to further reduce the uncertainty budget.

Senotherapeutics: An emerging approach to the treatment of viral infectious diseases in the elderly.

In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the phenomenon that the elderly have higher morbidity and mortality is of great concern. Existing evidence suggests that senescence and viral infection interact with each other. Viral infection can lead to the aggravation of senescence through multiple pathways, while virus-induced senescence combined with existing senescence in the elderly aggravates the severity of viral infections and promotes excessive age-related inflammation and multiple organ damage or dysfunction, ultimately resulting in higher mortality. The underlying mechanisms may involve mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal activation of the cGAS-STING pathway and NLRP3 inflammasome, the role of pre-activated macrophages and over-recruited immune cells, and accumulation of immune cells with trained immunity. Thus, senescence-targeted drugs were shown to have positive effects on the treatment of viral infectious diseases in the elderly, which has received great attention and extensive research. Therefore, this review focused on the relationship between senescence and viral infection, as well as the significance of senotherapeutics for the treatment of viral infectious diseases.

Vedolizumab subcutaneous formulation maintenance therapy for patients with IBD: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The application of vedolizumab (VDZ) subcutaneous (SC) formulation has brought more convenience and hope to patients with moderate-to-severe inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) in the coronavirus disease 2019 context. Objective: This study aimed to systematically evaluate all previous studies that used VDZ SC formulation for maintenance therapy in patients with IBD. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data Sources and Methods: The search was conducted using the subject and free terms related to 'Vedolizumab', 'Subcutaneous', and 'IBD', in Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, and at ClinicalTrials.gov databases between 2008 and 2022. The methodological quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, respectively. The endpoints included efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Results: A total of 60 studies and 2 completed clinical registry trials were retrieved, of which 3 RCTs with high methodological quality, and 3 cohort studies with large heterogeneity were included in the meta-analysis. In the RCT study design, patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) under different conditions after treated with VDZ SC were significantly distinct than those for placebo (PBO) in clinical remission, endoscopic remission, and biochemical remission. In Crohn's disease (CD), the aforementioned parameters were slightly higher than those for PBO, but there was not statistically significant in endoscopic remission and the efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor-naive patients. The clinical remission, endoscopic remission, and biochemical remission in patients with UC after VDZ SC treatment were similar to those after intravenous (IV) treatment. The risk ratios in patients experiencing adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs after VDZ SC and PBO treatments were 86% and 89% in UC, and 96% and 80% in CD, respectively. Compared with IV, safety was not statistically different. The risk of developing anti-VDZ antibody after VDZ SC treatment was only 20% of that after PBO in patients with UC, but it was 9.38 times in CD. Conclusion: VDZ SC treatment maintained the clinical efficacy of IV induction in patients with IBD without increasing the safety risk, and the efficacy was more pronounced in patients with UC. Immunogenicity might be a potential factor for the decrease in efficacy rate in patients with IBD. Registration: INPLASY 2022120115.

[Exploration and example interpretation of real-world herbal prescription classification based on similarity matching algorithm].

In observational studies, herbal prescriptions are usually studied in the form of "similar prescriptions". At present, the classification of prescriptions is mainly based on clinical experience judgment, but there are some problems in manual judgment, such as lack of unified criteria, labor consumption, and difficulty in verification. In the construction of a database of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), our research group tried to classify real-world herbal prescriptions using a similarity matching algorithm. The main steps include 78 target prescriptions are determined in advance; four levels of importance labeling shall be carried out for the drugs of each target prescription; the combination, format conversion, and standardization of drug names of the prescriptions to be identified in the herbal medicine database; calculate the similarity between the prescriptions to be identified and each target prescription one by one; prescription discrimination is performed based on the preset criteria; remove the name of the prescriptions with "large prescriptions cover the small". Through the similarity matching algorithm, 87.49% of the real prescriptions in the herbal medicine database of this study can be identified, which preliminarily proves that this method can complete the classification of herbal prescriptions. However, this method does not consider the influence of herbal dosage on the results, and there is no recognized standard for the weight of drug importance and criteria, so there are some limitations, which need to be further explored and improved in future research.

Identification of common molecular signatures of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its influence on acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the main cause of COVID-19, causing hundreds of millions of confirmed cases and more than 18.2 million deaths worldwide. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of COVID-19 that leads to an increase in mortality, especially in intensive care unit (ICU) settings, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a high risk factor for COVID-19 and its related mortality. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms among AKI, CKD, and COVID-19 are unclear. Therefore, transcriptome analysis was performed to examine common pathways and molecular biomarkers for AKI, CKD, and COVID-19 in an attempt to understand the association of SARS-CoV-2 infection with AKI and CKD. Three RNA-seq datasets (GSE147507, GSE1563, and GSE66494) from the GEO database were used to detect differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for COVID-19 with AKI and CKD to search for shared pathways and candidate targets. A total of 17 common DEGs were confirmed, and their biological functions and signaling pathways were characterized by enrichment analysis. MAPK signaling, the structural pathway of interleukin 1 (IL-1), and the Toll-like receptor pathway appear to be involved in the occurrence of these diseases. Hub genes identified from the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, including DUSP6, BHLHE40, RASGRP1, and TAB2, are potential therapeutic targets in COVID-19 with AKI and CKD. Common genes and pathways may play pathogenic roles in these three diseases mainly through the activation of immune inflammation. Networks of transcription factor (TF)-gene, miRNA-gene, and gene-disease interactions from the datasets were also constructed, and key gene regulators influencing the progression of these three diseases were further identified among the DEGs. Moreover, new drug targets were predicted based on these common DEGs, and molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed. Finally, a diagnostic model of COVID-19 was established based on these common DEGs. Taken together, the molecular and signaling pathways identified in this study may be related to the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 infection affects renal function. These findings are significant for the effective treatment of COVID-19 in patients with kidney diseases.

Discovering a Dihydrofluorescein Analogue as a Promising Fluorescence Substrate to HRP

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) combined with its fluorescence substrates is attracting increasing attention for biochemical analysis. Amplex red is the most widely used fluorescence substrate to HRP;however, it suffers from some drawbacks, such as nonspecific responsiveness toward carboxylesterases. Discovering a new small molecular fluorescence substrate with improved sensitivity and selectivity for HRP is thus desired. Herein, three dihydrofluorescein derivatives (DCFHs) are presented to serve as HRP substrates through fluorescence turn-on methods. The most promising one, 2,7-dichloro-9-(2-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl)-9H-xanthene-3,6-diol (DCFH-1), exhibited excellent sensitivity in the detection of HRP. Moreover, DCFH-1 does not respond to carboxylesterase, thus holding advantages over Amplex red. In the further study, the detection reagent in the commercial ELISA kits was replaced with DCFH-1 to establish a new fluorescence ELISA, which works very well in the quantification of inflammatory cytokine biomarkers from in vitro models.

Human early syncytiotrophoblasts are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Direct in vivo investigation of human placenta trophoblast's susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 is challenging. Here we report that human trophoblast stem cells (hTSCs) and their derivatives are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, which reveals heterogeneity in hTSC cultures. Early syncytiotrophoblasts (eSTBs) generated from hTSCs have enriched transcriptomic features of peri-implantation trophoblasts, express high levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and are productively infected by SARS-CoV-2 and its Delta and Omicron variants to produce virions. Antiviral drugs suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication in eSTBs and antagonize the virus-induced blockage of STB maturation. Although less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, trophoblast organoids originating from hTSCs show detectable viral replication reminiscent of the uncommon placental infection. These findings implicate possible risk of COVID-19 infection in peri-implantation embryos, which may go unnoticed. Stem cell-derived human trophoblasts such as eSTBs can potentially provide unlimited amounts of normal and genome-edited cells and facilitate coronavirus research and antiviral discovery.

Unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric cancer care: a population-based cohort study in China.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had widespread adverse collateral effects on health care delivery for non-COVID-19 disease conditions. Paediatric oncology care is reliant on prompt testing and diagnosis and on timely and coordinated multimodal treatment, all of which have been impacted by the pandemic. This study aimed to quantify the initial and enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization of paediatric cancer care and to examine whether the pandemic differentially impacted specific demographic groups. METHOD: We performed an interrupted time series analysis using negative binomial regression to estimate the change in the monthly admissions for paediatric cancer patients (Age 0-17) associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown policies. We obtained data from deidentified individual electronic medical records of paediatric cancer inpatients admitted between January 1, 2015 and May 31, 2021 to a tertiary hospital that provides general and specialized healthcare services to an estimated population of 8.4 million in Jining China. Relative risk (RR) estimates representing monthly admissions compared with expected admissions had the pandemic not occurred were derived. The number of inpatient admissions lost due to the pandemic were estimated. FINDINGS: The overall denominator for the paediatric population was 1 858 209 individuals in January 2015, which increased to 2 043 803 by May 2021. In total, there were 4 901 admissions for paediatric cancer during the study period, including 1 479 (30%) since February 2020 when the lockdown was implemented. A 33% reduction (95% CI: -43% to -22%) in admissions was observed in February 2020, with the largest relative reduction (-48%, 95% CI: -64% to -24%) among first-time admissions and admissions for patients from rural districts (-46%, 95% CI: -55% to -36%). Admissions quickly rebounded in March 2020 when many government-imposed mobility restrictions were lifted, and continued to resume gradually over time since April 2020, leading to a full recovery as of November 2020. However, the recovery for first-time admissions, and among female patients, younger patients (<5 years) and patients from rural districts was slower over time and incomplete (first-time admissions and rural patients) as of January 2021. INTERPRETATION: The COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial impact on the timely utilization of paediatric oncology services in China, particularly in the early stage of the first wave. Importantly, some population groups were disproportionately affected and the recovery of admissions among those subgroups has been slow and incomplete, warranting targeted approaches to address potentially exacerbated gender and socio-economic inequalities in access to healthcare resources.

Telemedicine efficacy and satisfaction of patients and headache specialists in migraine management.

Background: Migraine follow-up is difficult for outpatients, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, we tried to identify the most appropriate telemedicine methods for migraine in terms of efficacy, safety, patient compliance, and patient and physician satisfaction. Methods: Migraine patients were screened from the Headache Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from September 2019 to December 2021 and randomly classified into an outpatient group and four telemedicine groups: social software, telephone, E-mail, and short message. Headache specialists followed up with the patients 3 and 6 months after their visit and asked about their satisfaction with the follow-up in each instance, as were the headache specialists. Results: A total of 147 migraine patients were included, of whom 65 completed the follow-up. After 3 and 6 months of follow-up, the proportion of patients whose monthly headache frequency decreased by over 50% in the social-software, telephone, and E-mail groups was no different from that in the outpatient group. A similar result was obtained from evaluations with the Visual Analog Scale, the Headache Impact Test and the Migraine Disability Assessment compared with baseline in social software and telephone groups. The compliance in social-software group was not worse than that in the outpatient group. The proportion of patients in the E-mail group who completed the follow-up and the proportion of patients in the telephone group who consistently took preventive medication were significantly lower than those in the outpatient group. After 6 months, the majority of patients in the outpatient, social-software, and telephone groups and headache specialists in the outpatient, social-software groups were satisfied with the follow-up, while fewer patients in the E-mail group and fewer specialists in the telephone and E-mail group showed their satisfaction. Conclusion: Compared with outpatient visits, it is safe and effective to use social software and telephone to follow up on migraine patients, and E-mail and short-message follow-up have lower feasibility. Migraine patients prefer social-software and telephone follow-up, while specialists prefer social-software follow-up.

Sex, Racial, and Ethnic Representation in COVID-19 Clinical Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been calls for COVID-19 clinical trials to be fully representative of all demographic groups. However, limited evidence is available about the sex, racial, and ethnic representation among COVID-19 prevention and treatment trials. Objective: To investigate whether female participants and racial and ethnic minority individuals are adequately represented in COVID-19 prevention and treatment trials in the US. Data Sources: Identified studies were registered on ClinicalTrials.gov or published in the PubMed database from October 2019 to February 2022. Study Selection: Included studies must have provided the number of enrolled participants by sex, race, or ethnicity. Only interventional studies conducted in the US for the primary purpose of the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of (or supportive care for) COVID-19 conditions were included. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Data on counts of enrollments by demographic variables (sex, race, and ethnicity) and location (country and state) were abstracted. Studies were broadly categorized by primary purpose as prevention (including vaccine and diagnosis studies) vs treatment (including supportive care studies). A random effects model for single proportions was used. Trial estimates were compared with corresponding estimates of representation in the US population with COVID-19. Main Outcomes and Measures: Sex, racial, and ethnic representation in COVID-19 clinical trials compared with their representation in the US population with COVID-19. Results: Overall, 122 US-based COVID-19 clinical trials comprising 176 654 participants were analyzed. Studies were predominantly randomized trials (n = 95) for treatment of COVID-19 (n = 103). Sex, race, and ethnicity were reported in 109 (89.3%), 95 (77.9%), and 87 (71.3%) trials, respectively. Estimated representation in prevention and treatment trials vs the US population with COVID-19 was 48.9% and 44.6% vs 52.4% for female participants; 23.0% and 36.6% vs 17.7% for Hispanic or Latino participants; 7.2% and 16.5% vs 14.1% for Black participants; 3.8% and 4.6% vs 3.7% for Asian participants; 0.2% and 0.9% vs 0.2% for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander participants; and 1.3% and 1.4% vs 1.1% for American Indian or Alaska Native participants. Compared with expected rates in the COVID-19 reference population, female participants were underrepresented in treatment trials (85.1% of expected; P < .001), Black participants (53.7% of expected; P = .003) and Asian participants (64.4% of expected; P = .003) were underrepresented in prevention trials, and Hispanic or Latino participants were overrepresented in treatment trials (206.8% of expected; P < .001). Conclusions and Relevance: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, aggregate differences in representation for several demographic groups in COVID-19 prevention and treatment trials in the US were found. Strategies to better ensure diverse representation in COVID-19 studies are needed, especially for prevention trials.

Assessing oil price volatility co-movement with stock market volatility through quantile regression approach

In times of financial crisis as well as during the COVID-19 era, gold and crude oil are the two commodities that have the most influence on global stock markets and the real economy. But research has mostly focused on the effects of these commodities' prices on their own, and the volatility of these commodities' prices as a whole hasn't gotten much attention. This research paper evaluates the impacts of crude oil prices volatility on shares marketplaces. This research examines the impact of crude oil uncertainty on the overall market returns in several economic sectors (China, Japan, the USA, France, and Germany) between 2000 and 2020 using the importance of the crude oil prices volatility index by applying a Quantile-on-Quantile regression(Q-Q), including dynamic copula with Markov-Switching. The results depict that because the effect of the OVX changes crosswise every single quantile level of stock return, it is cumbersome to ascertain the changes within the adverse impacts under varied stock market circumstances. Equally, to derive a comprehensive understanding of the correlation between crude costs volatility and stock returns, we utilize twofold quantile regression and quantile-quantile regression methods. We interpret these different features' impacts by applying the quantile regression approximates. Our experiential findings show that crude costs uncertainty has lop-sided impacts on stock returns;more so, these disproportionate performances alternate based not merely on the level of shares returns nonetheless equally crude market circumstances. More so, greater values match a robust risk decrease. Further, we observed heterogenous hedging effectiveness among the varied United States stock sectors. The findings demonstrate that growing crude prices volatility obtains an adverse impact on stock returns when the dual crude costs volatility and stock returns are minimal. Nevertheless, when shares returns are greater plus crude prices, volatility is minimal;growing crude volatility increases stock returns.

Comorbid Asthma Increased the Risk for COVID-19 Mortality in Asia: A Meta-Analysis.

We aimed to explore the influence of comorbid asthma on the risk for mortality among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Asia by using a meta-analysis. Electronic databases were systematically searched for eligible studies. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated by using a random-effect model. An inconsistency index (I2) was utilized to assess the statistical heterogeneity. A total of 103 eligible studies with 198,078 COVID-19 patients were enrolled in the meta-analysis; our results demonstrated that comorbid asthma was significantly related to an increased risk for COVID-19 mortality in Asia (pooled OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.20−1.68; I2 = 70%, p < 0.01). Subgroup analyses by the proportion of males, setting, and sample sizes generated consistent findings. Meta-regression indicated that male proportion might be the possible sources of heterogeneity. A sensitivity analysis exhibited the reliability and stability of the overall results. Both Begg's analysis (p = 0.835) and Egger's analysis (p = 0.847) revealed that publication bias might not exist. In conclusion, COVID-19 patients with comorbid asthma might bear a higher risk for mortality in Asia, at least among non-elderly individuals.

'And I thought having a cancer diagnosis was hard': A descriptive phenomenological study of family caregiver experiences navigating the pre-hospital system during COVID-19.

PURPOSE: Cancer patients usually need frequent hospitalization for diagnosis and treatment. However, the unprecedented outbreak of the Omicron wave in Shanghai pressured local communities and hospitals to enforce strict control measures. This qualitative study aimed to investigate cancer family caregivers' experiences of navigating the pre-hospital system during the lockdown in Shanghai. METHOD: This is a substudy of a larger study investigating the experience of 20 caregivers of hospitalized cancer patients during the lockdown in Shanghai. This study was based on findings from a subset of 14 semi-structured face-to-face interviews with cancer family caregivers. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The outbreak of the epidemic and lockdown measures created additional challenges for caregivers, which extended beyond their daily concerns. Uncertainties of the situation, risks of infection, and income loss, along with the strict restrictions in their community and hospitals, added to their burden and compromised their abilities to seek help for their significant others. Yet, in an attempt to reduce undue concern and worry, caregivers were eventually allowed to accompany their family member to the hospital using reliable information, and telemedicine techniques based on an updated governmental policy governing access to care and support for cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: The lockdown in Shanghai significantly affected cancer family caregivers' experience navigating the pre-hospital system. Policy support for cancer care, reliable information, and telemedicine techniques have been identified as essential facilitators of improved access to cancer care.

Global epidemiology of campylobacteriosis and the impact of COVID-19.

Campylobacteriosis is a gastroenteritis caused by pathogenic Campylobacter species and an important topic in public health. Here we review the global epidemiology of campylobacteriosis in the last eight years between 2014-2021, providing comprehensive and updated information on the reported incidence and outbreaks of Campylobacter infections. The government public health website of each of the 195 countries and publications from 2014 to September 2022 in public databases were searched. The reported incidence of campylobacteriosis in pre-COVID-19 years was compared to that during the COVID-19 pandemic in countries where data were available. Czech Republic had the highest reported incidence of campylobacteriosis worldwide (215 per 100,000 in 2019), followed by Australia (146.8 per 100,000 in 2016) and New Zealand (126.1 per 100,000 in 2019). Campylobacter was one of the most common human enteric pathogens in both developed and developing countries. About 90% of cases of campylobacteriosis were caused by Campylobacter jejuni, whereas less than 10% of cases were caused by Campylobacter coli. Other Campylobacter species were also isolated. The reported incidence and case numbers of campylobacteriosis in developed nations have remained steadily high prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst some countries reported an increasing trend such as France and Japan. While outbreaks were more frequently reported in some countries, Campylobacter infections were mainly sporadic cases in most of the developed countries. Campylobacter infection was more common in summer in some but not all countries. Campylobacter infection was more common in males than females. The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the reported incidence of campylobacteriosis in most countries where 2020 epidemiology data were available. In conclusion, Campylobacter infection remains a global health concern. Increased research and improved strategies are needed for prevention and reduction of Campylobacter infection.