Anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and related factors among Chinese population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.

The sudden outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has deep and wide negative mental impacts on the public, and studies on the impact of COVID-19 on social and mental well-being are necessary. This study aimed to evaluate mental distress, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and its related risk factors in Chinese adults in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a large-scale cross-sectional design. A total of 2067 adult participants completed the online survey via REDcap from 1st to 15th of March 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, and related risk factors, including self-efficacy, coping style, and social support, were measured using valid and reliable instruments. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. We found that 201 (9.7%) participants reported moderate-to-severe anxiety, 669 (33.8%) reported depression, and 368 (17.8%) reported symptoms of PTSD. Self-efficacy, coping style, and social support significantly affected anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. Participants' sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 pandemic-related factors, low self-efficacy, low social support, and negative coping were predictors of mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study will help healthcare professionals carry out early predictions and identification of high-risk groups and provide appropriate interventions to target groups during public health emergencies that plague the world.

Bovine lactoferrin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 by targeting the RdRp complex and alleviates viral infection in the hamster model.

Breast milk has been found to inhibit coronavirus infection, while the key components and mechanisms are unknown. We aimed to determine the components that contribute to the antiviral effects of breastmilk and explore their potential mechanism. Lactoferrin (Lf) and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) inhibit SARS-CoV-2 related coronavirus GX_P2V and SARS-CoV-2 trVLP in vitro and block viral entry into cells. We confirmed that bovine lactoferrin (bLf) blocked the binding between human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by combining receptor binding domain (RBD). Importantly, bLf inhibited RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity of both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV in vitro in the nanomolar range. So far, no biological macromolecules have been reported to inhibit coronavirus RdRp. Our result indicated that bLf plays a major role in inhibiting viral replication rather than viral entry, which has been widely explored. bLf treatment reduced viral load in lungs and tracheae and alleviated pathological damage. Our study provides evidence that bLf prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection by combining SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RBD and inhibiting coronaviruses' RdRp activity, and may be a promising candidate for the treatment of COVID-19. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Antiviral effects and tissue exposure of tetrandrine against SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19.

Tetrandrine (TET) has been used to treat silicosis in China for decades. The aim of this study was to facilitate rational repurposing of TET against SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, we confirmed that TET exhibited antiviral potency against SARS-CoV-2 in the African green monkey kidney (Vero E6), human hepatocarcinoma (Huh7), and human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial (Calu-3) cell lines. TET functioned during the early-entry stage of SARS-CoV-2 and impeded intracellular trafficking of the virus from early endosomes to endolysosomes. An in vivo study that used adenovirus (AdV) 5-human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2)-transduced mice showed that although TET did not reduce pulmonary viral load, it significantly alleviated pathological damage in SARS-CoV-2-infected murine lungs. The systemic preclinical pharmacokinetics were investigated based on in vivo and in vitro models, and the route-dependent biodistribution of TET was explored. TET had a large volume of distribution, which contributed to its high tissue accumulation. Inhaled administration helped TET target the lung and reduced its exposure to other tissues, which mitigated its off-target toxicity. Based on the available human pharmacokinetic data, it appeared feasible to achieve an unbound TET 90% maximal effective concentration (EC90) in human lungs. This study provides insights into the route-dependent pulmonary biodistribution of TET associated with its efficacy.

Anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and related factors among Chinese population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

The sudden outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has deep and wide negative mental impacts on the public, and studies on the impact of COVID-19 on social and mental well-being are necessary. This study aimed to evaluate mental distress, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and its related risk factors in Chinese adults in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a large-scale cross-sectional design. A total of 2067 adult participants completed the online survey via REDcap from 1st to 15th of March 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, and related risk factors, including self-efficacy, coping style, and social support, were measured using valid and reliable instruments. The data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. We found that 201 (9.7%) participants reported moderate-to-severe anxiety, 669 (33.8%) reported depression, and 368 (17.8%) reported symptoms of PTSD. Self-efficacy, coping style, and social support significantly affected anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. Participants' sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 pandemic-related factors, low self-efficacy, low social support, and negative coping were predictors of mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study will help healthcare professionals carry out early predictions and identification of high-risk groups and provide appropriate interventions to target groups during public health emergencies that plague the world.

A nanomaterial targeting the spike protein captures SARS-CoV-2 variants and promotes viral elimination.

The global emergency caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic can only be solved with effective and widespread preventive and therapeutic strategies, and both are still insufficient. Here, we describe an ultrathin two-dimensional CuInP2S6 (CIPS) nanosheet as a new agent against SARS-CoV-2 infection. CIPS exhibits an extremely high and selective binding capacity (dissociation constant (KD) < 1 pM) for the receptor binding domain of the spike protein of wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern, including Delta and Omicron, inhibiting virus entry and infection in angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)-bearing cells, human airway epithelial organoids and human ACE2-transgenic mice. On association with CIPS, the virus is quickly phagocytosed and eliminated by macrophages, suggesting that CIPS could be successfully used to capture and facilitate virus elimination by the host. Thus, we propose CIPS as a promising nanodrug for future safe and effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapy, and as a decontamination agent and surface-coating material to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.

Cepharanthine: A Promising Old Drug against SARS-CoV-2.

Recently, the inhibiting effects of a clinically approved drug Cepharanthine on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have attracted widespread attention and discussion. However, the public does not understand the relevant research progress very well. This paper aims to introduce a brief history of studies on the effects of cepharanthine against SARS-CoV-2, including "discovery of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of cepharanthine in vitro", "potential mechanisms of cepharanthine against SARS-CoV-2", "confirmation of cepharanthine's anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in vivo", "potential approaches for improving the druggability of cepharanthine" and "clinical trials of cepharanthine treating SARS-CoV-2 infection". Taken together, cepharanthine is believed to be a promising old drug for coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) therapy.

Microplastics interact with SARS-CoV-2 and facilitate host cell infection

Microplastics (MP) pollution is a global issue that raises concerns about potential toxicity for environmental and human health. The notion that SARS-CoV-2 is more stable when adsorbed on plastic surfaces urged us to examine whether the virus can attach to MP, which may facilitate infection upon inhalation or ingestion. Here, we describe that MP can bind SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus on their surface and enhance infection of human cells in vitro. This enhanced in vitro infectivity was confirmed with authentic SARS-CoV-2, in parallel with increased expression of inflammation-related caspase-3, IL-8 and TNF-alpha genes. These results suggest that the presence of MP in the environment or in our respiratory or gastrointestinal tracts has the potential to interact with SARS-CoV-2, and potentially increase viral infectivity and spreading.

Modeling di (2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) and Its Metabolism in a Body’s Organs and Tissues through Different Intake Pathways into Human Body

Phthalate esters (PAEs) are ubiquitous in indoor environments as plasticizers in indoor products. Residences are often exposed to indoor PAEs in the form of gas, particles, settled dust, and surface phases. To reveal the mechanism behind the accumulation of PAEs in different tissues or organs such as the liver and the lungs when a person exposed to indoor PAEs with different phases, a whole-body physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for PAEs is employed to characterize the dynamic process of phthalates by different intake pathways, including oral digestion, dermal adsorption, and inhalation. Among three different intake pathways, dermal penetration distributed the greatest accumulation of DEHP in most of the organs, while the accumulative concentration through oral ingestion was an order of magnitude lower than the other two doses. Based on the estimated parameters, the variation of di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) concentration in the venous blood, urine, the liver, the thymus, the pancreas, the spleen, the lungs, the brain, the heart, and the kidney for different intake scenarios was simulated. The simulated results showed a different accumulation profile of DEHP and MEHP in different organs and tissues and demonstrated that the different intake pathways will result in different accumulation distributions of DEHP and MEHP in organs and tissues and may lead to different detrimental health outcomes.

Targeting the Pulmonary Microbiota to Fight against Respiratory Diseases.

The mucosal immune system of the respiratory tract possesses an effective "defense barrier" against the invading pathogenic microorganisms; therefore, the lungs of healthy organisms are considered to be sterile for a long time according to the strong pathogens-eliminating ability. The emergence of next-generation sequencing technology has accelerated the studies about the microbial communities and immune regulating functions of lung microbiota during the past two decades. The acquisition and maturation of respiratory microbiota during childhood are mainly determined by the birth mode, diet structure, environmental exposure and antibiotic usage. However, the formation and development of lung microbiota in early life might affect the occurrence of respiratory diseases throughout the whole life cycle. The interplay and crosstalk between the gut and lung can be realized by the direct exchange of microbial species through the lymph circulation, moreover, the bioactive metabolites produced by the gut microbiota and lung microbiota can be changed via blood circulation. Complicated interactions among the lung microbiota, the respiratory viruses, and the host immune system can regulate the immune homeostasis and affect the inflammatory response in the lung. Probiotics, prebiotics, functional foods and fecal microbiota transplantation can all be used to maintain the microbial homeostasis of intestinal microbiota and lung microbiota. Therefore, various kinds of interventions on manipulating the symbiotic microbiota might be explored as novel effective strategies to prevent and control respiratory diseases.

Network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis reveals the mechanism of asiaticoside on COVID-19.

Background: Asiaticoside (AS) is a saponin extracted from the traditional Chinese herbal medicine Centella Asiatica, which has the effects of reducing inflammatory infiltration and anti-oxidation in pneumonia and combating pulmonary fibrosis. We hypothesize that AS might have therapeutic potential for the treatment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). With the help of network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques, this study discussed the underlying molecular mechanism of AS in the treatment of COVID-19. Methods: The molecular structure of AS was obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) system. The targets of AS were achieved using PharmMapper, SwissTargetPrediction, and the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). The targets corresponding to COVID-19 were obtained using GeneCards, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), and CTD database. Then, a target protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was formed using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database. A network of AS, COVID-19, and their co-targets was built using Cytoscape. Afterwards, the co-targets were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment. Moreover, the predictions of crucial targets were further investigated by performing molecular docking with AS. Results: A total of 45 core targets of AS were found to be engaged in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. The KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that AS might be protective against COVID-19 through inflammation- and immune-related signaling pathways, including interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling, T helper 17 (Th17) cell differentiation pathway, Coronavirus disease-COVID-19, MAPK, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and so on. The results of molecular docking showed that AS had a high affinity with those core targets. Conclusions: The beneficial effect of AS on COVID-19 might be through regulating multiple immune or inflammation-related targets and signaling pathways.

Emotion diffusion effect: Negative sentiment COVID-19 tweets of public organizations attract more responses from followers.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered an enormous number of discussion topics on social media Twitter. It has an impact on the global health system and citizen responses to the pandemic. Multiple responses (replies, favorites, and retweets) reflect the followers' attitudes and emotions towards these tweets. Twitter data such as these have inspired substantial research interest in sentiment and social trend analyses. To date, studies on Twitter data have focused on the associational relationships between variables in a population. There is a need for further discovery of causality, such as the influence of sentiment polarity of tweet response on further discussion topics. These topics often reflect the human perception of COVID-19. This study addresses this exact topic. It aims to develop a new method to unveil the causal relationships between the sentiment polarity and responses in social media data. We employed sentiment polarity, i.e., positive or negative sentiment, as the treatment variable in this quasi-experimental study. The data is the tweets posted by nine authoritative public organizations in four countries and the World Health Organization from December 1, 2019, to May 10, 2020. Employing the inverse probability weighting model, we identified the treatment effect of sentiment polarity on the multiple responses of tweets. The topics with negative sentiment polarity on COVID-19 attracted significantly more replies (69±49) and favorites (688±677) than the positive tweets. However, no significant difference in the number of retweets was found between the negative and positive tweets. This study contributes a new method for social media analysis. It generates new insight into the influence of sentiment polarity of tweets about COVID-19 on tweet responses.

Digital supply chain management in the COVID-19 crisis: An asset orchestration perspective.

Although many firms are actively deploying various digital technology (DT) assets across their supply chains to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations, whether these DT assets are truly helpful remains unclear. To disentangle this puzzle, we investigate whether firms that have higher levels of DT asset deployment achieve better supply chain performance in the COVID-19 crisis than firms with lower levels. From an asset orchestration perspective, we focus on two dimensions of DT asset deployment: breadth and depth, which reflect the scope and scale of DT assets, respectively. The empirical results from 175 Chinese firms that have deployed DT assets to varying degrees reveal that both the breadth and the depth of DT asset deployment show positive relationships with supply chain visibility. In contrast, the depth but not the breadth of DT asset deployment poses a positive relationship with supply chain agility. Most importantly, high levels of supply chain visibility and supply chain agility were prerequisites for excellent supply chain performance in the COVID-19 crisis. We contribute to the digital supply chain management literature by uncovering the mechanism through which DT asset deployment generates impacts on supply chain performance from an asset orchestration perspective. Our study also assists firms in improving their digital transformation strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Efficient disinfection of SARS-CoV-2-like coronavirus, pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses using cold plasma induces spike protein damage.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a worldwide public health emergency, and the high transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants has raised serious concerns. Efficient disinfection methods are crucial for the prevention of viral transmission. Herein, pulse power-driven cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a novel sterilization strategy, was found to potently inactivate SARS-CoV-2-like coronavirus GX_P2V, six strains of major epidemic SARS-CoV-2 variants and even swine coronavirus PEDV and SADS-CoV within 300 s (with inhibition rate more than 99%). We identified four dominant short-lived reactive species, ONOO-, 1O2, O2- and·OH, generated in response to CAP and distinguished their roles in the inactivation of GX_P2V and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD), which is responsible for recognition and binding to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2). Our study provides detailed evidence of a novel surface disinfection strategy for SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses.

Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among college students: a study of the attitudes, knowledge, and willingness of students to vaccinate.

Universities are considered high risk areas for COVID-19 outbreaks given the crowded environment of campuses with high mobility and limited space. As such, vaccination is considered an essential intervention that could greatly reduce the incidence and spread of this deadly infectious disease. However, the willingness of college students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine varies significantly. Therefore, a study on the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in college students that explores the attitudes, knowledge, willingness, and key factors influencing vaccination acceptance is of great significance to improve vaccine coverage and control the pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on students from three universities in China. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t tests/one-way ANOVA (normal distribution), Mann-Whitney U tests/Kruskal-Wallis H tests (skewness distribution) and multivariate linear regression were performed. As a result, a total of 3,256 students participated in the survey. Students' willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was high (86%), and they had good knowledge of the vaccine (77.9%). However, they had a low-risk perception of COVID-19 and less positive attitudes toward vaccination (69.8%). The main influencing factors were sex, age, specialty, grades, living environment, spending level, traveling to risk areas, and family members' vaccination experiences. We believed that to increase vaccination coverage among college students, more attention should be paid for students majoring in Science and Engineering, male students, those in the lower age group, students with low or very high economic levels, living in remote or rural areas, and family members having not received the COVID-19 vaccine.

Clinical features and independent predictors for recurrence of positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA: A propensity score-matched analysis.

Patients with COVID-19 may be recurrence positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA after being cured and discharged from the hospital. The aim of this study was to explore independent influencing factors as markers for predicting positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA recurrence. The study included 601 COVID-19 patients who were cured and discharged from the Public and Health Clinic Centre of Chengdu from January 2020 to March 2021, and the recurrence positive of patients within 6 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 RNA turned negative was followed up. We used propensity score matching to eliminate the influence of confounding factors, and multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent influencing factors for positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA recurrence. Multivariate Logistic regression showed that the elevated serum potassium (odds ratio [OR] = 6.537, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.864-22.931, p = 0.003), elevated blood chlorine (OR = 1.169, 95% CI: 1.032-1.324, p = 0.014) and elevated CD3+ CD4+ count (OR = 1.003, 95% CI: 1.001-1.004, p < 0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA recurrence (p < 0.05). The difference in virus shedding duration (OR = 1.049, 95% CI: 1.000-1.100, p = 0.05) was borderline statistically significant. For sensitivity analysis, we included virus shedding duration as a categorical variable in the model again and found that the OR value related to recurrence positively increased with delayed virus shedding duration, and the trend test showed a statistical difference (P trend = 0.03). Meanwhile, shortening of activated partial prothrombinase time (OR = 0.908, 95% CI: 0.824-1.000, p = 0.049) was identified as an independent protection factor for SARS-CoV-2 RNA recurrence positive. We have identified independent factors that affect the recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive. It is recommended that doctors pay attention to these indicators when first admitted to the hospital.

Published anti-SARS-CoV-2 in vitro hits share common mechanisms of action that synergize with antivirals.

The global efforts in the past year have led to the discovery of nearly 200 drug repurposing candidates for COVID-19. Gaining more insights into their mechanisms of action could facilitate a better understanding of infection and the development of therapeutics. Leveraging large-scale drug-induced gene expression profiles, we found 36% of the active compounds regulate genes related to cholesterol homeostasis and microtubule cytoskeleton organization. Following bioinformatics analyses revealed that the expression of these genes is associated with COVID-19 patient severity and has predictive power on anti-SARS-CoV-2 efficacy in vitro. Monensin, a top new compound that regulates these genes, was further confirmed as an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 replication in Vero-E6 cells. Interestingly, drugs co-targeting cholesterol homeostasis and microtubule cytoskeleton organization processes more likely present a synergistic effect with antivirals. Therefore, potential therapeutics could be centered around combinations of targeting these processes and viral proteins.

Computational design of ultrashort peptide inhibitors of the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein.

Targeting the interaction between severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-receptor-binding domain (RBD) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is believed to be an effective strategy for drug design to inhibit the infection of SARS-CoV-2. Herein, several ultrashort peptidase inhibitors against the RBD-ACE2 interaction were obtained by a computer-aided approach based on the RBD-binding residues on the protease domain (PD) of ACE2. The designed peptides were tested on a model coronavirus GX_P2V, which has 92.2 and 86% amino acid identity to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and RBD, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulations and binding free energy analysis predicted a potential binding pocket on the RBD of the spike protein, and this was confirmed by the specifically designed peptides SI5α and SI5α-b. They have only seven residues, showing potent antiviral activity and low cytotoxicity. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay result also confirmed their inhibitory ability against the RBD-ACE2 interaction. The ultrashort peptides are promising precursor molecules for the drug development of Corona Virus Disease 2019, and the novel binding pocket on the RBD may be helpful for the design of RBD inhibitors or antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Fast detection of harmful trace elements in glycyrrhiza using standard addition and internal standard method - laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (SAIS-LIBS)

Glycyrrhiza is traditional Chinese medicine, whose active compounds have great potential in treating COVID-19. Detecting harmful trace elements of glycyrrhiza has become essential. However, it is not easy to detect trace elements due to the complex matrix of nonstandard glycyrrhiza. Calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) can be used in quantitive of nonstandard, but its stability and accuracy are low. To detect trace elements of glycyrrhiza quickly and accurately, this work introduced the standard addition method and internal standard method into LIBS, namely SAIS-LIBS. SAIS-LIBS was applied to determine trace copper and manganese in glycyrrhiza. The results showed that SAIS-LIBS had higher efficiency (<0.3 h), and could be up to 3-25 times more accuracy and stability than CF-LIBS. Furthermore, SAIS-LIBS results and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) were very similar (p-values > 0.05). This research provided a foundation for the rapid and accurate detection of harmful trace elements in glycyrrhiza.

Aptamer-based lateral flow assay on-site biosensors.

The lateral flow assay (LFA) is a widely used paper-based on-site biosensor that can detect target analytes and obtain test results in several minutes. Generally, antibodies are utilized as the biorecognition molecules in the LFA. However, antibodies selected using an in vivo process not only may risk killing the animal hosts and causing errors between different batches but also their range is restricted by the refrigerated conditions used to store them. To avoid these limitations, aptamers screened by an in vitro process have been studied as biorecognition molecules in LFAs. Based on the sandwich or competitive format, the aptamer-based LFA can accomplish on-site detection of target analytes. Since aptamers have a distinctive ability to undergo conformational changes, the adsorption-desorption format has also been exploited to detect target analytes in aptamer-based LFAs. This paper reviews developments in aptamer-based LFAs in the last three years for the detection of target analytes. Three formats of aptamer-based LFAs, i.e., sandwich, competitive, and adsorption-desorption, are described in detail. Based on these formats, signal amplification strategies and multiplexed detection are discussed in order to provide an overview of aptamer-based LFAs for on-site detection of target analytes. In addition, the potential commercialization and future perspectives of aptamer-based LFAs for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 are given to support the COVID-19 pandemic.