Reflections on the battle against COVID-19: The effects of emotional design factors on the communication of audio-visual art.

Fighting against the epidemic is an arduous and prolonged battle where many artists hope to inspire people with the power of art through cultural creativity. To explore the effects of emotional design factors on the communication of audio-visual art and the audience's perceptive experience, this research takes the original anti-epidemic song and the film China Braves Headwind as the research object. The research also uses such methods as questionnaires, Structural Equation Models, and dependent samples t-tests to conduct statistical analysis. The results are as follows: First, the emotional design evaluation matrix based on the emotional communication model is reasonable, and the scales of this research are feasible. Second, the emotional design of audio-visual works can significantly affect the audience's emotional experience and further improve sharing intention. Third, Attribute A2 (Artistic style, Thematic perception) and attribute C3 (Emotional resonance, Spiritual sublimation) serve as common factors affecting the emotional experience in terms of both musical works and film and television works. Fourth, compared with musical works, film and television works are likely to resonate with the audience. The combination of music and visual sensation can help open up the conception of artistic works and convey their meanings to viewers. Therefore, it's necessary to explore the emotional communication mode between audio-visual artists and the audience. It helps artists think about how to create works innovatively and is conducive to marketizing works and stimulating cultural consumption demand.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Shandong Province

Objective: To explore the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Shandong Province.

New laboratory evidence for the association between endothelial dysfunction and COVID-19 disease progression.

There is growing evidence that angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is highly expressed on endothelial cells, endothelial dysfunction plays a critical role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) progression, but laboratory evidence is still lacking. This study established a multicenter retrospective cohort of 966 COVID-19 patients from three hospitals in Wuhan, China. We found that male (62.8% vs. 46.5%), old age [72 (17) vs. 60.5 (21)], and coexisting chronic diseases (88.5% vs. 60.0%) were associated with poor clinical prognosis in COVID-19. Furthermore, the deteriorated patients exhibited more severe multiorgan damage, coagulation dysfunction, and extensive inflammation. Additionally, a cross-sectional study including 41 non-COVID-19 controls and 39 COVID-19 patients assayed endothelial function parameters in plasma and showed that COVID-19 patients exhibited elevated vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) (median [IQR]: 0.32 [0.27] vs. 0.17 [0.11] µg/ml, p < 0.001), E-selectin (21.06 [12.60] vs. 11.01 [4.63] ng/ml, p < 0.001), tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) (0.22 [0.12] vs. 0.09 [0.04] ng/ml, p < 0.001), and decreased plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (0.75 [1.31] vs 6.20 [5.34] ng/ml, p < 0.001), as compared to normal controls. Moreover, VCAM-1 was positively correlated with d-dimer (R = 0.544, p < 0.001); tPA was positively correlated with d-dimer (R = 0.800, p < 0.001) and blood urea nitrogen (R = 0.638, p < 0.001). Our findings further confirm the strong association between endothelial dysfunction and poor prognosis of COVID-19, which offers a rationale for targeting endothelial dysfunction as a therapeutic strategy for COVID-19.

CoVac501, a self-adjuvanting peptide vaccine conjugated with TLR7 agonists, against SARS-CoV-2 induces protective immunity.

Safe, effective, and economical vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are needed to achieve adequate herd immunity and end the pandemic. We constructed a novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, CoVac501, which is a self-adjuvanting peptide vaccine conjugated with Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonists. The vaccine contains immunodominant peptides screened from the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and is fully chemically synthesized. It has been formulated in an optimized nanoemulsion formulation and is stable at 40 °C for 1 month. In non-human primates (NHPs), CoVac501 elicited high and persistent titers of protective neutralizing antibodies against multiple RBD mutations, SARS-CoV-2 original strain, and variants (B.1.1.7 and B.1.617.2). Specific peptides booster immunization against the B.1.351 variant has also been shown to be effective in improving protection against B.1.351. Meanwhile, CoVac501 elicited the increase of memory T cells, antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses, and Th1-biased CD4+ T-cell immune responses in NHPs. Notably, at an extremely high SARS-CoV-2 challenge dose of 1 × 107 TCID50, CoVac501 provided near-complete protection for the upper and lower respiratory tracts of cynomolgus macaques.

Factors associated with acute cardiac injury and their effects on mortality in patients with COVID-19.

To determine the incidence of acute cardiac injury (ACI), the factors associated with ACI and the in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19, especially in severe patients. All consecutive in-patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from Tongji Hospital in Wuhan during February 1 and March 29, 2020 were included. The demographic, clinical characteristics, laboratory, radiological and treatment data were collected. Univariate and Firth logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with ACI and in-hospital mortality, and Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate cumulative in-hospital mortality. Among 1031 patients included, 215 (20.7%) had ACI and 501 (48.6%) were severe cases. Overall, 165 patients died; all were from the severe group, and 131 (79.39%) had ACI. ACI (OR = 2.34, P = 0.009), male gender (OR = 2.58, P = 0.001), oximeter oxygen saturation (OR = 0.90, P < 0.001), lactate dehydrogenase (OR = 3.26, P < 0.001), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (OR = 8.59, P < 0.001), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (OR = 3.29, P = 0.016), N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (OR = 2.94, P = 0.001) were independent risk factors for the in-hospital mortality in severe patients. The mortality was significantly increased among severe patients with elevated hs-CRP, IL-6, hs-cTnI, and/or NT-proBNP. Moreover, the mortality was significantly higher in patients with elevation of both hs-cTnI and NT proBNP than in those with elevation of either of them. ACI develops in a substantial proportion of patients with COVID-19, and is associated with the disease severity and in-hospital mortality. A combination of hs-cTnI and NT-proBNP is valuable in predicting the mortality.