IRF2BP2 mutation with autoimmune enteropathy, immune deficiency, and respiratory failure

Case history: We present the case of a 31-year-old Hispanic male with history of recurrent bronchiectasis, invasive aspergillosis, and severe persistent asthma, who is now status post lung transplant for end-stage lung disease. He initially presented at 7 years of age with diarrhea, failure to thrive, and nearly absent immunoglobulin levels (IgG < 33 mg/dL, IgA < 7 mg/dL, IgM = 11 mg/dL, IgE = 4 IU/dL) necessitating IVIG treatment. Small intestinal biopsy showed villous atrophy consistent with autoimmune enteropathy. Sweat chloride was reported as indeterminate (44 me/dL). Initial WBC, platelet, and T- and NK-cell counts were within normal range, and B-cell count and percentage were borderline low. Most recently, he was found to have increased immature B-cell count (CD21low), decreased memory B-cells, and poor pneumococcal vaccine antibody response. Patient has been hospitalized numerous times with increasingly severe bronchiectasis, pneumonitis, and COVID-19 infections twice despite vaccination, leading to respiratory failure and lung transplantation. Family history is negative for immune deficiency and lung diseases. Discussion(s): Of these 3 VUSs (see the table), the one in IRF2BP2 has the most pathogenic potential due to its autosomal dominant inheritance, its location in a conserved domain (Ring), and previous case reports of pathogenic variants at the same or adjacent alleles 1-3. Baxter et al reported a de novo truncating mutation in IRF2BP2 at codon 536 (c.1606CinsTTT), which is similar to our patient's mutation. This patient was noted to have an IPEX-like presentation, with chronic diarrhea, hypogammaglobulinemia, and recurrent infections. Variant Functional Prediction Score for our variant predicts a potentially high damage effect. There are 2 other case reports of heterozygous mutations in loci adjacent to this allele;one (c.1652G>A)2 with a similar clinical phenotype to our patient and the other (C.625-665 del)3 with primarily inflammatory features and few infections. Impact: This case highlights a variant in IRF2BP2 associated with severe hypogammaglobulinemia, recurrent pulmonary infections, and autoimmune enteropathy. [Table presented]Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc.

Asian communities' well-being in Aotearoa during Covid-19: The mitigating role of sense of belonging in the relationship between racism and life satisfaction

INTRODUCTION: Anti-Asian racism was a feature of the social response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and its impact on the well-being of Asian communities warrants closer examination. The current study aimed to gauge whether the sense of belonging mitigated the adverse effects of racism on life satisfaction for self-identified Asian New Zealanders.METHODS: This analysis included 1341 responses to a cross-sectional online survey conducted in 2021. Descriptive analyses outline how components of a sense of belonging were distributed among participants and those who experienced racism during the Covid-19 pandemic. We used linear regression to examine the role of a sense of belonging as a potential pathway variable in the association between experiencing racism and life satisfaction.FINDINGS: In this survey, four out of 10 participants reported experiencing racism in the first 18 months of the pandemic. Participants' life satisfaction decreased slightly since January 2020 (p<0.001). Experiencing racism was associated with decreased life satisfaction. All the components of sense of belonging reduced the magnitude of this negative association between racism experience and life satisfaction, in particular, expressing one's own ethnic identity and belonging in Aotearoa.CONCLUSIONS: Given that anti-Asian racism is currently a feature of life and a significant stressor during the pandemic, this study provides empirical evidence of the protective role of a sense of belonging against anti-Asian racism. This study focused on Asian members in Aotearoa New Zealand, but its practical implications have the potential to support other minoritised ethnic communities who also experience racism during the pandemic and beyond.

Dialect connectedness and tunneling: evidence from China

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of dialect connectedness between the chairman and the chief executive officer (CEO) (DCCC) on the tunneling activities of controlling shareholders.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses abnormal related-party transactions (ARPT) as a proxy for tunneling activities and traces dialects of chairmen and CEOs based on the respective birthplace information. Baseline results are examined using a fixed-effects model. The results remain robust when using the instrumental variable approach, propensity score matching (PSM) technique, changing the measurement of tunneling and Heckman two-step selection model.FindingsThe results show that DCCC reduces tunneling activities. This negative association is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises and firms whose chairmen and CEOs work in the respective hometowns. DCCC restrains tunneling activities through mechanisms by establishing an informal supervisory effect on CEOs because the CEOs fear reputational damage and strengthening cooperation between chairmen and CEOs. Further analyses suggest that this negative association is more significant when chairmen and CEOs are non-controlling shareholders, but the association is weakened during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.Originality/valueAs dialect is a carrier of culture, this study's results imply that cultural proximity can replace formal mechanisms to enhance corporate governance.

Poetry in Crisis: Its Writing and Circulation during the Pandemic in China

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese poetry has been misread, appropriated, and run down with various cultural purposes and/or ideological agendas just like in any historical period, and its circulation does not always meet with open arms. On February 12, 2020, Changjiang Daily published Xiao Chang's controversial critical commentary entitled, "Rather than ‘Mountains and Rivers under the Same Sky,' I Would Like to Hear ‘Wuhan, Add Oil!,'” ("Xiangbi ‘Fengyue tongtian,' wo geng xiang tingdao ‘Wuhan jiayou!'”) targeting two lines from Prince Nagaya's Sinitic poem "Occasion of the Embroidered Robes” ("Xiu jiashayi yuan”). This essay revisits the history of this poem and the circulation of this poem during the epidemic in Wuhan. By contrasting Xiao Chang's implication that poetry was inopportune, obscure, and barbaric, this essay argues that his article, as a voice from the authority, was intended to impose constraint on poetry writing, which further reveals a crisis for the poetry writing in China today. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood services operations: Korean experience

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic had a profound impact on blood services operations in Korea. Blood collection was affected due to decrease in donor availability caused by avoidance of public places, social distancing policies, and cancellation of blood drives. The negative impact on blood collection was more pronounced with the COVID-19 pandemic than with other outbreaks experienced previously such as the influenza (H1N1) outbreak or the Middle East respiratory virus (MERS) pandemic. To cope with the blood shortage, campaigns to appeal for blood donation, raise public awareness on the importance of blood donation and gain donor's confidence in safe blood donation were implemented using mass communication media such as TV and radio broadcasting as well as postings on various social media platforms. Upon Korean Red Cross Blood Services's (KRCBS) request, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) approved the relaxation of the geographical restrictions regarding indigenous malaria thus enabling collection of more than 23,000 units of whole blood. To mitigate even a theoretical risk of transfusion-transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via blood donation from pre-symptomatic COVID-19 donors, the KRCBS received the data on COVID-19 identified cases from the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) from the early get-go of the pandemic for cross referencing to donors for further recipient investigation and recall of blood products not transfused. Communication with donors, staff members, national health authorities, hospital customers and other stakeholders was and remains of utmost importance to respond to this unprecedented situation which is still ongoing.Copyright © Annals of Blood. All rights reserved.

Techno-economic analysis of enzymatic biodiesel co-produced in palm oil mills from sludge palm oil for improving renewable energy access in rural areas

To date, irregularity and lack of power supply remain a global problem in the rural areas of underdeveloped and developing countries. This paper proposes a new concept for rural electrification by using palm oil mills to co-produce biodiesel from sludge palm oil. We performed a case study based on a medium-sized palm oil mill in Central Kalimantan. Approximately 2.5 tonnes of biodiesel could be produced daily using an enzymatic batch process and potentially support around 1,375 households of 4 people each in the surrounding areas. Subsequently, we performed a techno-economic assessment to study the commercial feasibility of the concept for rural electrification using the enzymatic biodiesel as opposed to commercial diesel. A 10% price deduction was applied to incentivize the local community to use the co-produced biodiesel. From our analysis, the rural electrification concept was found to be commercially viable with a return on investment of 29% and a breakeven period of less than 4 years of operation. Barring the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the price fluctuations of diesel and crude palm oil, the long-term commercial prospect of this rural electrification concept is attractive as it financially benefits both the rural community and the mill operators.

The situation and enlightenment of transnational oil and gas exploration

Affected by the global COVID-19 and middle/low oil prices, the exploration investment was running at a low level and the exploration workload fell in 2021. However, oil companies focused on frontier fields and key exploration and development areas. By deepening geological understanding and improving trap identification ability, the success rate of exploration was continuously improved. Great discoveries were successively obtained in offshore exploration, especially in deep water and ultra-deep water areas, and transnational large and medium-sized oil and gas fields discovered by major international oil companies were mainly located in "one ocean, one bay and one sea” (both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the South Caspian Sea). The analysis of typical oil and gas fields in deep water and ultra-deep water areas indicates characteristics in three aspects. Firstly, by paying close attention to the oil and gas rich basins, a series of subsalt oil and gas discoveries were made in Brazil after eight years' exploration. Secondly, by accumulating knowledge and strategically reexploring, Eni successively discovered oil fields in Cote d'Ivoire Basin. Thirdly, by developing the existing oil and gas fields and then expanding the peripheral areas, bp discovered large gas field once again in the South Caspian Sea. The practice of the major international oil companies in implementing transnational petroleum exploration in deep water and ultra-deep water areas enables to obtain three enlightenments. First, layout in advance, seize the opportunity of favorable exploration zones, and flexibly acquire and relinquish blocks. Second, strategically follow other companies, constantly accumulate experience and technology to steadily improve strength. Third, independently conduct exploration, master the key and core technologies to achieve benefits in exploration. Chinese oil companies should seize all opportunities to actively acquire favorable exploration blocks, so as to form effective resource reserves, and realize the leap from "going global” to "going up” through "one transformation and three strengthening”. Copyright © 2022, Petroleum Industry Press, PetroChina. All rights reserved.

COVID-19-Induced Automation: An Exploratory Study of Critical Occupations

The COVID-19 pandemic may have spurred automation, especially in critical occupations. This article explores the potential of each detailed Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC) occupation being automated due to COVID-19. The authors explore two key elements of each occupation: its exposure to diseases such as COVID-19 and the probability of that occupation being automated. The results reveal that food preparation, service, and cleaning-related occupations have a higher chance of pandemic-induced automation. Using monthly U.S. job postings from 2016 to 2021, the estimates show that the potential pandemic-induced automation is associated with a statistically significant decrease in job postings. A higher Automation Index is associated with fewer job postings since the pandemic. Such trends remain robust after accounting for posting duration and excluding health-related occupations. These findings contribute to the early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the potential integration of automation in the labor force and offer insights into building a resilient and labor-centric post-pandemic labor market. © The Author(s) 2023.

Optimized PI Control with Tracking Differentiator for Negative Pressure Cabin Control

To block the epidemics like "Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19)"spreading, an effective isolation of the infected patients during the transportation is an important issue, which makes the negative pressure cabin (NPC) become a key equipment. There exist some practical NPCs in service, whose pressures are mostly controlled using the conventional PID controller with parameters regulated by engineering methods. Until now, there is no report about the model of NPC system from the authors' best knowledge. In this paper, the model of the NPC system is reported, which is an inherent nonlinear system. Because of the nonlinear nature of the cabin pressure, the conventional PID controller cannot achieve desire performance to balance the transient and the steady state performance, even though the optimized PID parameters are chosen using the on-line optimization based on genetic algorithm. To solve such a problem, Tracking Differentiator (TD) and PI controller are combined to achieve the desire performance using the optimized parameters. The experiment results show the improvement of the proposed method. © 2022 IEEE.

Erythroderma and Eosinophilia with Multi-System Involvement, a Case of Vress

Introduction: Resembling Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS), Virus Reactivation with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (VRESS) occurs triggered by members of Herpesviridae family viruses. Case Description: A 12-year-old male was hospitalized with a 5-day history of fever, pruritic erythematous rash on the trunk and extremities, and facial edema. The patient was exposed to a cousin diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) 10 days prior. No history of traveling, unusual food intake, URI, drug ingestion during the prior 3 months. Patient was treated with clindamycin x 10 days for possible Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome. Patient was noted to have eosinophilia of >2000 that persisted through the hospital course and thereafter, transaminitis with direct bilirubinemia, transient microscopic hematuria, elevated CRP and C3, normal EKG and chest radiograph, normal T/B/NKC counts, normal levels of immunoglobulins and elevated IgE (2163>1579IU/mL). IgG and IgM were negative for: CMV, adenovirus, strongyloidces, HAV, HBV, and HIV. IgG positive to: EBV, HHV-6, mycoplasma, HHV-6, HSV1, and parvovirus. Negative cultures for MRSA and group A Streptococcus. Negative PCRs for COVID -19. At 8 week follow up, skin erythema evolved into desquamation in the fingers and eosinophilia persisted. Discussion(s): VRESS should be on the differential for patients presenting with a DRESS-like symptoms in the absence of drug exposures. VRESS is often triggered by members of the Herpesviridae family of viruses including EBV and HHV-6, to both of which this patient was exposed to in the past. While diagnosis is one of exclusion, early identification can guide appropriate management. Copyright © 2022

Mask Detection and Classification with Different Convolutional Neural Networks

Since 2019, the COVID-19 has been hanging over the whole world, causing uncountable financial loss. In this regard, wearing masks becomes a precaution for the public. However, some people are wearing masks in a wrong way, which may cause virus infection. To detect the wrong wearing of masks, we use 3 classic Convolutional Neural Networks, namely LeNet-5, AlexNet, and VGGNet-16, based on a unique dataset, to train the model and analyze the results. On the unique dataset, LeNet-5 achieved an accuracy of 80.3%, which was the lowest among the three networks, AlexNet attained an accuracy of 90.6%, which is near the precision of VGGNet-16, 92.83%. This work may help the advance of a digital city, making COVID-19 precaution under control. © 2022 SPIE.

Spatiotemporal patterns of the daily relative risk of COVID-19 in China

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to threaten lives and the economy around the world. Estimating the risk of COVID-19 can help in predicting spreading trends, identifying risk areas, and making public health decisions. In this study, we proposed a comparative risk assessment method to estimate comprehensive and dynamic COVID-19 risks by considering the pandemic severity and the healthcare system pressure and then employing the z-order curve and fractal theory. We took the COVID-19 cases from January 19–March 10, 2020 in China as our research object. The results and analysis revealed that (1) the proposed method demonstrated its feasibility to assess and illustrate pandemic risk;(2) the temporal patterns of the daily relative risk indices of 31 provinces were clustered into four groups (high-value, fluctuating-increase, inverted U-shaped, and low-stable);(3) the spatial distribution of the relative pandemic risk indicated a significant circular pattern centered on Hubei Province;and (4) healthcare system capacity is the key to reducing relative pandemic risk, and cases imported from abroad should be given more attention. The methods and results of this study will provide a methodological basis and practical guidance for regional pandemic risk assessment and public health decision-making. © 2021, Science in China Press.

COVID-19 Vaccination and Remdesivir are Associated With Protection From New or Increased Levels of Donor-Specific Antibodies Among Kidney Transplant Recipients Hospitalized With COVID-19.

Alloimmune responses in kidney transplant (KT) patients previously hospitalized with COVID-19 are understudied. We analyzed a cohort of 112 kidney transplant recipients who were hospitalized following a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result during the first 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found a cumulative incidence of 17% for the development of new donor-specific antibodies (DSA) or increased levels of pre-existing DSA in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-infected KT patients. This risk extended 8 months post-infection. These changes in DSA status were associated with late allograft dysfunction. Risk factors for new or increased DSA responses in this KT patient cohort included the presence of circulating DSA pre-COVID-19 diagnosis and time post-transplantation. COVID-19 vaccination prior to infection and remdesivir administration during infection were each associated with decreased likelihood of developing a new or increased DSA response. These data show that new or enhanced DSA responses frequently occur among KT patients requiring admission with COVID-19 and suggest that surveillance, vaccination, and antiviral therapies may be important tools to prevent alloimmunity in these individuals.

An Advanced Algorithm for Email Classification by Using SMTP Code

Email is an essential communication tool for modern people and offers a variety of functions. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the importance of emails enhanced further as non-face-to-face work increased. However, with the spread and dissemination of emails, cybercrime that abused emails has also increased. The number of cases of stealing or damaging email users by impersonating public institutions such as the National Police Agency, the Prosecutor’s Office, or the WHO. This study proposes an advanced algorithm of email classification using an SMTP response code to strengthen the level of email security. The proposed system is located on the side of the recipient’s email server and operates upon receipt of the email. When an email is received, it automatically verifies whether the domain of the email sender is normally registered in DNS. Thereafter, MX, SPF, and PTR records are extracted and combined to determine the state of the sending server. When additional verification is required, a proposed algorithm automatically connects the communication session to the sender to request the SMTP response code. The proposed algorithm was applied to two organizations and succeeded in classifying received emails into various categories. This study contributes to the literature on email classification by presenting new ideas in the process of sender verification. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

On the Design of Integrated Tele-Monitoring/Operation System for Therapeutic Devices in Isolation Intensive Care Unit

We design a central controller system (CCS) and a tele-controlled system (TCS) with an aim of developing the integrated tele-monitoring/operation system that can enable the medical staff to tele-monitor the state of therapeutic devices utilized in the isolation intensive care unit (ICU) and to tele-operate its user interfaces. To achieve this aim, we survey the medical staff for medical requirements first and define the design guideline for tele-monitoring/operation functionality and field applicability. In designing the CCS, we focus on realizing the device having intuitive and user-friendly interfaces so that the medical staff can use the device conveniently without pre-training. Further, we attempt to implement the TCS capable of manipulating various types of user interfaces of the therapeutic device (e.g., touch screen, buttons, and knobs) without failure. As two core components of the TCS, the precision XY-positioner having a maximum positioning error of about 0.695 mm and the end-effector having three-degrees-of-freedom motion (i.e., pressing, gripping, and rotating) are applied to the system. In the experiment conducted for assessing functionality, it is investigated that the time taken to complete the tele-operation after logging into the CCS is less than 1 minute. Furthermore, the result of field demonstration for focus group shows that the proposed system could be applied practically to the medical fields when the functional reliability is improved. IEEE

Internet of things platform technology used in undergraduate nursing student education: a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Future nursing education needs to build a cutting-edge technology-based educational environment to provide a variety of consumer-oriented education. Thus, the sharing of information in nursing education needs to be considered, especially given the advancement of internet of things (IoT) technology. Before developing a horizontal platform, understanding previously developed IoT platforms is necessary to establish services and devices compatible with each other in different service areas. This scoping review aims to explore the technology used in the IoT platform for the education of nursing students in the undergraduate nursing curriculum. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A preliminary search was completed to find initial search terms, on which a full-search strategy was developed. Search results yielded from PubMed (NCBI) were screened to ensure articles were peer-reviewed, published in English from January 1999 to August 2021, and relevant to developing, applying and evaluating IoT platforms at educational institutions for students in undergraduate nursing programmes. A full-text review of relevant articles will be conducted, and data will be extracted using the developed extraction tool. The extracted qualitative data will be analysed using a modified grounded theory approach, informing a working definition of the IoT platform and related terms. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was exempted from ethical review by the Institutional Review Board of Nambu University, South Korea. Study results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals.

A Study on the Effect of Integrated Ozone and UVC-LED Approaches on the Reduction of Salmonella typhimurium Bacteria in Droplets

In the wake of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, inactivating bioaerosols became a pivotal issue which helps to prevent the transmittance of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the current study was conducted to investigate a potential inactivating method using both ozone (O-3) and ultraviolet C (UVC). Individual and integrated effects of O-3 and UVC were compared. A solution containing approximately 4 similar to 7.3 x 10(6) CFU/mL of Salmonella typhimurium bacteria was used to produce bacteria droplets. These droplets were exposed to O-3 and UVC to determine the reduction rate of bacteria. The exposure times were set as 1 and 30 minutes. Ozone concentrations were 100 and 200 ppmv. UVC-LEDs were used as a UVC source. Peak wavelength of the UVC-LED was 275 nm and the irradiation dose was 0.77 mW/cm(2). In terms of O-3 and UVC-LED interaction, 194 ppmv styrene was used as a target compound to be removed. Considering the O-3 and UVC-LED interaction, the presence of O-3 could reduce the performance of the UVC-LED, and UVC-LED could also reduce significant amount of O-3. The sequence of O-3 and UVC-LED treatment was as follows: O-3 was exposed at first, then UVC-LED, and this order showed the best reduction ratio ( > 99.9%). Therefore, if O-3 and UVC-LED is used to disinfect Salmonella typhimurium bacteria contained in droplets, bacteria should be separately exposed to O-3 and UVC-LED in order to improve the inactivation efficiency.

Spatial-temporal Characteristics of COVID-19 in Chongqing and Its Relationship with Human Mobility

Based on the epidemiological investigation data of 545 COVID-19 cases and mobile phone trajectory data of 15 million users during the epidemic ( from 21 January, 2020 to 24 February, 2020 ), this paper analyzed the spatial-temporal characteristics of COVID-19 and the human mobility changes in Chongqing. Furthermore, the correlation relationship between them was explored to explain these characteristics and changes. The results show that: (1) The epidemic pattern in Chongqing can be divided into three stages ( i.e. imported cases stage, imported cases plus local cases stage, and local cases stage ) and the real time reproduction number (Rt) was high at early stage, but declined significantly after prevention and control measures were taken;The spatial distribution of cases presented a significant clustering, and the high clustering areas were mainly distributed in the northeastern and the southwestern of Chongqing;(2) After the epidemic, the total amount of human mobility decreased to 53.20% and the decrease was mainly concentrated in the main urban area, while that of in the suburbs and rural areas did not change, or even increased;(3) The relationship between human mobility and case occurrence lies in two aspects: The correlation coefficient between daily human mobility and Rt, daily increased number of cases after an average incubation period (7 d) were 0.98, 0.87, revealing the time correlation between human mobility and case growth;The correlation coefficient between total amount of human mobility and total number of cases, number of local cases in each street (township) were 0.40, 0.35, revealing the correlation between human mobility and spatial distribution of cases. The cases clustering area corresponds to the network community of human mobility, revealing the local clustering transmission is the major transmission model. By aggregating the big data and the epidemic data, we suggests that cutting off the connection between different human mobility network communities and blocking the local transmission inside the high risk communities is an effective measure for the prevention and control of epidemics in cities. 2021, Science Press. All right reserved.