ABSTRACT
Introduction: Few previous studies have been well described the details of the clinical and virological course of illness among discharged patients. The study aims to study the epidemiological and clinical features of discharged patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Changchun, Northeast China. Materials and methods: We included all discharged patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection from Changchun Infectious Hospital, China, as 9 March 2020. We extracted and collected on data of demographic characteristic, clinical features, chest computed tomography (CT) scan, laboratory result, and treatment from the electronic medical records. Exact epidemiological information was obtained from the investigation of patients or close contacts by investigators of at all levels of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control in Jilin Province. Results: Of the 43 discharged patient retrospective studied, 38 were mild novel coronavirus pneumonia, only one with critical ill case and no health workers were infected. The median age was 41.0 years, and 25 were male. All cases were infected by person-to-person transmission and the median incubation period from exposure to illness onset was 8.0 days. 22 patients had comorbidities. The most common symptoms at illness onset were fever, cough, expectoration, myalgia or fatigue, chest tightness, nasal congestion or sneezing. Median duration of illness onset to hospital admission and discharged was 6.0 days and 22.0 days, the median duration of viral shedding after illness onset was 19.0 days (IQR: 14-22). Conclusion: Patients were imported and cluster cases by person-to-person transmission and relatively mild in Changchun, China. Our findings further confirmed the prolonged viral shedding among patients. © 2021 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the application of residual free chlorine has been emphasized as an effective disinfectant;however, the discharged residual chlorine is associated with potential ecological risk at concentrations even below 0.1 mg/L. However, the influence of free chlorine at ultralow-doses (far below 0.01 mg/L) on phytoplankton remains unclear. Due to limitations of detection limit and non-linear dissolution, different dilution rates (1/500, 1/1000, 1/5000, 1/10000, and 1/50000 DR) of a NaClO stock solution (1 mg/L) were adopted to represent ultralow-dose NaClO gradients. Two typical microalgae species, cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and chlorophyta Chlorella vulgaris, were explored under solo- and co-culture conditions to analyze the inhibitory effects of NaClO on microalgae growth and membrane damage. Additionally, the effects of ultralow-dose NaClO on photosynthesis activity, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and esterase activity were investigated, in order to explore physiological changes and sensitivity. With an initial microalgae cell density of approximately 1 × 106 cell/mL, an inhibitory effect on M. aeruginosa was achieved at a NaClO dosage above 1/10000 DR, which was lower than that of C. vulgaris (above 1/5000 DR). The variation in membrane integrity and photosynthetic activity further demonstrated that the sensitivity of M. aeruginosa to NaClO was higher than that of C. vulgaris, both in solo- and co-culture conditions. Moreover, NaClO is able to interfere with photosynthetic activity, ROS levels, and esterase activity. Photosynthetic activity declined gradually in both microalgae species under sensitive NaClO dosage, but esterase activity increased more rapidly in M. aeruginosa, similar to the behavior of ROS in C. vulgaris. These findings of differing NaClO sensitivity and variations in physiological activity between the two microalgae species contribute to a clearer understanding of the potential ecological risk associated with ultralow-dose chlorine, and provide a basis for practical considerations.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Accumulated evidence revealed that male was much more likely to higher severity and fatality by SARS-CoV-2 infection than female patients, but few studies and meta-analyses have evaluated the sex differences of the infection and progression of COVID-19 patients. AIM: We aimed to compare the sex differences of the epidemiological and clinical characteristics in COVID-19 patients;and to perform a meta-analysis evaluating the severe rate, fatality rate, and the sex differences of the infection and disease progression in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We analyzed clinical data of patients in Changchun Infectious Hospital and Center, Changchun, Northeast China;and searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library without any language restrictions for published articles that reported the data of sex-disaggregated, number of severe, and death patients on the confirmed diagnosis of adult COVID-19 patients. RESULTS: The pooled severe rate and fatality rate of COVID-19 were 22.7% and 10.7%. Male incidence in the retrospective study was 58.1%, and the pooled incidence in male was 54.7%. CONCLUSION: The pooled severe rate in male and female of COVID-19 was 28.2% and 18.8%, the risky of severe and death was about 1.6folds higher in male compared with female, especially for older patients (> 50 y). © 2020 Zhijun Li, Lina Feng, Wenyu Cui, Jian Zhang, Yingxin Huang, Yunhong Zhao, Fei Teng, Donglin Wu, Bonan Cao, Hui Wang, Liquan Deng, Qiong Yu.
ABSTRACT
Since its launch in 2013, the Chinese Road and Belt Innitiative (BRI) has grown into a platform for any countries and regions that wish to participate, with global connectivity as the orienting goal. However, since its inception, concerns over the BRI’s potential impacts on ecology, environment and resilience, as well as its implications for global climate change and sustainability, have gathered force. As this thematic issue goes to press, these already complex BRI issues have been compounded by challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether and how the BRI can meet these challenges are questions worthy of deep exploration. This emerging BRI scholarship studied various aspects of BRI activities. However, major knowledge gaps remain regarding BRI impacts on GHG emission and on climate adaptation and sustainable resource management more broadly. To this end, this thematic issue aims to contribute to deeper understandings of climate and environmental changes along the BRI by bringing together state-of-art research and views on climate change patterns, trends, risks, impacts and adaptation. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis Group and Science Press on behalf of the Ecological Society of China.