Impact of COVID-19 on adolescent travel behavior.

INTRODUCTION: The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly impacted travel behavior. However, few studies have analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent travel behavior. This article analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent travel behavior using questionnaire survey data. METHODS: This paper first used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to explore the psychological factors related to the adolescents' perceptions about the severity of COVID-19. The study then established a logit model to study the effects of COVID-19 in different phases (before, during, and after the epidemic peak), demographic characteristics, and the role of psychological factors on their travel behavior. RESULTS: The results show that the phase of COVID-19 did not significantly impact the adolescents' choice of short-distance travel. The frequency of outings per week, the number of exercise sessions per week, and willingness to travel by public transportation decreased significantly in the outbreak phase. Meanwhile, the perception of the severity of COVID-19 significantly impacted adolescent travel behavior. CONCLUSION: This research demonstrates that COVID-19 has led adolescents to reduce their frequency of outings, and they try not to use public transportation. Adolescents appear to be traveling more cautiously in the outbreak phase and the post-epidemic phase.

The clinical implication of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in COVID-19.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a life-threatening disease that predominantly causes respiratory failure. The impact of COVID-19 on other organs remains elusive. Herein, we aimed to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on the hepatobiliary system. METHODS: In the current study, we obtained the clinical records and laboratory results from 66 laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19 at the Wuhan Tongji Hospital between 10 February 2020 and 28 February 2020. The detailed clinical features and laboratory findings were collected for analysis. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted to evaluate the correlation between gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) entry receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). RESULTS: In this cohort, 30 (51.7%) patients had abnormal liver function on admission, which was associated with disease severity and enriched in the male and diabetic patients. The elevated levels of direct bilirubin (P = 0.029) and GGT (P = 0.004) were common in patients with severe pneumonia when compared with those with mild pneumonia. In addition, elevated levels of GGT (P = 0.003) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P = 0.007) were positively associated with longer hospital stay. The expression of ACE2 was closely associated with GGT in various human tissues because they shared the common transcriptional regulator hepatic nuclear factor-1ß (HNF1B). CONCLUSIONS: Increased GGT levels were common in severe cases and elevated GGT levels were positively associated with prolonged hospital stay and disease severity. Due to the consistent expression with ACE2, GGT is a potent biomarker indicating the susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 infection.