Potential differentiation of successive SARS-CoV-2 mutations by RNA: DNA hybrid analyses.

The constant mutation of SARS-CoV-2 has triggered a new round of public health crises and has had a huge impact on existing vaccines and diagnostic tools. It is essential to develop a new flexible method to distinguish mutations to prevent the spread of the virus. In this work, we used the combination of density functional theory (DFT) and non-equilibrium Green's function formulation with decoherence, to theoretically study the effect of viral mutation on charge transport properties of viral nucleic acid molecules. We found that all mutation of SARS-CoV-2 on spike protein was accompanied by the change of gene sequence conductance, this is attributed to the change of nucleic acid molecular energy level caused by mutation. Among them, the mutations L18F, P26S, and T1027I caused the largest conductance change after mutation. This provides a theoretical possibility for detecting virus mutation based on the change of molecular conductance of virus nucleic acid.

Factoring and correlation in sleep, fatigue and mental workload of clinical first-line nurses in the post-pandemic era of COVID-19: A multi-center cross-sectional study.

Background: A better understanding of the factors and their correlation with clinical first-line nurses' sleep, fatigue and mental workload is of great significance to personnel scheduling strategies and rapid responses to anti-pandemic tasks in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. Objective: This multicenter and cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the nurses' sleep, fatigue and mental workload and contributing factors to each, and to determine the correlation among them. Methods: A total of 1,004 eligible nurses (46 males, 958 females) from three tertiary hospitals participated in this cluster sampling survey. The Questionnaire Star online tool was used to collect the sociodemographic and study target data: Sleep quality, fatigue, and mental workload. Multi-statistical methods were used for data analysis using SPSS 25.0 and Amos 21.0. Results: The average sleep quality score was 10.545 ± 3.399 (insomnia prevalence: 80.2%); the average fatigue score was 55.81 ± 10.405 (fatigue prevalence: 100%); and the weighted mental workload score was 56.772 ± 17.26. Poor sleep was associated with mental workload (r = 0.303, P < 0.05) and fatigue (r = 0.727, P < 0.01). Fatigue was associated with mental workload (r = 0.321, P < 0.05). COVID-19 has caused both fatigue and mental workload. As 49% of nurses claimed their mental workload has been severely affected by COVID-19, while it has done slight harm to 68.9% of nurses' sleep quality. Conclusion: In the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, the high prevalence of sleep disorders and fatigue emphasizes the importance of paying enough attention to the mental health of nurses in first-class tertiary hospitals. Efficient nursing strategies should focus on the interaction of sleep, fatigue and mental workload in clinical nurses. In that case, further research on solutions to the phenomenon stated above proves to be of great significance and necessity. Clinical trial registration: [https://clinicaltrials.gov/], identifier [ChiCTR2100053133].

COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety, stress, and depression among teachers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: As millions of teachers have been forced to rely upon remote teaching due to the closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is particularly important to understand the extent to which teacher's psychological wellbeing has been affected by this global health crisis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis was twofold: 1) ascertain the prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among teachers during the COVID-19 outbreak; 2) identify the associated factors of these psychological wellbeing domains of the teachers. METHODS: Academic Search Premier, Eric, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for articles published from December 2019 and July 2021, using search terms including "COVID-19" "anxiety" "depression" "stress", and "teachers". RESULTS: This study included 54 studies synthesising data from 256,896 teachers across 22 countries. The meta-analysis showed higher prevalence of stress (62.6%, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 46.1-76.6), compared to anxiety (36.3%, 95% CI: 28.5-44.9) and depression (59.9%, 95% CI: 43.4-74.4) among teachers. Teachers' experiences of these psychological issues were associated with various socio-demographic and institutional factors, including gender, nature of online teaching, job satisfaction, teaching experience, and the volume of workload. Additionally, several protective factors, such as regular exercises and provision of technical support for online teaching, reduced teachers' negative psychological experiences. CONCLUSION: There is a need for authorities to formulate educational policies to improve teachers' wellbeing at the time of global crisis. Special attention should be paid to assist female teachers in overcoming physical and mental stressors.

Online teaching self-efficacy during COVID-19: Changes, its associated factors and moderators.

Online teaching transition during COVID-19 school lockdown elicited challenges for teachers and schools across the globe. The existing literature on the impact of COVID-19 in the education sector is predominantly descriptive and focused on the difficulties faced by teachers during the process of transferring into online teaching, mainly in the higher education sector. This study adopted a mixed-method design to examine online teaching self-efficacy (TSE) during COVID-19, its associated factors and moderators. A sample of 351 Chinese school teachers retrospectively reported their online TSE at the beginning and end of COVID-19 school lockdown, out of which six were followed up for an in-depth interview. TSE for online instruction did not significantly increase (ß = .014, p > 0.05) whereas that for technology application increased significantly (ß = .231, p < 0.01). Lack of experience in online teaching, separation of teachers from students, school administrative process and unsatisfactory student academic performance were identified as the major associated factors. A moderation effect of adaptability and teacher burnout on the change in online TSE were examined, of which passion burnout was the only significant moderator toward the change in online TSE. The study thus concluded that teachers' online TSE for technology application increased among Chinese teachers during COVID-19 school lockdown. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-021-10486-3.