Recognize and Leap Over the Gaps [Women in Microwaves]

The 2022 IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) International Microwave Workshop Series on Advanced Materials and Processes for RF and THz Applications (IMWS-AMP 2022) was held in Guangzhou, China, 12-14 December 2022 (see Figure 1). Due to the continuous impact of COVID-19 pandemic, small-size, on-site opening and closing ceremonies were organized in Guangzhou, while all the conference sessions were held online. The special Women in Microwaves (WiM) and Wireless session sponsored by the WiM subcommittee under the IEEE Membership and Geographical Activities of the MTT-S AdCom, was held in the afternoon of 13 December. More than 60 people attended this event, including three invited speakers from Austria, Japan, and Mainland China;six panelists from Mainland China, and some other professionals and graduate students from industries and universities (see Figure 2). © 2000-2012 IEEE.

A Gesture Controlled System to Train and Guide the Healthcare Workers While Donning and Doffing Personal Protective Equipment

During the COVID-19 outbreak, many healthcare workers (HCWs) have been infected because they failed to comply with the correct process of donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE). Based on this, we develop a gesture-controlled system that not only can train HCWs but also can give HCWs real-time guidance during the process of donning and doffing PPE. It can effectively prevent the infection of HCWs. We first use the hand detection algorithm to locate the position of the HCWs, helping them to enter the proper area. Then they can use our gesture recognition algorithm to control the playback of the videos which guides them in donning and doffing PPE. We verify the effectiveness of the system through a series of experiments. The results show the great value of our system in the protection of HCWs. © 2022 IEEE.

Retrospective Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapeutics

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 created panic all over the world. As therapeutics that can effectively wipe out the virus and terminate transmission are not available, supportive therapeutics are the main clinical treatments for COVID-19. Repurposing available therapeutics from other viral infections is the primary surrogate in ameliorating and treating COVID-19. The therapeutics should be tailored individually by analyzing the severity of COVID-19, age, gender, comorbidities, and so on. We aim to investigate the effects of COVID-19 therapeutics and to search for laboratory parameters indicative of severity of illness. Multi-center collaboration and large cohort of patients will be required to evaluate therapeutics combinations in the future. This study is a single-center retrospective observational study of COVID-19 clinical data in China. Information on patients' treatment modalities, previous medical records, individual disease history, and clinical outcomes were considered to evaluate treatment efficacy. After screening, 2,844 patients are selected for the study. The result shows that treatment with TCM (Hazard Ratio (HR) 0.191 [95% Confidence Interval (CI), 0.14–0.25];p < 0.0001), antiviral therapy (HR 0.331 [95% CI 0.19–0.58];p = 0.000128), or Arbidol (HR 0.454 [95% CI 0.34–0.60];p < 0.0001) is associated with good prognostic of patients. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed TCM treatment decreased the mortality hazard ratio by 69.4% (p < 0.0001). © 2022, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Post-pandemic era: promoting regular epidemic prevention and control in radiology department

Objectives: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is still recurring so far. Considering that a great number of patients do examination in the same room and thus are exposed to high risks of cross infection, we should promote the epidemic prevention in the radiology department to prevent cross infection and another outbreak. Therefore, this article aims to share the experience and protocols of the radiology department of our hospital so as to help more hospitals and their radiology medical staff in epidemic prevention. Methods: We firstly collected three major epidemic prevention policies formulated by the radiology department since the outbreak, and then drew the schematic diagrams of patients' treatment routes under each measure, including the infection control team, the reconfiguration of the radiology department and the Examination procedures for patients with COVID-19. After three stages, we finally provide a specific machine for patients with COVID-19 to examine. Results: From January 18, 2020, our hospital has received 113 patients with COVID-19, among which 112 patients were discharged and 1 were dead. The total number of outpatients with fever-CT examinations was 2870, that of inpatients were 477. The number of DR exposures was 87, that of US examinations were 207, and that of MRI examinations was 148. No medical workers in the radiology department were diagnosed with COVID-19. Conclusions: Imaging examination has been an indispensable diagnostic method for COVID-19 since the outbreak. As the global epidemic situation is still unstable at present, radiology departments need to constantly improve the corresponding epidemic prevention and control measures, and formulate effective inspection plans for the patients with COVID-19, which can help patients and staff protect themselves against a high risk of COVID-19.

Study on specific antibodies in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and recipients of inactivated vaccine

Objective To detect the serum levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM and IgG antibodies in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and recipients of inactivated vaccine in different periods for understanding their variation patterns in vivo. Methods Chemiluminescence immunoassay was used to detect the levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM and IgG antibodies in 144 serum samples of 44 COVID-19 patients, 381 serum samples of 118 asymptomatic infected cases and 398 serum samples of 273 inactivated vaccine recipients collected at different periods. The results were statistically analyzed together with basic characteristics and vaccination status. Results The positive rates of IgM antibody in COVID-19 patients, asymptomatic infected cases and inactivated vaccine recipients were 52. 27% (23 / 44), 23. 73% (28 / 118) and 14. 29% (39 / 273). The positive rate of IgM antibody was higher in COVID-19 patients than in asymptomatic infected cases and vaccine recipients (χ2 = 12. 106, P = 0. 001;χ2 = 34. 755, P<0. 001). The positive rates of IgG antibody in the three populations were 100. 00% (44 / 44), 97. 46% (115 / 118) and 98. 81% (166 / 168), and the differences were not statistically significant (χ2 = 2. 944, P = 0. 229). In COVID-19 patients, the concentration of IgM antibody in <40 years old group was lower than that in ≥40 years old group (Waldχ2 = 6. 609, P = 0. 010), and the concentration of IgG antibody in patients with vaccination was higher than that in patients without vaccination (Waldχ2 = 12. 402,P<0. 001). In asymptomatic infected cases, the concentration of IgG antibody was higher in people with vaccination than in those without vaccination (Waldχ2 = 4. 530, P = 0. 033). In SARS-CoV-2 vaccine recipients, the concentration of IgG antibody in <40 years old group was higher than that in ≥40 years old group (Waldχ2 = 9. 565, P = 0. 002). Dynamic analysis of antibody levels showed that from week 1 to week 9, the concentrations of IgM and IgG antibodies in COVID-19 patients were higher than those in asymptomatic infected cases and vaccine recipients. Conclusions The concentrations of IgM and IgG antibodies in COVID-19 patients were higher than those in asymptomatic infected cases and inactivated vaccine recipients. COVID-19 patients aged ≥40 years had higher level of IgM antibody. COVID-19 patients and asymptomatic infected cases who had received vaccination had higher concentration of IgG antibody. Inactivated vaccine showed good immunogenicity after whole course of immunization, and the IgG antibody level in <40 years old group was higher.

Recent advances in nucleic acid analysis and detection with microfluidic and nanofluidics

Microfluidic- and nanofluidics-based nucleic acid sensing and analysis have become of interest to the public, especially during the current COVID pandemic. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive review of recent research dedicated to the advances of nucleic acid analysis and detection including various polymerase chain reaction platforms, isothermal target amplification methods, and emerging amplification-free methods, such as optofluidics sensing, electrochemical sensing, thermal sensing, and advanced microscopy for label-free DNA/RNA analysis. The future advancement and prospects of nucleic acid analysis are also discussed. © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reopen Offline Business during a Pandemic? Characterization of Health Certificate Exchange for Human Movement Management

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly restricted the regular offline business activities. Nevertheless, as certain offline business activities are still indispensable, to conduct offline business under pandemic control becomes a valuable research question. This paper addressed this problem by studying business movement management based on health certificate exchange. We first observed three patterns of health certificate exchange multiplicity that serve as a basis for business movement management. Then, we reviewed published literature along two orthogonal directions, health certificates and exchange systems. We studied different health certificates published during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify the categories of health certificates and their characteristics. Meanwhile, we further studied different design paradigms and characteristics of health certificate exchange systems. Last, we mapped our findings on health certificate exchange into the four challenges of movement management systems in a pandemic, namely flexible controllability, scalable accessibility, adaptive reusability, and spatiotemporal traceability, and conceptualized how such the requirements should be achieved and a complete system should operate. © 2021 IEEE.

Lianhua Qingwen combined with conventional western medicine in treatment of COVID-19: An overview of systematic reviews

Objective: Overview the systematic review/Meta analysis of Lianhua Qingwen (连花清瘟) combined with conventional western medicine in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: Systematic reviews/Meta-analysis of Lianhua Qingwen combined with western conventional in the treatment of COVID-19 from CNKI, Wanfang, CBM, VIP, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Sciencewere search, retrieved as of October 1, 2021. Two investigators screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and determined the final inclusion of the literature. AMSTAR-2 scale, GRADE system, and PRISMA statements were used to evaluate the methodological quality and GRADE the evidence quality. Results: A total of eight systematic reviews/Meta analyses were included, including six in Chinese and four in English. The quality evaluation and evidence quality classification results show that the quality of the literature and the level of evidence were low. Conclusion: The existing evidence shows that Lianhua Qingwen combined with conventional western has a good effectin the treatment of COVID-19. However, due to the low methodological quality and evidence quality level of the systematic review/Meta analysis and the low level of evidence quality, more high-quality researchs are needed to obtain high-quality research results for verification.

Ventilation and air cleaning to limit aerosol particle concentrations in a gym during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SARS-CoV-2 can spread by close contact through large droplet spray and indirect contact via contaminated objects. There is mounting evidence that it can also be transmitted by inhalation of infected saliva aerosol particles. These particles are generated when breathing, talking, laughing, coughing or sneezing. It can be assumed that aerosol particle concentrations should be kept low in order to minimize the potential risk of airborne virus transmission. This paper presents measurements of aerosol particle concentrations in a gym, where saliva aerosol production is pronounced. 35 test persons performed physical exercise and aerosol particle concentrations, CO2 concentrations, air temperature and relative humidity were obtained in the room of 886 m³. A separate test was used to discriminate between human endogenous and exogenous aerosol particles. Aerosol particle removal by mechanical ventilation and mobile air cleaning units was measured. The gym test showed that ventilation with air-change rate ACH = 2.2 h-1, i.e. 4.5 times the minimum of the Dutch Building Code, was insufficient to stop the significant aerosol concentration rise over 30 min. Air cleaning alone with ACH = 1.39 h-1 had a similar effect as ventilation alone. Simplified mathematical models were engaged to provide further insight into ventilation, air cleaning and deposition. It was shown that combining the above-mentioned ventilation and air cleaning can reduce aerosol particle concentrations with 80 to 90% , depending on aerosol size. This combination of existing ventilation supplemented with air cleaning is energy efficient and can also be applied for other indoor environments.