ABSTRACT
The epidemic caused by the infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 omicron variant broke out in Shanghai in Mar. 2022. Omicron variant has characteristics such as strong concealment and rapid transmission, resulting in significant differences between the current round of epidemic and that in Wuhan. The number of infected patients (mainly asymptomatic infected patients) increased rapidly in a short term. Based on dynamic zero policy, shelter hospitals were set up in time in Shanghai to treat the patients. It is suggested that medical resources and patient characteristics should be taken into account in the independent cabin of a shelter hospital with more than 10 000 beds, and the clinical medical practice should be divided to 5 modes (universal education and management, community outpatient clinic, ward duty, emergency rescue, and temporary observation and transport) to optimize the allocation of medical resources, so as to further enhance the treatment capacity and efficiency of shelter hospitals.Copyright © 2022, Second Military Medical University Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Construction courses are characterized by a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge;however, the teaching of practical knowledge is often absent due to safety and cost considerations. VR can improve the teaching of practical knowledge by facilitating interactions between teachers and students through virtual means, regardless of location, which is a weakness of current lecture-based teaching, especially in the COVID-19 era. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the effect and discuss the prospect of VR in construction teaching, with a comparative study of 50 students who were evenly divided into two groups and taught using traditional teaching and VR teaching, respectively. This experiment shows that VR teaching improves the students' learning enthusiasm and satisfaction, especially in terms of practical knowledge. Additionally, students believe the combination of traditional and VR teachings can be more helpful in construction teaching. The findings of this research strengthened the advantages of VR in delivering practical knowledge in construction teaching.
ABSTRACT
Providing research pathways for coursework master's programme (CMP) students is a feature in the Australian higher education system. While a burgeoning number of international students in Australian CMPs participate in research units, it is constraining to rigidly categorise international students as belonging to either research or coursework streams. Acknowledging that, this chapter explores the detailed experiences of international students who have recently completed the research pathway in their CMP. Combining the concepts of self-formation and positioning theory, it investigates international students' interactions with social actors, negotiations with the self and external rules, such as social codes and educational structures. Through collaborative autoethnography, this chapter identifies four stages of self-formation, namely pre-positioning, positioning, performing, and transformation, and highlights the influences of COVID-19 on these four stages. This chapter suggests that collective efforts on an institutional level are required to improve the wellbeing of international students in four main areas, namely developing agency, resolving career anxiety, addressing financial difficulties, and handling mental issues. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.
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The COVID-19 pandemic enabled an unprecedented remote teaching experience for world language faculty who had to move their courses online in spring 2020. Previous studies show that faculty background characteristics affect their perceptions of and experience with online teaching. The present study examined the effect of two college-level world language faculty background characteristics (prior experience with online language teaching and academic rank) on their perceptions of online language teaching during the pandemic (perceived value of online language teaching, self-confidence in online language teaching, and stress felt during the pandemic). A mixed-methods approach was adopted to analyze data collected from a large-scale online questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The results show very complex relationships between college-level world language faculty background characteristics and their perceptions of online language teaching during the pandemic. Based on the findings, the study also provides suggestions for world language faculty professional development to prepare for crisis-prompted and planned online language teaching in the future. © 2023 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
ABSTRACT
The epidemic caused by the infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 omicron variant broke out in Shanghai in Mar. 2022. Omicron variant has characteristics such as strong concealment and rapid transmission, resulting in significant differences between the current round of epidemic and that in Wuhan. The number of infected patients (mainly asymptomatic infected patients) increased rapidly in a short term. Based on dynamic zero policy, shelter hospitals were set up in time in Shanghai to treat the patients. It is suggested that medical resources and patient characteristics should be taken into account in the independent cabin of a shelter hospital with more than 10 000 beds, and the clinical medical practice should be divided to 5 modes (universal education and management, community outpatient clinic, ward duty, emergency rescue, and temporary observation and transport) to optimize the allocation of medical resources, so as to further enhance the treatment capacity and efficiency of shelter hospitals.Copyright © 2022, Second Military Medical University Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is diagnosed by nucleic acid testing, aided by Computed Tomography. In order to rapidly screen CT images of COVID-19, Squeeze-And-Excitation Network based network model combined with Deep Learning is proposed, which can adapt to learn important parts of the feature channel. Firstly, the feature Squeeze is carried out along the space dimension, and the output dimension matches the number of input feature channels. Secondly, the feature channel learns the feature channel characteristics by capturing the channel dependencies in the previous step. Finally, the weight is updated to model the correlation of feature channels. The Precision, Recall and Specificity were selected to be 92.8%, 92.8% and 93.7%, the Accuracy of the model was 93.24% for the whole sample specificity. Compared with the mainstream model, the experimental results of this model are improved greatly. © 2022 ACM.
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With the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019, the laboratory testing for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) has become the key to the epidemic prevention and control. Based on the questions, issues from the clinical practice and the latest research, the Sub-committee of Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Chinese Hospital Association proposed "Expert Consensus on Laboratory Testing for SARS-CoV-2". The consensus panel is composed by experts in clinical microbiology, molecular biology and immunology laboratory medicine. The consensus describes the technological characteristics, precautions of clinical application, and biosafety requirements. It also includes the coping strategies for the most frequent problems and the challenges in testing and results explanation of commonly used clinical methods including nucleic acid, antibody and antigen tests, and combined testing of nucleic acid and antibody. We expect this consensus could provide guidances and reference opinions on how to conduct the precise laboratory testing for SARS-CoV-2 on the epidemic prevention and control.Copyright © 2021, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. All rights reserved.
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Asymmetric cerebral perfusion can occur when extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) flow competes with native cardiac circulation. It is unclear whether this phenomenon associates with brain injury. Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) provides continuous, laser-based, non-invasive, bedside monitoring of relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF). This study measured rCBF in ECMO patients via DCS to determine whether comatose patients experience asymmetric cerebral perfusion. Adults receiving ECMO for any indication were prospectively recruited from 12/2019-3/2021. Patients with prior neurologic injury, scalp/facial lacerations, and SARS-CoV-2 infection were excluded. DCS monitoring was performed daily during ECMO support with sensors placed on bilateral foreheads. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was continuously recorded from the bedside monitor. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was assessed by clinical staff multiple times daily with sedation pauses, if possible, per standard of care. rCBF was calculated by comparing continuous cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements to the daily median CBF, then averaged at each MAP value. Daily rCBF asymmetry was calculated by summing the absolute difference of rCBF between the two hemispheres at each MAP value, normalized for the total MAP range experienced by the patient that day. Twelve subjects were enrolled in this study (ages 21-78, 6 with cardiac arrest, 4 with acute heart failure, 2 with ARDS) and grouped by maximum GCS motor (GCS-M) score during ECMO, with 3 "comatose" subjects (GCS-M <= 4), and 9 "awake" subjects (GCS-M > 4). DCS was performed over 66 sessions with a mean duration of 131.83 +/- 1.13 minutes. Comatose subjects exhibited more rCBF asymmetry than awake subjects (0.28 +/- 0.06 mmHg-1 vs. 0.10 +/- 0.001 mmHg-1, p=0.045). No difference in asymmetry was noted between patients with or without cardiac arrest. We found that comatose ECMO subjects exhibited higher inter-hemispheric rCBF asymmetry over a range of blood pressures than awake subjects. Though our comatose sample is small, further validation of this finding and its causes, such as cerebrovascular dysregulation, is warranted.
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Objective To explore the application value of Biofire Filmarry pneumonia panel (PN) in detection of secondary and concomitant pathogen among critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19). Methods We consecutively included and analyzed the clinical data of critically ill patients with COVID-19 transferred to the ICU from February to April 2020 in the Sino-French Campus of Wuhan Tongji Hospital. Samples of Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid obtained by bedside bronchoscopy were sent for Biofire Filmarray PN and standard culture concomitantly. We compared the results of two methods and evaluated their concordance. Results In total, 21 critically ill patients with COVID-19 were included and 54 samples were tested, including 33 (61.1%) Biofire Filmarray PN tests (21 patients) and 21 (38.9%) standard cultures (14 patients), in which 19 pairs (38 samples) underwent both tests simultaneously. In Biofire Filmarray PN group, the turnaround time was about 1 hour. There were 74 positive results in 32 samples (97.0%) from 20 patients, including 29 cases(39.2%) of Acinetobacter baumannii complex, 21 cases (28.4%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 16 cases (21.6%)of Klebsiella pneumoniae, 5 cases (6.8%) of Escherichia coli, 1 case (1.4%)each of Enterobacter cloacae, Haemophilus influenzae, and respiratory syncytial virus. In the standard culture group, the turnaround time was about 3 days. 19 positive results returned in 16 (76.2%) samples from 11 patients, including 8 cases (42.1%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 6 cases (31.6%) of Acinetobacter baumannii, 4 cases (21.1%) of Stenotrophomonas malt and 1 case (5.3%) of Myxobacterium. Among the 19 pairs of "back-to-back" specimens, 15 pairs were concordant, and the agreement ratio was 78.9%. Conclusions Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa may be the common pathogens of secondary or concomitant infection in critically ill patients with COVID-19. Biofire Filmarray PN is a rapid diagnostic test and has application value in such patients;its sensitivity and accuracy require further investigation with larger sample sizes.Copyright © 2021, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. All rights reserved.
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Asian Americans became targets of increasingly hostile behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. What motivated this? Fears of contagion arising from a behavioral immune system may have motivated hostility toward Asian Americans, especially among those Americans vulnerable to COVID-19. Additionally, stigmatizing rhetoric from right-wing figures may have legitimated anti-Asian behavior among those Americans who held stronger anti-Asian sentiments to begin with or who were more receptive to right-wing rhetoric. We explore these possibilities using a behavioral game with a representative sample of Americans at two points: in May and October 2020. Participants were partnered with a U.S.- or Chinese-born American in a give-or-take dictator game. The average American discriminated against Chinese-born Americans in May but not October 2020, when China was no longer a COVID-19 hotspot. But among Republicans, who may have held stronger anti-Asian sentiments to begin with and who were likely more receptive to right-wing rhetoric, discrimination - that is, differential treatment - was both stronger in May compared to non-Republicans and persisted into October 2020. Notably, Americans who were more vulnerable to COVID-19 were not especially likely to discriminate. © New York University in Abu Dhabi Corporation - Abu Dhabi, 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.
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The global outbreak of COVID-19 results in the surge of disposable sanitary supplies, especially personal protective face masks. However, the charge dissipation of the electret meltblown nonwovens, which predominate in the commercial face mask filters, confines the durability and safety of commercial face masks. Furthermore, most of the face masks are made from nondegradable materials (such as PP) or part of their degradation products are toxic and contaminative to the environment. Herein, a type of face mask with biodegradable and highly effective PLA bi-layer complex fibrous membrane as filter core is reported. The prepared PLA complex membrane possesses a high-filtration efficiency of 99.1% for PM0.3 while providing a favorable pressure drop of 93.2 Pa. With the PLA complex membrane as the filter core, our face mask exhibits comparable or even higher wearability to commercial face masks, which further manifests our designed PLA complex membrane a promising filter media for face masks. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the Korean Fiber Society.
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Many Chinese international students had to or chose to leave their host universities, receiving online international higher education (HE) at ‘homes' during the COVID-19. Inspired by the ‘glonacal' mode of thought, this qualitative study interviewed 16 Chinese international students at ‘homes' to explore the potential complexities of spatiality and temporality regarding their online international HE experiences during COVID-19. Physically separating from host universities, our participants lost the sense of belongingness to the campus and felt disconnected with their academic communities. Their stories revealed a different ‘money' value between gaining and losing regarding online international HE experiences at ‘homes', and the disadvantages they experienced at host countries/universities. Our participants experienced temporal flexibility, temporal conflicts and temporal asymmetry simultaneously. Such spatial and temporal complexities intertwined with each other, making international student experience (ISE) during the COVID-19 unique. This article contributes to understanding of ISE and internationalisation of HE for a post-pandemic era. © 2023 HERDSA.
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The epidemic of the highly contagious, long lasting and widely popular coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has imposed a huge burden to the global public health. As one of the key methods for early diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, rapid acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen testing has been gradually applied in China. To address concerns raised by both health care workers and the public, based on the latest research and clinical practices, the Sub-committee of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of the Chinese Hospital Association proposed"Expert Consensus on Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Testing(2022)". The consensus panel is composed of experts from multiple disciplines, including laboratory medicine, clinical medicine, infection control, public health, research and development of in vitro diagnostic products. The consensus describes its principle, technological characteristics, results interpretation and, disposal recommendations, and analyzes the strategies and matters needing attention in different application scenarios. We expect the consensus to help correct understanding and application of rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of COVID-19.Copyright © 2022, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. All rights reserved.
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Objective To explore the occurrence and influencing factors of serum uric acid elevation in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treated with favipiravir. Methods Medical records of patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in Beijing Ditan Hospital between June 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 and treated with the 5- or 10-day regimen of favipiravir were collected and retrospectively analyzed. After favipiravir withdrawal, if the elevation in serum uric acid was >=30% of baseline level, it was defined as serum uric acid elevation. Then patients were divided into serum uric acid elevation group and non-serum uric acid elevation group. The clinical characteristics such as gender, age, body mass index, comorbidities, smoking and drinking behavior, COVID-19 grade, favipiravir regimen, and serum uric acid level and renal function before treatment in patients between the 2 groups were compared. Influencing factors of favipiravir-associated serum uric acid elevation was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression method. Results A total of 179 patients were included in the analysis, including 104 (58.1%) males and 75 (41.9%) females, aged from 19 to 70 years with a median age of 43 years. The level of serum uric acid in 179 patients after favipiravir treatment was significantly higher than before [(451+/-119) mumol/L vs. (332+/-94) mumol/L, P<0.001]. The change rate of serum uric acid from baseline level ranged from -57.1% to 157.8% with the median of 38.6%. The elevation in serum uric acid of >= 30% of baseline level occurred in 108 (60.3%) patients. The incidences of serum uric acid elevation in patients treated with 5-day and 10-day regi- mens of favipiravir were 46.8% (36/77) and 70.6% (72/102), respectively, and the difference between them was significant (P=0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that body mass index 24.0 to <28.0 kg/m2 (OR=3.109, 95%CI: 1.209-7.994, P=0.019) and 10-day regimen of favipiravir (OR=3.017, 95%CI: 1.526-5.964, P=0.001) were independent risk factors for favipiravir-associated serum uric acid elevation. Conclusions More than half of COVID-19 patients treated with favipiravir can develop serum uric acid elevation. Overweight and 10-day regimen of favipiravir are independent risk factors for serum uric acid elevation in patients.Copyright © 2022 Adverse Drug Reactions Journal.
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The email address for Elliot D. Perry has been corrected to edperry1@hotmail.co.uk. © 2023 World Scientific Publishing Company.
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Astaxanthin was established to conserve kidney function and subcellular structure through anti-oxidation and/or the free radical scavenging system, yet little research linked a new protective effect to autophagy or lysosomes. We pre-fed Wistar rats with natural astaxanthin, β-carotene, or placebo and induced acute kidney injury using gentamicin, before examining renal tissues and measuring physiological indices. Qualitative evidence from histopathological and subcellular images, along with quantitative evidence showing treatment effects on blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine (p < 0.01), indicated that esterified Haematococcus astaxanthin surpassed β-carotene at effectively counteracting chemical damage and protecting the kidneys from injury. Proliferation of enlarged lysosomes and mediation analysis results revealing enhanced lysosomal acid phosphatase activity were consistent with the hypothesized autophagy-lysosomal pathway being up-regulated by astaxanthin intake (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the protective effect of astaxanthin against acute kidney injury exerted through the autophagy-lysosomal detoxification pathway, which totally different from the anti-oxidation and/or conventional SOD-dependent free radical scavenging system, was demonstrated with strong evidence. In light of the pandemic outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia associated with a virus preferentially targeting the renal tubular cells, dietary astaxanthin may help bring down incidence rate of coronavirus disease, cases of acute kidney injury secondary to the disease, and mortality rate from acute kidney injury, especially when a standard of care treatment for the infectious disease is pending. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
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Since the outbreak of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 has continued to evolve. As the fifth variants of concern (VOCs) announced by the World Health Organization, Omicron has significantly changed from previous VOCs in terms of genome, biological and epidemiological characteristics. Although the severe illness and mortality caused by Omicron infection are significantly lower than those caused by the previous VOCs, Omicron's strong transmission ability has continued to break through the epidemic prevention barrier and human immunity barrier established by prior infections and vaccines. Omicron has opened a new chapter in the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we review the changes in genome and biological characteristics of Omicron and its subspecies as well as the differences in epidemiological characteristics between Omicron and influenza viruses in order to provide scientific basis for the optimization of epidemic prevention and control.Copyright © 2023, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. All rights reserved.