Qi-Dong-Huo-Xue-Yin balances the immune microenvironment to protect against LPS induced acute lung injury.

COVID-19 induces acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and leads to severe immunological changes that threatens the lives of COVID-19 victims. Studies have shown that both the regulatory T cells and macrophages were deranged in COVID-19-induced ALI. Herbal drugs have long been utilized to adjust the immune microenvironment in ALI. However, the underlying mechanisms of herbal drug mediated ALI protection are largely unknown. This study aims to understand the cellular mechanism of a traditional Chinese medicine, Qi-Dong-Huo-Xue-Yin (QD), in protecting against LPS induced acute lung injury in mouse models. Our data showed that QD intrinsically promotes Foxp3 transcription via promoting acetylation of the Foxp3 promoter in CD4+ T cells and consequently facilitates CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs development. Extrinsically, QD stabilized ß-catenin in macrophages to expedite CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs development and modulated peripheral blood cytokines. Taken together, our results illustrate that QD promotes CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs development via intrinsic and extrinsic pathways and balanced cytokines within the lungs to protect against LPS induced ALI. This study suggests a potential application of QD in ALI related diseases.

Risk factors associated with indoor transmission during home quarantine of COVID-19 patients.

Purpose: The study aimed to identify potential risk factors for family transmission and to provide precautionary guidelines for the general public during novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) waves. Methods: A retrospective cohort study with numerous COVID-19 patients recruited was conducted in Shanghai. Epidemiological data including transmission details, demographics, vaccination status, symptoms, comorbidities, antigen test, living environment, residential ventilation, disinfection and medical treatment of each participant were collected and risk factors for family transmission were determined. Results: A total of 2,334 COVID-19 patients participated. Compared with non-cohabitation infected patients, cohabitated ones were younger (p = 0.019), more commonly unvaccinated (p = 0.048) or exposed to infections (p < 0.001), and had higher rates of symptoms (p = 0.003) or shared living room (p < 0.001). Risk factors analysis showed that the 2019-nCov antigen positive (OR = 1.86, 95%CI 1.40-2.48, p < 0.001), symptoms development (OR = 1.86, 95%CI 1.34-2.58, p < 0.001), direct contact exposure (OR = 1.47, 95%CI 1.09-1.96, p = 0.010) were independent risk factors for the cohabitant transmission of COVID-19, and a separate room with a separate toilet could reduce the risk of family transmission (OR = 0.62, 95%CI 0.41-0.92, p = 0.018). Conclusion: Patients showing negative 2019-nCov antigen tests, being asymptomatic, living in a separate room with a separate toilet, or actively avoiding direct contact with cohabitants were at low risk of family transmission, and the study recommended that avoiding direct contact and residential disinfection could reduce the risk of all cohabitants within the same house being infected with COVID-19.

Exploring the topic structure and evolutionary trends of health informatics research in library and information science

PurposeThis study aims to reveal the topic structure and evolutionary trends of health informatics research in library and information science.Design/methodology/approachUsing publications in Web of Science core collection, this study combines informetrics and content analysis to reveal the topic structure and evolutionary trends of health informatics research in library and information science. The analyses are conducted by Pajek, VOSviewer and Gephi.FindingsThe health informatics research in library and information science can be divided into five subcommunities: health information needs and seeking behavior, application of bibliometrics in medicine, health information literacy, health information in social media and electronic health records. Research on health information literacy and health information in social media is the core of research. Most topics had a clear and continuous evolutionary venation. In the future, health information literacy and health information in social media will tend to be the mainstream. There is room for systematic development of research on health information needs and seeking behavior.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the topic structure and evolutionary trends of health informatics research based on the perspective of library and information science. This study helps identify the concerns and contributions of library and information science to health informatics research and provides compelling evidence for researchers to understand the current state of research.

Epidemic Risk Assessment by a Novel Communication Station Based Method.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious consequences in the last few months and trying to control it has been the most important objective. With effective prevention and control methods, the epidemic has been gradually under control in some countries and it is essential to ensure safe work resumption in the future. Although some approaches are proposed to measure people's healthy conditions, such as filling health information forms or evaluating people's travel records, they cannot provide a fine-grained assessment of the epidemic risk. In this paper, we propose a novel epidemic risk assessment method based on the granular data collected by the communication stations. We first compute the epidemic risk of these stations in different intervals by combining the number of infected persons and the way they pass through the station. Then, we calculate the personnel risk in different intervals according to the station trajectory of the queried person. This method could assess people's epidemic risk accurately and efficiently. We also conduct extensive simulations and the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Flexible Amperometric Immunosensor Based on Colloidal Quantum Dots for Detecting the Myeloperoxidase (MPO) Systemic Inflammation Biomarker.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) has been demonstrated to be a biomarker of neutrophilic inflammation in various diseases. Rapid detection and quantitative analysis of MPO are of great significance for human health. Herein, an MPO protein flexible amperometric immunosensor based on a colloidal quantum dot (CQD)-modified electrode was demonstrated. The remarkable surface activity of CQDs allows them to bind directly and stably to the surface of proteins and to convert antigen-antibody specific binding reactions into significant currents. The flexible amperometric immunosensor provides quantitative analysis of MPO protein with an ultra-low limit of detection (LOD) (31.6 fg mL-1), as well as good reproducibility and stability. The detection method is expected to be applied in clinical examination, POCT (bedside test), community physical examination, home self-examination and other practical scenarios.

Incidence and outcomes of splanchnic vein thrombosis after diagnosis of COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and COVID-19 vaccination may cause splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT), which is potentially fatal. The present study aims to pool the incidence and outcomes of SVT patients with COVID-19 or having received COVID-19 vaccines. The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched. Based on the data from cohort studies, meta-analyses were performed to evaluate the incidence of SVT in COVID-19 patients or people having received COVID-19 vaccines. Pooled proportions were calculated. Based on the individual data from case reports, logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with death in SVT patients. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated. Among 654 papers initially identified, 135 were included. Based on 12 cohort studies, the pooled incidence of SVT in COVID-19 patients was 0.6%. Data were insufficient to estimate the incidence of SVT after COVID-19 vaccination. Based on 123 case reports, the mortality was 14% (9/64) in SVT patients with COVID-19 and 25% (15/59) in those who received COVID-19 vaccines. Univariate analyses demonstrated that age (OR = 1.061; p = 0.017), diabetes mellitus (OR = 14.00; p = 0.002), anticoagulation (OR = 0.098; p = 0.004), and bowel resection (OR = 16.00; p = 0.001) were significantly associated with death in SVT patients with COVID-19; and anticoagulation (OR = 0.025; p = 0.003) and intravenous immunoglobulin (OR = 0.175; p = 0.046) were significantly associated with death in SVT patients who received COVID-19 vaccines. Multivariate analyses did not identify any independent factor for death in both patients. SVT in COVID-19 patients and in subjects who received COVID-19 vaccines carries a high mortality, but may be improved by anticoagulation. PROSPERO Identifier CRD42022315254.

Mining Significant Utility Discriminative Patterns in Quantitative Databases

Drawing a discriminative pattern in quantitative datasets is often represented to return a high utility pattern (HUP). The traditional methods output patterns with a utility above a pre-given threshold. Nevertheless, the current user-centered algorithm requires outputting the results in a timely manner to strengthen the interaction between the mining system and users. Pattern sampling can return results with a probability guarantee in a short time, and it could be a candidate technology to mine such discriminative patterns. In this paper, a novel approach named HUPSampler is proposed to sample one potential HUP, which is extracted with probability significance according to its utility in the database. HUPSampler introduces an interval constraint on the length of HUP and randomly extracts an integer k according to the utility proportion firstly;then, the HUPs could be obtained efficiently from a random tree by using a pattern growth way, and finally, it returns a HUP of length k randomly. The experimental study shows that HUPSampler is efficient in regard to memory usage, runtime, and utility distribution. In addition, case studies show that HUPSampler can be significantly used in analyzing the COVID-19 epidemic by identifying critical locations.

Visual Detection of COVID-19 from Materials Aspect.

Abstract: In the recent COVID-19 pandemic, World Health Organization emphasized that early detection is an effective strategy to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Several diagnostic methods, such as reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), have been applied based on the mechanism of specific recognition and binding of the probes to viruses or viral antigens. Although the remarkable progress, these methods still suffer from inadequate cellular materials or errors in the detection and sampling procedure of nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab collection. Therefore, developing accurate, ultrafast, and visualized detection calls for more advanced materials and technology urgently to fight against the epidemic. In this review, we first summarize the current methodologies for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. Then, recent representative examples are introduced based on various output signals (e.g., colorimetric, fluorometric, electronic, acoustic). Finally, we discuss the limitations of the methods and provide our perspectives on priorities for future test development.

Gender differences in the prevalence and impact factors of adolescent dissociative symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences between the prevalence and impact factors of adolescent dissociative symptoms (ADSs) by using sex-stratification during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A school-based, two-center cross-sectional study was conducted in Hangzhou City, China, between January 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022. The sample included 1,916 adolescents aged 13-18 years that were randomly selected using a multiphase, stratified, cluster sampling technique. A two-stage assessment procedure was used to find out the ADSs. We used a multivariate logistic regression analysis to assess the impact factors of ADSs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The adolescent dissociative scores (t = 4.88, P < 0.001) and positive ADSs rate (Chi-square = 15.76, P < 0.001) in males were higher than in females. Gender-stratified, stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the conflict relationship of teacher-student [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.10], family expressiveness (AOR 0.87, 95% CI 0.78-0.98), family conflict (AOR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.27), family organization (AOR 0.88, 95% CI 0.78-0.99), and family cohesion (AOR 0.87, 95% CI 0.77-0.99) were linked to ADSs only in males, while individual psychological states of somatic complaint (AOR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00-1.08) and paranoid ideation (AOR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.19) were associated with female ADSs only. The ADSs seemed to be prevalent in Hangzhou City, studied during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender differences in the prevalence and impact factors of dissociative symptoms seem to be significant among adolescents. Thus, gender-specific intervention programs against ADSs should be considered as reducing this risk.

Selection of Cold Chain Logistics Service Providers Based on a Grey AHP and Grey COPRAS Framework: A Case Study in Vietnam

Choosing the most suitable cold chain logistics service providers (CLPs) is a vital strategic decision for businesses aiming to achieve an effective and sustainable cold supply chain. A sustainable CLP is one that integrates sustainable practices across its whole operation cycle to achieve product quality, on-time deliveries, and satisfied customer requirements, while preventing products from going to waste, which is especially important in the context of a developing country. This study aims to evaluate and select the best CLP regarding their sustainability performance. For this evaluation, a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM)-based framework is proposed that integrates the grey analytic hierarchy process (G-AHP) and grey complex proportional assessment (G-COPRAS) methodologies, in which grey numbers are used to express the linguistic evaluation statements of experts. Initially, the evaluation criteria based on service level, economic, environmental, and social dimensions were determined by means of a literature review and experts’ opinions to employ the MCDM approach. The G-AHP was utilized to identify the criteria weights, and then, G-COPRAS was used to select the best CLP among the alternatives. A case illustration in Vietnam is presented to exhibit the presented approach’s applicability. From the G-AHP findings, product quality, logistics costs, innovation, and effectiveness of cold chain processes, customer experience, and CO emissions of refrigerated vehicle were ranked as the five most important criteria. From the G-COPRAS analysis, Yoshida Saigon Cold Logistic (CPL-05) is the best CLP. The robustness of the applied integrated MCDM approach was also tested by conducting a comparative analysis, in which the priority rankings of the best CLPs were very similar. The assessment in this study is directed towards enabling managers, practitioners, and stakeholders of cold chain businesses to assess the most efficient CLP in the supply chain in the market and also to devise suitable strategies toward sustainable development.

Clinical Study of Human Coronavirus NL63, OC43, 229E, HKU1 Infentions in Hospitalized Children from 2015 to 2020

Objective This study aims to analyze the clinical characteristics of hospitalized children infected with HCoV-NL63, OC43, 229E, HKU1 and provide the basis for disease diagnosis and treatment. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical manifestations, imaging data, and treatment measures of hospitalized children with positive HCoV-NL63, OC43, 229E, HKU1 from 2015 to 2020. Results A total of 1062 children aged 33 days to 12 years were analyzed, including 879 (82.77%) between 33 days to three years. Lower respiratory tract infections were the most common in 698 children positive for HCoVs (65.72%). The incidences of runny nose, cough, pharyngeal hyperemia, and fine crackles in the mild case group (n = 894, 84.18%) were significantly higher than in the severe case group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01). The incidences of gasp, stridor, and convulsions, the proportion of underlying diseases, such as congenital heart disease, laryngomalacia, and general developmental disorders, anemia, and abnormal liver function, and mixed infections in the severe group (n = 168, 15.82%) were significantly higher than in the mild group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). Imaging manifestations differed. Pleural effusion and atelectasis occurred in the severe cases. After treatment, patients fully recovered or improved and were discharged from the hospital. There were no deaths. Conclusion HCoV-NL63, OC43, 229E, HKU1 infection is most common in children under three years old, and the infection site is mainly the lower respiratory tract. The main clinical manifestations include fever, cough, and runny nose. Inspiratory three concave signs, respiratory failure, and heart failure occurred in the severe cases, with pleural effusion and atelectasis possibly occurring at the same time. Severe cases should be identified early so that they may be given comprehensive treatment in time to improve the prognosis.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 causes lung inflammation and injury.

BACKGROUND: As of 14 October 2021, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected more than 246 million individuals and caused more than 4.9 million deaths worldwide. COVID-19 has caused significant damage to the health, economy and lives of people worldwide. Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is not as lethal as SARS coronavirus or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, its high transmissibility has had disastrous consequences for public health and health-care systems worldwide given the lack of effective treatment at present. OBJECTIVES: To clarify the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 caused lung inflammation and injury, from the molecular mechanism to lung damage and tissue repair, from research to clinical practice, and then presented clinical requirements. SOURCES: References for this review were identified through searches '(COVID-19 [Title]) OR (SARS-CoV-2 [Title])' on PubMed, and focused on the pathological damage and clinical practice of COVID-19. CONTENT: We comprehensively reviewed the process of lung inflammation and injury during SARS-CoV-2 infection, including pyroptosis of alveolar epithelial cells, cytokine storm and thrombotic inflammatory mechanisms. IMPLICATIONS: This review describes SARS-CoV-2 in comparison to SARS and explores why most people have mild inflammatory responses, even asymptomatic infections, and only a few develop severe disease. It suggests that future therapeutic strategies may be targeted antiviral therapy, the pathogenic pathways in the lung inflammatory response, and enhancing repair and regeneration in lung injury.

All-solid-state SARS-CoV-2 protein biosensor employing colloidal quantum dots-modified electrode.

Rapid and reliable detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody can provide immunological evidence in addition to nucleic acid test for the early diagnosis and on-site screening of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). All-solid-state biosensor capable of rapid, quantitative SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing is still lacking. Herein, we propose an electronic labelling strategy of protein molecules and demonstrate SARS-CoV-2 protein biosensor employing colloidal quantum dots (CQDs)-modified electrode. The feature current peak corresponding to the specific binding reaction of SARS-CoV-2 antigen and antibody proteins was observed for the first time. The unique charging and discharging effect depending on the alternating voltage applied was ascribed to the quantum confinement, Coulomb blockade and quantum tunneling effects of quantum dots. CQDs-modified electrode could recognize the specific binding reaction between antigen and antibody and then transduce it into significant electrical current. In the case of serum specimens from COVID-19 patient samples, the all-solid-state protein biosensor provides quantitative analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibody with correlation coefficient of 93.8% compared to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) results. It discriminates patient and normal samples with accuracy of about 90%. The results could be read within 1 min by handheld testing system prototype. The sensitive and specific protein biosensor combines the advantages of rapidity, accuracy, and convenience, facilitating the implement of low-cost, high-throughput immunological diagnostic technique for clinical lab, point-of-care testing (POCT) as well as home-use test.

Maternal and fetal outcomes of the pregnant woman with COVID-19: The first case report in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVE: A real-Taiwan experience to deal with near-term pregnant woman infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) is extremely limited. We described the first case in Taiwan. CASE REPORT: A 30-year-old woman, primigravida had a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection at 36 gestational weeks (GW). She was asymptomatic. Ten days later, she was hospitalized and receive a selective cesarean section with a term baby weighted 3142 gm (Apgar score 8 and 9 at 1st and 5th minute, respectively) at 38 GW. No evidence of in utero and direct transmission was found and newborn was free of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: It is still uncertain whether timing or mode of delivery is appropriate in SARS-CoV-2 infected pregnant woman in near term, but we suggested that a selective delivery time at 38 GW or later, regardless of which mode of delivery is finally decided, can be considered.

Visual SLAM for robot navigation in healthcare facility.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many countries, posing a threat to human health and safety, and putting tremendous pressure on the medical system. This paper proposes a novel SLAM technology using RGB and depth images to improve hospital operation efficiency, reduce the risk of doctor-patient cross-infection, and curb the spread of the COVID-19. Most current visual SLAM researches assume that the environment is stationary, which makes handling real-world scenarios such as hospitals a challenge. This paper proposes a method that effectively deals with SLAM problems for scenarios with dynamic objects, e.g., people and movable objects, based on the semantic descriptor extracted from images with help of a knowledge graph. Specifically, our method leverages a knowledge graph to construct a priori movement relationship between entities and establishes high-level semantic information. Built upon this knowledge graph, a semantic descriptor is constructed to describe the semantic information around key points, which is rotation-invariant and robust to illumination. The seamless integration of the knowledge graph and semantic descriptor helps eliminate the dynamic objects and improves the accuracy of tracking and positioning of robots in dynamic environments. Experiments are conducted using data acquired from healthcare facilities, and semantic maps are established to meet the needs of robots for delivering medical services. In addition, to compare with the state-of-the-art methods, a publicly available dataset is used in our evaluation. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods, our proposed method demonstrated great improvement with respect to both accuracy and robustness in dynamic environments. The computational efficiency is also competitive.

BTB and CNC homology 1 inhibition ameliorates fibrosis and inflammation via blocking ERK pathway in pulmonary fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are still suffering from unfavorable survival. BTB and CNC homology1 (Bach1) is a regulator of oxidative stress and participates in the pathogenesis of multiple lung diseases. Thus, this study aimed to determine the effect of Bach1 knockdown on fibrosis and inflammation in pulmonary fibrosis (PF) mice and cell models. METHODS: Bleomycin induced PF mice were constructed and treated with Bach1 siRNA adenovirus (BLM + Bach1 siRNA group), control siRNA adenovirus (BLM + Control siRNA group) or normal saline (BLM group), then lung tissues were collected for Bach1 expression detection, H&E staining and Masson's trichrome staining. Afterwards, collagen type I alpha 1 chain (COL1A1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) expressions in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were examined. Subsequently, mouse lung fibroblasts (MLFs) were collected from PF mice and treated with TGF-ß1 to construct PF cell model, which was treated with Bach1 siRNA adenovirus (TGF-ß1 + Bach1 siRNA group) and MAP kinase (ERK) inhibitor U0126 alone (TGF-ß1 + U0126 group) or in combination (TGF-ß1 + U0126 + Bach1 siRNA group), then alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), fibronectin 1 (Fn1), COL1A1, IL-6 expressions and cell viability were detected. RESULTS: Lung tissue Bach1 mRNA and protein expressions were upregulated in PF mice compared to control mice. Bach1 knockdown reduced lung fibrosis (displayed by Masson's trichrome staining) and inflammation (displayed by H&E staining), then downregulated serum and BALF expressions of COL1A1 and IL-6 in PF mice. Subsequently, in PF cell model, Bach1 knockdown blocked ERK pathway, but did not affect Smads, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) or thymoma viral proto-oncogene 1 (Akt) pathways. Further experiments revealed that Bach1 knockdown repressed cell viability, α-SMA, Fn1, IL-6 and COL1A1 expressions in PF cell model, then ERK inhibition by U0126 enhanced these effects. CONCLUSIONS: Bach1 is involved in the PF pathogenesis via modulating ERK signaling pathway.