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Objective To analyze the efficacy and safety of Liushen Pill combined with basic treatment on patients with COVID-19.Methods One-hundred-eighty-one patients hospitalized with COVID-19, classified as asymptomatic, mild type, were randomly separated into the experimental (n=91) and control (n=90) groups. The control group was given placebo (Maizao decoction), while the experimental group was given Maizao decoction and Liushen pill, in addition to standard care. The negative conversion rate of nucleic acid (Day 7), hospital discharge rate (Day 8, 10, 14), symptom disappearance rate (Day 3, 5, 7), inflammatory cytokines and adverse events between the two groups were compared. Results The negative viral conversion rate in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (48.35% vs 31.11%, P＜0.05). Subgroup analysis showed a similar significant trend when the Ct value was ≤ 30 at baseline. After 10 days, the hospital discharge rate was significantly higher in the experimental than the control group (69.23% vs 53.33%, P＜0.05). After 3 days of medication, the headache symptoms significantly disappeared in the experimental group (88.57%) compared to the control group (63.33%) (P＜0.05). After 5 days, symptom disappearance rate of headache in the experimental group (97.14%) was still significantly higher than that in the control group (80.00%) (P＜0.05), as was the symptom disappearance rate of cough (82.65% vs 58.93%, P＜0.01). After treatment, the PCT level was significantly lower in the experimental than the control group (0.09±0.00 ng/L vs 0.14±0.05 ng/L) (P＜0.05). There were no significant between-groups differences in clinical safety test indexes.Conclusion Early intervention with Liushen Pill could improve the symptoms of cough and headache, and increase negative viral conversion and discharge rate.Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, No. ChiCTR2200058859. Registered on April 18, 2022. https://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=166975&htm=4
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COVID-19ABSTRACT
Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the clinical features of elderly patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to explore the relationship between COVID-19 patients and kidney injury. Methods: A total of 188 elderly patients with confirmed COVID-19 enrolled in this study were hospitalized for at least 1 week in the Central Theater Command General Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army from January 3, 2020 to March 14, 2020. The recorded information included clinical data and results of kidney-related laboratory tests. Retrospective analysis was performed. Results: The median age of the patients was 69 years (interquartile range 65–78, range: 60–97 years);31.4% were 60–74 years old, and 68.6% were over 75 years old. A total of 12.8% and 18.6% of the patients were in critical and severe stages of COVID-19, respectively. The proportions of patients using mechanical ventilators and deaths were 9.5% and 8.5%, respectively. A total of 26.1% and 8.5% of the patients showed mild elevation of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr) levels at admission. A total of 18.6% and 5.9% of the patients had elevated BUN and SCr 1 week after admission, respectively. A total of 3.1% of the patients were diagnosed with acute kidney injury, and 75% of those patients had chronic kidney disease before admission. Compared with the patients aged 60–74 years, those over 75 years exhibited significantly increased proportions of elevated BUN levels, critical illness, use of mechanical ventilated, and death. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that an elevated BUN level at admission and 1 week after admission were independent risk factors for death in the elderly patients with COVID-19. Conclusion: There were more critical cases and a high mortality in elderly patients with COVID-19. An increased BUN level was an independent risk factor for death in elderly patients with COVID-19.
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Monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) not only imposes a great impact on the systematic financial risks of a country but also generates a significant spillover effect on countries having close economic exchanges with the former under the background of global economic integration. With the daily return rates of 64 listed financial companies in China from February 2006 to September 2020 used as the samples, China’s systematic financial risks were measured in this research by using long-run marginal expected shortfall (LRMES). On this basis, an FAVAR model with time-varying parameters was constructed to empirically investigate the spillover effect of US MPU on China’s systematic financial risks and its main transmission channels. Results showed that within the sample period (February 2006 – September 2020), US MPU generated a significant positive spillover effect on China’s systematic financial risks, namely, China’s systematic financial risks would be aggravated if the level of US MPU was elevated. From different time intervals, the spillover level was particularly high during global financial crises and global COVID-19 pandemic, indicating that the spillover effect of MPU is nonlinear and closely related to global major sudden risk events. Through the further research, it is found that this effect is mainly transmitted through short-term capital flow, interest rate, and economic uncertainty-induced channels, among which the short-term capital flow is the most important.
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Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics and risk factors of mortality in the elderly patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia(COVID-19).
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Objective: The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) broke out in Hubei Province and spread rapidly to the whole country, causing huge public health problems. College students are a special group, and there is no survey on insomnia among college students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence and related factors of insomnia in college students during the period of COVID-19. Method: A total of 1,086 college students conducted a cross-sectional study through the questionnaire star platform. The survey time was from February 15 to February 22, 2020. The collected information included demographic informatics and mental health scale, Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) to assess sleep quality, Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20) to assess general psychological symptoms, Chinese perceived stress scale (CPSS) to assess stress. We used logistic regression to analyze the correlation between related factors and insomnia symptoms. Results: The prevalence of insomnia, general psychological symptoms and stress were 16.67, 5.8, and 40.70%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender (OR = 1.55, p = 0.044, 95% CI = 1.00-2.41), general psychological symptoms (OR = 1.49, p < 0.01, 95% CI = 1.40-1.60) and living in an isolation unit (OR = 2.21, p = 0.014, 95% CI = 1.17-4.16) were risk factors for insomnia of college students. Conclusion: Our results show that the insomnia is very common among college students during the outbreak of covid-19, and the related factors include gender, general psychological symptoms and isolation environment. It is necessary to intervene the insomnia of college students and warrants attention for mental well-being of college students.
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Purpose: The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected many countries around the world. Due to the debate on the source of the outbreak, wildlife meat consumption has gained international attention and become an area that requires further exploration. The purpose of this research is to explore the differences in game consumption motivations and behaviours among populations in northern and southern China. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey on wild meat awareness with (potential) game consumers across the country as target groups was conducted. Findings: Results from this study showed that consumers in the southern region have a preference for wildlife. This preference was determined by factors such as natural environment, history and culture and the level of economic development. However, there was no significant difference in the frequency of game consumption between the north and south since game meat is not a major component of the daily diet. Practical implications: The government should consider banning this trade permanently to prevent future disease outbreaks caused by wildlife-to-human transmissions. Originality/value: The consumption of game meat is regional, but the animals in game trades live across a wider area, and thus, game trades have a global influence on ecological systems and human health. Therefore, this epidemic is also a global concern, which might lead people to display a highly negative attitude towards consuming game meat.
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Under the impact of Covid-19 virus, remote control is of value in non-contact systems. Glove-based wearable systems are promising for precise and low-cost hand gesture recognition. Yet, preparing stable intelligent fibers using facile techniques for reliable machine learning is still challenging. Here, we propose a stable intelligent fiber via layer-by-layer assemble for reliable machine learning, which exhibits a gauge factor of 4. The adoption of PVA and PU film can improve adherence of CNTs and stability of intelligent fiber during cyclic deformations, thus improving electrical performances and service time. Besides, integrating a flexible hybrid electronic system, we demonstrate remote control of robots using our fabricated glove and a shallow neural network.
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COVID-19ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Since the end of 2019, dialysis patients have been at risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as well as other potential complications. Hence, we sought to describe the clinical characteristics of dialysis patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. METHODS: We reviewed clinical outcomes, which consisted of clinical data extracted from the medical records of 695 registered dialysis patients at the Dialysis Center of Central Hospital of Wuhan from January 13th, 2020, to February 29th, 2020, and performed statistical analysis. According to the results, there were 447, 227 and 21 hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and combined HD and PD (HD&PD) cases, respectively. RESULTS: During the outbreak of COVID-19, 36 dialysis patients were infected by SARS-CoV-2. Among those 36 patients, 32 (7.2%) were on HD, and 4 (1.8%) were on PD. When comparing SARS-CoV-2 infection between HD and PD, the relative risk was 4.07 (RR = 4.07, 95% CI 1.46-11.35). We noted a median age of 66 years during the observation period, and the number of male patients was 23 (63.9%). There were 15 fatal cases tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (13 cases on HD and 2 cases on PD). By comparing mortality in the same period of 2018, 2019 and 2020, the all-cause mortality of hemodialysis patients was significantly higher in 2020 (4.89%) than in either 2018 (2.55%) or 2019 (1.97%). There was no significant difference in mortality from all causes excluding COVID-19, during the same period among the 3-year period. However, during the COVID-19 outbreak, the mortality from all causes excluding COVID-19 was 2.73%, which was slightly higher than that from COVID-19 (2.16%). CONCLUSIONS: Although COVID-19 seriously threatens the health of people with uremia, deaths from all causes excluding COVID-19 during the epidemic cannot be ignored.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Renal Dialysis/methods , Aged , China/epidemiology , Disease Outbreaks , Female , Health Services Accessibility , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pneumonia, Viral/virology , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Objective To get the message of kidney injury and its causes in patients with COVID-19, and analyze the correlation of kidney injury to COVID-19 typing and prognosis, so provide a reference for the treatment and prognosis evaluation of COVID-19. Methods According to the retrospective cohort study protocol, the clinical data and prognosis of 319 confirmed patients with COVID-19, admitted in the General Hospital of Central Theater Command (Wuhan) from Jan. 1st to Mar. 14th, 2020, were collected. The correlation of COVID-19 patients' renal function changes to the classification and prognosis of diseases were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results The mean age of the 319 confirmed patients with COVID-19 was (55.2±17.0) years. The proportion of non-critical group (mild+moderate type) and critical group (severe+critical type) were 62.1% (198/319) and 37.9% (121/319), respectively. The fatality rate of present study cohort was 5.6% (18/319). About 3.8% cases (12/319) were with elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr) at admission, and about 5.6% cases (18/319) were with elevated BUN only at admission. Univariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the age, the levels of SCr and BUN at admission and one week after admission, the combination of diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease were the risk factors associated with the death in critical group patients (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the elevated levels of BUN at admission and one week after admission were the independent risk factors of death in the critical group patients. Conclusions The elevated levels of BUN at admission and one week after admission were the important clinical features and independent risk factors associated with the death of critical COVID-19 patients. More attention should be paid to all kinds of clinical factors that may lead to increase the level of BUN.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread worldwide. Numerous studies have shown its typical and atypical CT findings. We report one COVID-19 patient who presented with a transient pneumothorax, spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SP), as well as subcutaneous emphysema during hospitalization. Chest CT andclinical findings were discussed, and a literature review is presented. The probable cause of SP in COVID-19 was alveolar damage. Once pneumothorax and SP were present, the patient should be carefully monitored to prevent respiratory deterioration, especially when lung lesions are severe.