Progress on COVID-19 Chemotherapeutics Discovery and Novel Technology.

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel highly contagious and pathogenic coronavirus that emerged in late 2019. SARS-CoV-2 spreads primarily through virus-containing droplets and small particles of air pollution, which greatly increases the risk of inhaling these virus particles when people are in close proximity. COVID-19 is spreading across the world, and the COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to human health and public safety. To date, there are no specific vaccines or effective drugs against SARS-CoV-2. In this review, we focus on the enzyme targets of the virus and host that may be critical for the discovery of chemical compounds and natural products as antiviral drugs, and describe the development of potential antiviral drugs in the preclinical and clinical stages. At the same time, we summarize novel emerging technologies applied to the research on new drug development and the pathological mechanisms of COVID-19.

Analysis of the Incidence and Risk Factors of Precocious Puberty in Girls during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Home quarantine due to the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on children. Lifestyle changes have led to an increase in precocious puberty (PP) among girls, and the underlying risk factors for this remain unclear. Thus, we aimed to assess the influence of environmental, genetic, nutritional, and other lifestyle factors on the risk of PP in girls. We evaluated the incidence of new-onset PP in girls during home quarantine for COVID-19 and analyzed the potential risk factors. This was a retrospective questionnaire and medical record-based study involving 22 representative medical units from 13 cities in Henan Province, China. Girls with new-onset PP (central precocious puberty, 58;premature thelarche, 58;age, 5–9 years) between February 2020 and May 2020 were included, along with 124 healthy, age-matched controls. The number of new-onset PP cases reported during the study period was compared with that reported between February and May in 2018 and 2019. Patients' families completed a questionnaire to assess potential risk factors. There was a 5.01- and 3.14-fold increase in the number of new-onset PP cases from 2018 to 2020 and from 2019 to 2020, respectively;the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.01). High-risk factors for PP included longer time spent using electronic devices, decreased exercise time, higher body mass index, vitamin D deficiency, young age (<12 years) of mother during menarche, consumption of fried food and processed meat, residence in rural areas, and consumption of off-season fruits. Thus, we found that lifestyle changes caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in PP in girls. Management of the risk factors identified in this study may help in PP prevention.

[Head and Face Protection of the Health Care Workers in the Operating Room of Peking Union Medical College Hospital during the Corona Virus Disease-19 Pandemic].

Objective To investigate the understanding of the head and face protection of the health care workers in operating room of Peking Union Medical College Hospital during the corona virus disease-19(COVID-19) pandemic.Methods The knowledge of head and face protection of health care workers in the operating room was evaluated based on the non-registered questionnaires for protection measures collected on-line.Results The survey was conducted in two phases.In the first phase(COVID-19 outbreak),153 questionnaires were collected.In the second phase(when Beijing lowered the emergency response to level 3 and normalized the epidemic prevention and control),101 questionnaires were collected.The results showed that 98% of health care workers had used any form of protective devices during the pandemic and anesthesiologists had the highest usage rate(93.0%)of ear-loop face mask with eye shield.During the pandemic,health care workers mainly used goggles(71.2%)for protection to diagnose and treat the patients with fever and ear-loop face mask with eye shield(56.2%)for protection to diagnose and treat the non-fever patients.In the first-and second-phase survey,43% and 68% of health care workers still used protection,and they mainly used face shield(50.0% and 56.5%)and ear-loop face mask with eye shield(56.1% and 68.1%).Conclusions During the pandemic,more than 90% of the health care workers in the operating room of Peking Union Medical College Hospital were aware of head and face protection.Different healthcare workers in the operating room had different choices of head and face protection,and more than 40% of them would still keep such protection during the normalized stage of pandemic prevention and control.