[Clinical characteristics and short-term prognosis of 22 cases with SARS-CoV-2 infection associated acute encephalopathy].

Objective: To investigate the clinical features and short-term prognosis of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection associated acute encephalopathy (AE). Methods: Retrospective cohort study. The clinical data, radiological features and short-term follow-up of 22 cases diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection associated AE in the Department of Neurology, Beijing Children's Hospital from December 2022 to January 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into cytokine storm group, excitotoxic brain damage group and unclassified encephalopathy group according to the the clinicopathological features and the imaging features. The clinical characteristics of each group were analyzed descriptively. Patients were divided into good prognosis group (≤2 scores) and poor prognosis group (>2 scores) based on the modified Rankin scale (mRS) score of the last follow-up. Fisher exact test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the two groups. Results: A total of 22 cases (12 females, 10 males) were included. The age of onset was 3.3 (1.7, 8.6) years. There were 11 cases (50%) with abnormal medical history, and 4 cases with abnormal family history. All the enrolled patients had fever as the initial clinical symptom, and 21 cases (95%) developed neurological symptoms within 24 hours after fever. The onset of neurological symptoms included convulsions (17 cases) and disturbance of consciousness (5 cases). There were 22 cases of encephalopathy, 20 cases of convulsions, 14 cases of speech disorders, 8 cases of involuntary movements and 3 cases of ataxia during the course of the disease. Clinical classification included 3 cases in the cytokine storm group, all with acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE); 9 cases in the excitotoxicity group, 8 cases with acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) and 1 case with hemiconvulsion-hemiplegia syndrome; and 10 cases of unclassified encephalopathy. Laboratory studies revealed elevated glutathione transaminase in 9 cases, elevated glutamic alanine transaminase in 4 cases, elevated blood glucose in 3 cases, and elevated D-dimer in 3 cases. Serum ferritin was elevated in 3 of 5 cases, serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neurofilament light chain protein was elevated in 5 of 9 cases, serum cytokines were elevated in 7 of 18 cases, and CSF cytokines were elevated in 7 of 8 cases. Cranial imaging abnormalities were noted in 18 cases, including bilateral symmetric lesions in 3 ANE cases and "bright tree appearance" in 8 AESD cases. All 22 cases received symptomatic treatment and immunotherapy (intravenous immunoglobulin or glucocorticosteroids), and 1 ANE patient received tocilizumab. The follow-up time was 50 (43, 53) d, and 10 patients had a good prognosis and 12 patients had a poor prognosis. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of epidemiology, clinical manifestations, biochemical indices, and duration of illness to initiate immunotherapy (all P>0.05). Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 infection is also a major cause of AE. AESD and ANE are the common AE syndromes. Therefore, it is crucial to identify AE patients with fever, convulsions, and impaired consciousness, and apply aggressive therapy as early as possible.

Research on Consumers' Purchase Intention of Taobao Live E-Commerce Platform

With the impact of the novel coronavirus on the global economy, the role of live e-commerce as an engine to drive economic and social development has become more and more prominent. In order to further promote the positive development of Taobao Live platform, this article uses SOR theory, multi-dimensional factors such as "people, goods and venues"as stimulus variables, introduces perceived value and perceived risk as mediating variables, and demographic characteristics as moderating variables to construct a model of consumers' purchase intention on Taobao Live e-commerce platform and put forward corresponding hypotheses, and uses SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0 to analyse 223 questionnaires collected to study the influencing factors of consumers' purchase intention and provide corresponding suggestions. The study shows that: consumer perceived value and perceived risk have significant effects on consumer purchase intention;anchor professionalism, consumer herd mentality and situational factors have significant effects on consumer perceived value;anchor professionalism, consumer impulsive traits and herd mentality have significant effects on consumer perceived risk;some demographic characteristics play a moderating role in the process of perceived value and perceived risk on consumer purchase intention. © 2022 ACM.

How to Cope With Emergency Remote Teaching for University Academics: The Case of a High-Profile Language University in China

Despite the growing body of literature on the structural problems of emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, far too little empirical research has been conducted on university academics' challenges in online pedagogy and what is needed to facilitate their teaching during a time of educational crisis. Thus, this study selects a high-profile Chinese language university as a case study to explore how university academics in China have dealt with the challenges of emergency remote teaching during the pandemic. This paper conducts open-ended interviews with 22 academic faculty members and adopts TPACK concepts to interpret the findings. The results demonstrate how participants find avenues to deal with emergency remote teaching, effective measures universities need to adopt, and ways to facilitate TPACK with academic faculty. © The Author(s) 2023.

Lipolysis is accompanied by immune microenvironment remodeling in adipose tissue of obesity with different exercise intensity.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity and overweight are risk factors for chronic disease worldwide. The purpose of this study was to compare the transcriptome of exercise-induced fat mobilization in obese people, and to explore the effect of different exercise intensity on the correlation of immune microenvironment remodeling and lipolysis in adipose tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Microarray datasets of adipose tissue before and after exercise were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus. Then, we used gene-enrichment analysis and PPI-network construction to elucidate the function and enrichment pathways of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and to identify the central genes. A network of protein-protein interactions was obtained using STRING and visualized with Cytoscape. RESULTS: A total of 929 DEGs were identified between 40 pre-exercise (BX) samples and 65 post-exercise (AX) samples from GSE58559, GSE116801, and GSE43471. Among these DEGs, adipose tissue-expressed genes were duly recognized. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses indicated that DEGs were mostly enriched in lipid metabolism. Studies have found that mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway and forkhead box O (FOXO) signaling pathway are up-regulated, while Ribosome, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and IGF-1 gene are down-regulated. Although we found the up-regulated genes that noted IL-1 among others, and the down-regulated gene was IL-34. The increase of inflammatory factors leads to changes in cellular immune microenvironment, and high-intensity exercise leads to increased expression of inflammatory factors in adipose tissue, leading to inflammatory responses. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise at different intensities leads to the degradation of adipose and is accompanied by changes in the immune microenvironment within adipose tissue. High intensity exercise can cause the imbalance of immune microenvironment of adipose tissue while causing fat degradation. Therefore, moderate intensity and below exercise is the best way for the general population to reduce fat and weight.

SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Levels Associate with Neutrophil Activation

Background. COVID-19 disease severity and outcomes have been linked to high antibody titers and a dysregulated neutrophil immune response. Here we query associations and connections between the endogenous SARS-CoV-2 antibody response and neutrophil activation in COVID-19. Methods. Baseline serum or plasma samples from 57 patients hospitalized on oxygen with COVID-19 were used to perform;1) quantitative measurements of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies using a luciferase-based immunoprecipitation system assay, 2) quantitative measurements of neutrophil specific biomarkers using Luminex technology, and 3) neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) as measured by myeloperoxidase-DNA (MPO-DNA) complexes by ELISA. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and immature granulocyte count (IGC) were measured from complete blood counts (CBC). Antibody levels were compared by disease severity using Wilcoxon rank-sum test and correlations were generated between antibody levels and neutrophil activation markers using Spearman's correlation (SC). Results. In a cohort of hospitalized patients, severe/critical COVID-19 was associated with higher levels of nucleocapsid-IgA (p=0.011) as well as spike-IgG (p= 0.0007) compared tomoderate disease,while spike-IgA and nucleocapsid-IgG showed similar associations, trending towards significance (Figure 1A). Levels of IgG-spike and IgG-nucleocapsid both had significant correlations with the ANC (SC 0.33, p = 0.029;SC 0.38 p = 0.012). All four antibody titers showed strong correlations with IGC, lactoferrin and lipocalin-2, evidence of emergency granulopoiesis. Further, S100A9, a component calprotectin correlated with spike-IgG and nucleocapsid-IgA levels (SC 0.29, p = 0.030, SC 0.29 p = 0.029). Lastly, we found circulating NETs correlated with spike IgA levels (SC 0.38 p = 0.006), and its correlations with IgG-spike and IgA-nucleocapsid additionally approached significance with NETs levels as well (Figure 1B). Antibody Levels Correlate with Disease Severity and Neutrophil Activation Markers Figure 1: A) Levels of anti-Spike and anti-Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG levels measured in the serum of 57 unvaccinated hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Moderate illness represents ordinal scale 5 requiring low flow oxygen, while severe/critical patients represent ordinal scale 6 and 7, requiring high flow oxygen, non-invasive or mechanical ventilation, respectively. P values are compared by a Wilcoxon ranked sum test. B) Heatmap showing Spearman correlations between levels of anti-Spike and anti-Nucleocapsid IgA and IgG and markers of neutrophil activation. P values for individual correlations are represented in parentheses. MPO (myeloperoxidase), ANC (absolute neutrophil count), S100A9 (S100 calcium binding protein A9). Conclusion. Higher anti-spike and anti-nucleocapsid IgG and IgA levels associate with more severe COVID-19 illness. Further, endogenous SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody levels associate with markers of emergency granulopoiesis and neutrophil activation. Inhibiting antibody mediated neutrophil activation may improve outcomes in COVID-19.

[Analysis on the infection source of the first local cluster epidemic caused by the VOC/Gamma variant of SARS-CoV-2 in China].

Objective: To investigate a SARS-CoV-2 epidemic reported in Rongcheng City, Weihai, Shandong Province. Methods: The SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid positive patients and their close contacts were investigated, and the whole genome sequencing and genetic evolution analysis of 9 variant viruses were carried out. An infection source investigation and analysis were carried out from two sources of home and abroad, and three aspects of human, material and environment. Results: A total of 15 asymptomatic infections were reported in this epidemic, including 13 cases as employees of workshop of aquatic products processing company, with an infection rate of 21.67% (13/60). Two cases were infected people's neighbors in the same village (conjugal relation). The first six positive persons were processing workers engaged in the first process of removing squid viscera in the workshop of the company. The nucleic acid Ct value of the first time were concentrated between 15 and 29, suggesting that the virus load was high, which was suspected to be caused by one-time homologous exposure. The whole genome sequence of 9 SARS-CoV-2 strains was highly homologous, belonging to VOC/Gamma (Lineage P.1.15). No highly homologous sequences were found from previous native and imported cases in China. It was highly homologous with the six virus sequences sampled from May 5 to 26, 2021 uploaded by Chile. The infection source investigation showed that the company had used the squid raw materials captured in the ocean near Chile and Argentina from May to June 2021 over the last 14 days. Many samples of raw materials, products and their outer packages in the inventory were tested positive for nucleic acid. Conclusion: This epidemic is the first local epidemic caused by the VOC/Gamma of SARS-CoV-2 in China. It is speculated that the VOC/Gamma, which was prevalent in South America from May to June 2021, could be imported into China through frozen squid.

Demo: VaxPass-A Scalable and Verifiable Platform for COVID-19 Records

COVID-19 has altered the landscape of medical record issuing and verification. Multiple challenges have arisen in this new era as individuals are now required to prove their health status for traveling, working, or simply eating at a restaurant. Record verification across country borders is particularly hard to achieve as it requires collaboration at an international level, sharing potentially sensitive medical data. In this work, we propose VaxPass, a scalable system for COVID-19 record issuing and verification that facilitates this collaboration with minimal data leakage. At the core of our design lies a 2-tier blockchain architecture that allows individual issuing authorities to maintain their own 1st-level blockchain and only upload a small digest of their records, periodically, on the 2nd-level. Crucially, a verifier can check the validity of a certificate without having access to the 1st-level blockchain where the records actually reside. Our system also includes a mobile application and a web client. As we demonstrate, its performance scales well with the number of participants, making this the first solution able to support real-life inspired needs for such a system, while maintaining confidentiality of the medical data solely to privy entities. © 2022 Owner/Author.

The Discussion of Material Basis and Mechanism of Action of Qingre Huashi Kangdu Prescription on the Treatment of COVID-19 Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

Objective: To explore the material basis of potential effect and possible molecular mechanisms of Qingre huashi kangdu prescription proposed by Chinese medicine master Wu Bing-cai on the treatment of Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19), and to provide reference for the treatment and scientific research of COVID-19 in traditional Chinese medicine. Method(s): TCMSP, Batman and other databases were used to search chemical components and action targets in traditional Chinese medicines of Qingre huashi kangdu prescription.The disease targets of COVID-19 were screened out by GeneCards, OMIM, GEO databases.Cytoscape software was used to construct the "drugs-components-targets-diseases" network and the interaction relationship between potential targets.Metascape enrichment analysis was used to predict the core modules and mechanism of action, and ACE2 was docking with the main components. Result(s): 202 kinds of chemical components and 301 drug targets in the Qingre huashi kangdu prescription were excavated, there were 360 COVID-19 related disease targets, and 64 intersections of the two.Nine main chemical components were found in the formula, and the key targets involved PTGS2, NOS2, PPARG, MAPK14, NOS3, RELA, etc.Three core modules were predicted, and the core terms mainly included infectious diseases, immune diseases and pathways, immune and inflammatory pathways.A total of 196 items were obtained by GO enrichment analysis, which mainly involved cytokine-mediated signaling pathway, response to oxidative stress, apoptosis signaling pathway, regulation of protein localization establishment, reactive oxygen metabolism, 147 signaling pathways were screened out by KEGG pathway enrichment, including AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetes complications, toxoplasmosis, apoptosis, MAPK signaling pathway, amoebiasis, HIF-1 signaling pathway and RIG-I-like signaling pathway.Molecular docking showed that luteolin, quercetin, baicalein, kaempferol, robinin, wogonin and naringenin had good binding abilities with ACE2, and the combination of quercetin, baicalein and kaempferol with ACE2 was more stable. Conclusion(s): Qingre huashi kangdu prescription treats COVID-19 through multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways. Copyright © 2021, Central Station of Chinese Medicinal Materials Information, National Medical Products Administration. All right reserved.

Medical Gown Disposal Options from the Environmental Life Cycle Perspective

The existing COVID-19 pandemic has driven personal protective equipment use and consumption surge, leading to plastic pollution as most waste goes to landfills. Biodegradable polypropylene (PP) gowns claimed to have similar production costs as standard PP film ones might be more environmentally friendly due to the degradability after landfilling. The illustration of their sustainable end-of-life waste disposal options is lacking and requires a systematic comparison of their environmental impacts. A holistic life cycle assessment approach based on full-spectrum environmental indicators identifies the environmentally sustainable waste disposal options. Results illustrate the environmental benefits of landfill gas capture and utilization incorporated to landfilling biodegradable gown wastes by reducing 48.81 % land-use, 9.35 % greenhouse gas emissions from fossil sources, and 5.67 % from land-use greenhouse gas emissions, respectively. Despite these environmental advantages, industrial composting embodies lower environmental emissions than sanitary landfills for treating biodegradable gowns. Fossil-based gowns treated by landfills can have lower environmental impacts than composting biodegradable gowns in full-spectrum environmental indicators. The standard gown landfilling is identified as the environmentally sustainable disposal option. Copyright © 2022, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.

Distribution and transport of atmospheric microplastics and the environmental impacts: A review

As emerging pollutants, microplastics (MPs) are widely distributed in water, soil and atmosphere, and have become a popularly concerned environmental and social issue. The research on atmospheric microplastics (AMPs) started later than that on the MPs in soil and water, but AMPs’ potential environmental impacts are explored in an even wider range. Based on the literatures on AMPs since 2015 as well as those about MPs in water and soil, this paper systematically reviews the distribution, source, transport of AMPS and the environmental and ecological impacts of AMPs. The results show that AMPs are distributed in global atmosphere, and have been detected in the atmosphere of urban, suburban, remote areas and indoor air. The concentrations of AMPs were detected in a range 2 to 77000 n m–2 d–1 or 0 to 1583 n m–3. The distribution characteristics of MPs in atmosphere are affected by environmental factors such as indoor and outdoor environment, underlying surface type and airflow, etc. In general, the concentration and the diversity of AMPs’ shape and composition are higher in the places near to MPs the source, but the wind, precipitation and even local animals could reshape the characters of AMPs. The sources of AMPs are mainly the production, use and recycling processes of plastic products, as well as land and sea where MPs accumulated. Studies also showed that abrasion of vehicle tires and the use of synthetic textile are major sources. What’s noteworthy is that the COVID-19 pandemic has made masks as necessities of life, which indirectly exacerbated the pollution of AMPs. The transport of MPs can occur in atmospheric environment, such as suspension, deposition and diffusion, and is affected by the morphology of MPs, wind direction, precipitation and other atmospheric factors. The diffusion of MPs in atmosphere, also known as atmospheric transport, is an important part of the global plastic cycle. AMPs’ transport path is mostly studied of Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) by conducting backward trajectory simulation, and their transport volume is estimated mainly through deposition and aerodynamic model. In addition, AMPs have unique physical and chemical properties, which can affect regional atmospheric environmental quality, change regional and global climate. It could also adsorb heavy metals, organic pollutants and harmful microorganisms during transport, resulting in greater health risks to human. Also, AMPs could affect atmospheric ecosystems through food chains and providing microbial niches, and alter structure and functions of terrestrial forest and water ecosystems through deposition. There are still some unsolved scientific and technical questions. Due to the lack of standardized sampling and identification means, the past research methods on AMPs are different on sampling and physical analysis, which make information comparison difficult. The observations of AMPs’ environmental behaviors, the atmospheric transport, source attribution and trans-regional effects of AMPs are still limited. Therefore, some conclusions from laboratory researches cannot fully explain the uncertainty of in natural environment. Based on the analysis, it is suggested that future scientific research on AMPs should focus on standardization of research methods, the establishment of source list, transport mechanism and environmental and ecological impacts. It is necessary for the study of AMPs to establish a set of scientifically credible and technically feasible monitoring techniques as well. Because AMPs could be transported to different ecosystems and could enter the human body through a variety of ways, it is urgent to study the physiological and ecological status of human body and ecosystems which are continuously exposed to AMPs pollution. © 2022 Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

A Study on Intellectual Property Protection of Chinese Traditional Medicine in the Context of COVID-19 Epidemic: Starting from the Practice Dilemma of Four Pairs of “Contradictions”

As an important part of Chinese history and culture, traditional medicine is the sum of diagnosis and treatment knowledge, skills and practice methods that have been verified to be effective and of great value through thousands of years of practice. Since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, “traditional medicine” has flourished in China, but has also been doubted by different cultural fields overseas. Based on traditional medicine, facing the realistic situation of “ice and fire”, focusing on the contrasting four pairs of traditional medicine “contradictions”, it was proposed that the approach choice of the strategic mode of intellectual property rights of traditional medicine should aim at “precision”, “institutionalization” and “internationalization”, and jointly promote it from the three-dimensional perspective of macroscopic pattern “strategic depth, strategic breadth, strategic height”, so as to explore the strategic protection mode of intellectual property rights of traditional medicine with “Chinese characteristics and world level”. © 2022, Editorial department of Chinese Medical Ethics. All rights reserved.

Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals the Profile of Viral Infections in Kidney Transplant Recipients During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose: To study the clinical application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in the detection of viral infections in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method(s): Using mNGS techniques, 50 human fluid samples of KTRs were detected in Henan Province People's Hospital between May 2020 to May 2021, including 20 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples, 21 urine samples and 9 blood samples. The detected nucleic acid sequences were compared and analyzed with the existing viral nucleic acid sequences in the database, and the virus infection spectrum of KTRs was drawn. Result(s): The viral nucleic acids of 15 types of viruses were detected in 96.00% (48/50) of the samples, of which 11 types of viruses were in BALF (95.00%, 19/20), and the dominant viruses were torque teno virus (TTV) (65.00%;13/20), cytomegalovirus (CMV) (45.00%;9/20) and human alphaherpesvirus 1 (25.00%;5/20). 12 viruses (95.24%, 20/21) were detected in the urine, and the dominant viruses were TTV (52.38%;11/21), JC polyomavirus (52.38%;11/21), BK polyomavirus (42.86%;9/21), CMV (33.33%;7/21) and human betaherpesvirus 6B (28.57%;6/21). 7 viruses were detected in the blood (100.00%, 9/9), and the dominant virus was TTV (100.00%;9/9). Four rare viruses were detected in BALF and urine, including WU polyomavirus, primate bocaparvovirus 1, simian virus 12, and volepox virus. Further analysis showed that TTV infection with high reads indicated a higher risk of acute rejection (P<0.05). Conclusion(s): mNGS detection reveals the rich virus spectrum of infected persons after kidney transplantation, and improves the detection rate of rare viruses. TTV may be a new biomarker for predicting rejection. (Figure Presented).

Analysis of the prevalence of common respiratory pathogens in children in Beijing in 2020

Objective To investigate the changes in epidemiological characteristics of common respiratory pathogens in children in Beijing during COVID-19 epidemic.Methods A total of 9 728 serum samples were collected from cases of acute respiratory infections in Beijing Children′s Hospital from January 2020 to December 2020.Indirect immunofluorescence antibody test was performed to detect IgM antibodies against eight common respiratory pathogens and the test results were statistically analyzed.The eight common respiratory pathogens were influenza virus A (FluA), influenza virus B (FluB), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp), Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) and Legionella pneumophila (Lp).Results The detection rate of respiratory pathogens in 9 728 cases was 41.71% (4 058/9 728) and respiratory viruses (FluA, FluB, RSV, ADV and PIV) accounted for 46.18% (2 343/5 074) of all detected pathogens.Mp, FluB and FluA accounted for 84.73% (4 299/5 074)of all detected pathogens, and the detection rates were 24.27% (2 361/9 728), 11.49% (1 118/9 728) and 8.43% (820/9 728), respectively.There were 846 cases positive for two kinds of pathogens, and the most common co-infection was Mp and FluB.The detection rates in male and female were 37.56% (2 089/5 562) and 47.26% (1 969/4 166), respectively.There were significant differences in the total detection rate and the positive rates of PIV and Mp between different sexes (P<0.05).The detection rate in school-age children (6-12 years old) was the highest (52.26%, 1 535/2 937).The detection rates of respiratory pathogens in different months ranged from 30.12% (203/674) to 49.81% (268/538) with higher rates in autumn and winter [42.45% (1 304/3 072) and 43.29% (1 618/3 738)].The detection rates of FluA and FluB were higher in summer [11.46% (195/1 701)] and winter [14.63% (547/3738)], respectively.Most of RSV infection occurred in summer [1.35% (23/1 701)], and Mp could be detected all year round, especially in winter and spring [27.21% (1 017/3 738) and 25.64% (312/1 217)].The detection rate of respiratory pathogens in outpatient group was higher than that in inpatient group [46.48% (1 583/3 406) vs 39.15% (2 475/6 322)].The detection rate in severe cases was 26.10% (71/272).The detection rates of total pathogens, FluB and Mp were higher in outpatients than in inpatients and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).The detection rates of FluA, PIV and ADV were higher in inpatients than in outpatients and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05).The detection rates of total pathogens, FluB and Mp in mild cases were significantly higher than those in severe cases and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).The detection rate of RSV in severe cases was significantly higher than that in mild cases and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).Conclusions The protective measures taken during the period of regular prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic could better prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, having a certain impact on the population susceptible to respiratory pathogens and typical seasonal patterns, but had little effect on the prevention and control of Mp.New protective measures needed to be studied to prevent Mp infection in children during epidemical season.

A Multi-Channel Ratio-of-Ratios Method for Noncontact Hand Video Based SpO(2) Monitoring Using Smartphone Cameras

Blood oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) is an important indicator forpulmonary and respiratory functionalities. Clinical findings on COVID-19 show that many patients had dangerously low blood oxygen levels not long before conditions worsened. It is therefore recommended, especially for the vulnerable population, to regularly monitor the blood oxygen level for precaution. Recent works have investigated how ubiquitous smartphone cameras can be used to infer SpO(2). Most of these works are contact-based, requiring users to cover a phone's camera and its nearby light source with a finger to capture reemitted light from the illuminated tissue. Contact-based methods may lead to skin irritation and sanitary concerns, especially during a pandemic. In this paper, we propose a noncontact method for SpO(2) monitoring using hand videos acquired by smartphones. Considering the optical broadband nature of the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color channels of the smartphone cameras, we exploit all three channels of RGB sensing to distill the SpO(2) information beyond the traditional ratio-of-ratios (RoR) method that uses only two wavelengths. To further facilitate an accurate SpO(2) prediction, we design adaptive narrow bandpass filters based on accurately estimated heart rate to obtain the most cardiac-related AC component for each color channel. Experimental results show that our proposed blood oxygen estimation method can reach a mean absolute error of 1.26% when a pulse oximeter is used as a reference, outperforming the traditional RoR method by 25%.

Morphology and Immunophenotype Correlation Study of Peripheral Blood from COVID19 Patients

Background: Since the first case of COVID19 infection in 2019, this RNA virus has led an unprecedented pandemic that infected more than 232 million people. Although the disease is studied extensively, much remains poorly understood. Here, we performed the first correlation study on the peripheral blood morphology and immunophenotype of the white blood cells (WBCs) from COVID19 patients. Design: A total of 52 samples from COVID19 patients and 15 blood samples as control group were analyzed. COVID19 patients were divided into two groups based on clinical severity, severe (respiratory failure) or non-severe (hospitalized but stable). The controls were the patients with negative COVID19 results by PCR and antibody tests. The WBC morphology was examined either by blood smear review or via CellaVision DM analyzer captured images. Navios flow cytometer and Beckman Kaluza C software were used for immunophenotype analysis. Two-tailed T-test was performed on the COVID19 groups and the control group Results: Almost all COVID19 patients showed marked neutrophilia and lymphopenia on the CBC tests. Morphologically, the neutrophils showed irregularities like hypogranulation, toxic granules and pseudo Pelger-Huet anomaly (Fig 1A). In severe COIVD19 group, there was an increase in neutrophils with immatures phenotypes, showing CD33 positivity while CD10, CD13 and CD16 negative (Fig 1B). Conversely, the CD10(+) mature neutrophils aberrantly expressed CD56 (Fig 1B). The percentage of CD56(+) neutrophils was significantly higher in both COVID19 groups, suggesting a stronger cellular adhesion and interaction. The monocytes from the COVID19 patients had increased cytoplasm with cytoplasmic protrusion and vacuolization (Fig 2A). Phenotypically they were positive for CD13, CD33, CD38 and HLA-DR. The lymphocytes were also atypical, including increased cytoplasm with large granules and vacuoles. Phenotypically, they are activated, expressing CD38, HLA-DR, and mainly α/β subtype. Giant platelets with cytoplasmic vacuoles and projections were easily seen. Platelet aggregations were observed (Fig 2B). These platelets were CD45(-) and expressed CD61 at lower-than-normal intensity, while expressing increased CD42b intensity when compared to the control group on a log scale. Conclusions: Despite being a small study, we were able to correlate the morphologic and phenotypic alterations of the WBCs in COVID19 patients. As such, this helped to explain some of the clinical hematologic manifestation of the disease. (Figure Presented).

Research on Supply Chain Shortage of Electronic Technology Companies under the Pandemic Situation: A Case Study of Apple Inc. and Xiaomi Inc

Supply management plays an important role in the business. In our research, we make the introduction with research background in COVID-19, in the APPLE Inc. and large amount of data is constructed. Several methods are used during the task, for example, literature review, data analysis, quantitative analysis and comparative analysis. The research shows the current problems faced by electronic technology companies, which are instability of the supply chains, material shortage and regional policies, after which the research reasons for deep causes and provides feasible improvements of the company, which are production concentration, purchase limit strategy, online commodity physical models, price reduction, and comprehensive capital. © 2022 ACM.

Global research and development of COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics: status and trend

As of May 2021, 6 new vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been conditionally approved and urgently used in China, including products of 4 new inactivated vaccines, 1 new adenovirus vaccine and 1 new recombinant vaccine. All the six vaccine products have been under different stages of clinical trials in global scale, and the results of the clinical trials have demonstrated the safety of the vaccines and the efficacy against COVID-19. Focusing on the above products, this paper deeply summarizes the characteristics of different new vaccine products and the clinical trial results as the key evidence supporting the approval of the products. In addition, facing the current severe situation of COVID-19, the status and challenges regarding the research and development of new vaccines and therapeutics are analyzed. © 2022, Chinese Journal of New Drugs Co. Ltd. All right reserved.

A high-performance humidity sensor based on alkalized MXenes and poly(dopamine) for touchless sensing and respiration monitoring

The typical mode of interaction between humans and machines in current intelligent equipment and personalized health care systems is mainly contact-type. However, there are severe problems associated with direct contact, such as uncomfortable wear and cross-infection of bacteria or viruses, especially under global pandemic conditions (e.g., COVID-19, MERS-CoV). In this study, a flexible humidity sensor is developed based on alkalized MXenes and polydopamine (PDA). The unique accordion-like hierarchical structure of the alkalized MXenes with large specific surface area and the chemical structure of the abundant water-absorbing functional groups of PDA wrapped on the MXene surface contribute synergistically to the outstanding performance of the sensor, which has high sensitivity, rapid response, and large detection range. The device was successfully used to control a noncontact switch system based on the distance of the fingertip and monitor different breathing patterns of a volunteer from a long range, proving its potential application in future noncontact human-machine interaction and human physiology monitoring.