Should China Expand Its Medical Education Scale? Evidence From Comparative Research

Purpose This study compares doctor staffing level and the scale of medical education in China with those of other countries and proposes policy recommendations for future adjustments to the scale of China's medical education. Design/Approach/Methods This study employs a literature review and descriptive analysis. Findings China had 1.98 medical doctors per 1,000 people in 2018, ranking 85th out of the 193 member-states of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2017, China had 1.99 practicing doctors per 1,000 people, only ranking above Turkey (1.88) in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. China had only 10.28 medical graduates per 100,000 people—placing in the bottom third of OECD countries. China's provision of 1.4 medical schools per 10 million people was also significantly lower than the global average (3.9). However, the average number of students enrolled in medical schools (509) in China was significantly higher than the global average (160). Originality/Value Although the scale of admission in undergraduate medical education must be expanded in China, this needs to be achieved while controlling the average number of medical students per school and reducing enrollment in low-quality medical schools. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish new medical schools while improving the operating level of existing ones.

Cross-Reactive Profile Against Two Conserved Coronavirus Antigens in Sera from SARS-CoV-2 Hybrid and Vaccinated Immune Donors.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the pre-existing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 has been postulated as one possible cause of asymptomatic infections. Later, various works reported that pre-existing immune response against the two structural conserved antigens: S2 subunit and the nucleocapsid protein, were associated to some level of asymptomatic profile in infected individuals. To explore the Ab background against these two antigens, in the context of vaccine-elicited and hybrid (natural infection plus vaccination induced) immunity of SARS-CoV-2, in this work, we tested sera from inactivated vaccine-immunized donors and from vaccinated and subsequent natural infected donors upon the Omicron variant wave in Guangdong province, China. Serum samples were collected from 27 COVID-19 convalescent, 25 SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated, and 10 negative donors. The IgG cross-reactivity response against these two antigens from another relevant human coronavirus (HCoV) was also evaluated. The findings indicate that IgG response against S2 and N protein was particularly higher in sera with hybrid immunity. The cross-reactive Abs were more significant against SARS-CoV-1, while a wide cross-reactivity was detected for N antigen for one human Alpha coronavirus HCoV-229E even in the negative control samples. The presence of cross-reactive Abs against the two conserved antigens N and S2, particularly in the context of hybrid immunity, could pave the way for future boosted vaccines carrying these conserved regions.

Community transmission of COVID-19 outbreaks caused by SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in 3 areas of Zhejiang, December 2021

Objective: To analyze epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 outbreaks caused by SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in 3 areas of Zhejiang province in December 2021.

Psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees: Considering the mediating effect of job burnout and the moderating effect of past breach experience.

With the intensification of COVID-19 epidemic, it becomes prominent to discuss the issue about the influence of psychological contract breach on job performance of new generation of employees. Based on social exchange theory, fairness theory, and conservation of resource theory, this study constructed a relationship model between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees with considering the mediating effect of job burnout and the moderating effect of past breach experience. Our hypotheses were tested using data from 235 respondents working in Yunnan Province, China. The results were as follows: first, psychological contract breach had a significant negative effect on job performance of new generation of employees, whether in the whole sample or in two grouped samples; second, both in the overall sample and the grouped sample of state-owned enterprises, job burnout partially mediated the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees, and past experience of breach positively moderated the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees; third, in the grouped sample of non-state-owned enterprises, job burnout did not play a significant mediating role in the relationship between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees, and past breach experience did not play a significant moderating role in this relationship. These findings uncover the psychological mechanism underlying work performance of new generation of employees, and also provide useful theoretical reference for management practices of new generation of employees among different natures of enterprises.

Trend of hand, foot, and mouth disease from 2010 to 2021 and estimation of the reduction in enterovirus 71 infection after vaccine use in Zhejiang Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Zhejiang, ranked in the top three in HFMD (hand, foot, and mouth disease) incidence, is located in the Yangtze River Delta region of southeast China. Since 2016, the EV71 vaccine has been promoted in Zhejiang Province. This study aimed to investigate the trend and seasonal variation characteristics of HFMD from 2010 to 2021 and estimate the reduction in enterovirus 71 infection after vaccine use. METHODS: The data on HFMD cases in Zhejiang Province from January 2010 to December 2021 were obtained from this network system. Individual information on cases and deaths was imported, and surveillance information, including demographic characteristics and temporal distributions, was computed by the system. The Joinpoint regression model was used to describe continuous changes in the incidence trend. The BSTS (Bayesian structural time-series models) model was used to estimate the monthly number of cases from 2017 to 2021 based on the observed monthly incidence during 2010-2016 by accounting for seasonality and long-term trends. The seasonal variation characteristics of HFMD pathogens were detected by wavelet analysis. RESULTS: From 2010 to 2021, the annual incidence rate fluctuated between 98.81 cases per 100,000 in 2020 and 435.63 cases per 100,000 in 2018, and 1711 severe HFMD cases and 106 fatal cases were reported in Zhejiang Province, China. The annual percent change (APC) in EV71 cases was -30.72% (95% CI: -45.10 to -12.50) from 2016 to 2021. The wavelet transform of total incidence and number of cases of the three pathogens all showed significant periodicity on the 1-year scale. The average 2-year scale periodicity was significant for the total incidence, EV71 cases and Cox A16 cases, but the other enterovirus cases showed significant periodicity on the 30-month scale. The 6-month scale periodicity was significant for the total incidence, EV71 case and Cox A16 case but not for the other enteroviruses case. The relative error percentage of the performance of the BSTS model was 0.3%. The estimated number of cases from 2017 to 2021 after the EV-A71 vaccines were used was 9422, and the reduction in the number of cases infected with the EV71 virus was 73.43% compared to 70.80% when the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 was excluded. CONCLUSIONS: Since 2010, the incidence of EV71 infections has shown an obvious downward trend. All types of viruses showed significant periodicity on the 1-year scale. The periodicity of the biennial peak is mainly related to EV71 and Cox A16 before 2017 and other enteroviruses since 2018. The half-year peak cycle of HFMD was mainly caused by EV71 and Cox A6 infection. The expected incidence will be 2.76 times(include the cases of 2020) and 2.43 times(exclude the cases of 2020) higher than the actual value assuming that the measures of vaccination are not taken. EV71 vaccines are very effective and should be administered in the age window between 5 months and 5 years.

Hydroxamate and thiosemicarbazone: Two highly promising scaffolds for the development of SARS-CoV-2 antivirals.

The emerging COVID-19 pandemic generated by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has severely threatened human health. The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is promising target for antiviral drugs, which plays a vital role for viral duplication. Development of the inhibitor against Mpro is an ideal strategy to combat COVID-19. In this work, twenty-three hydroxamates 1a-i and thiosemicarbazones 2a-n were identified by FRET screening to be the potent inhibitors of Mpro, which exhibited more than 94% (except 1c) and more than 69% inhibition, and an IC50 value in the range of 0.12-31.51 and 2.43-34.22 µM, respectively. 1a and 2b were found to be the most effective inhibitors in the hydroxamates and thiosemicarbazones, with an IC50 of 0.12 and 2.43 µM, respectively. Enzyme kinetics, jump dilution and thermal shift assays revealed that 2b is a competitive inhibitor of Mpro, while 1a is a time-dependently inhibitor; 2b reversibly but 1a irreversibly bound to the target; the binding of 2b increased but 1a decreased stability of the target, and DTT assays indicate that 1a is the promiscuous cysteine protease inhibitor. Cytotoxicity assays showed that 1a has low, but 2b has certain cytotoxicity on the mouse fibroblast cells (L929). Docking studies revealed that the benzyloxycarbonyl carbon of 1a formed thioester with Cys145, while the phenolic hydroxyl oxygen of 2b formed H-bonds with Cys145 and Asn142. This work provided two promising scaffolds for the development of Mpro inhibitors to combat COVID-19.

Targeting of Protein Kinase CK2 Elicits Antiviral Activity on Bovine Coronavirus Infection.

Coronaviruses constitute a global threat to the human population; therefore, effective pan-coronavirus antiviral drugs are required to tackle future re-emerging virus outbreaks. Protein kinase CK2 has been suggested as a promising therapeutic target in COVID-19 owing to the in vitro antiviral activity observed after both pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of the enzyme. Here, we explored the putative antiviral effect of the anti-CK2 peptide CIGB-325 on bovine coronavirus (BCoV) infection using different in vitro viral infected cell-based assays. The impact of the peptide on viral mRNA and protein levels was determined by qRT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. Finally, pull-down experiments followed by Western blot and/or mass spectrometry analysis were performed to identify CIGB-325-interacting proteins. We found that CIGB-325 inhibited both the cytopathic effect and the number of plaque-forming units. Accordingly, intracellular viral protein levels were clearly reduced after treatment of BCoV-infected cells, with CIGB-325 determined by immunocytochemistry. Pull-down assay data revealed the physical interaction of CIGB-325 with viral nucleocapsid (N) protein and a group of bona fide CK2 cellular substrates. Our findings evidence in vitro antiviral activity of CIGB-325 against bovine coronavirus as well as some molecular clues that might support such effect. Altogether, data provided here strengthen the rationale of inhibiting CK2 to treat betacoronavirus infections.

[Proposal of Living Evidence-based Guideline for Combination of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Treatment of COVID-19].

In order to standardize the clinical diagnosis and treatment decision-making with traditional Chinese medicine for pa-tients of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) and put the latest clinical study evidence into clinical practice, the international trust-worthy traditional Chinese medicine recommendations( TCM Recs) working group started the compilation of Living Evidence-based Guideline for Combination of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Treatment of COVID-19 on the basis of the standards and re-quirements of WHO handbook, GRADE and RIGHT. This proposal mainly introduces the formulation methods and processes of the living guidelines in details, such as the composition of the working group, the collection and identification of clinical issues and out-comes, the production of the living systematic review and the consensus of recommendations. The guidelines will continue to monitor the clinical study evidences of TCM in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, and conduct regular evidence updating, retrieval and screening. When there is new study evidence, the steering committee will evaluate the possibility of the evidence to change clinical practice or previous recommendations, so as to decide whether the recommendations for the guidelines shall be implemented or upda-ted. The main criteria considered in the guideline updating are as follows:(1) There are new high-quality randomized controlled trial(RCT) evidences for TCM uninvolved in the previous edition of the guidelines;(2) as for the TCM involved in the guidelines, living sys-tematic review shows that new evidence may change the direction or strength of the existing recommendations. The specific implementation of the living evidence-based guidelines will take this proposal as the study basis and framework, in order to ensure the standardization of the formulation process and methods. This will be the first exploration of the methodology for living guidelines in the field of TCM.

Evaluation of Cell-Penetrating Peptides as Mucosal Immune Enhancers for Nasal Vaccination.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been evaluated as enhancers in drug delivery, their addition in medical formulations favors drug absorption allowing obtaining the pharmacological effect with lower doses. In vaccine formulations their inclusion has been also explored with interesting results. Currently mucosal vaccination constitutes a promising alternative with the main advantage of inducing both systemic and mucosal immune responses, which are crucial for control tumors and infections at mucosal tissues. In the present work the nasal immune-enhancing effect of four CPPs was evaluated in Balb/c mice. Animals were intranasally immunized with CPP and the recombinant hepatitis B surface protein (HBsAg) as model antigen. The antibody response in sera and mucosal tissue was measured by ELISA. The IFN-γ secretion response at spleen was also evaluated by ELISPOT and ELISA. Among the CPPs studied one novel peptide stand out by its ability to potentiate the humoral and cellular immune response against the co-administered antigen. Considering that the use of mucosal routes is a promising strategy in vaccination, which are gaining special relevance nowadays in the development of novel candidates against SARS-CoV-2 and other potential emerging respiratory virus, the searching and development of safe mucosal adjuvants constitute a current need.

Analyze COVID-19 CT images based on evolutionary algorithm with dynamic searching space.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global alarm. With the advances in artificial intelligence, the COVID-19 testing capabilities have been greatly expanded, and hospital resources are significantly alleviated. Over the past years, computer vision researches have focused on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which can significantly improve image analysis ability. However, CNN architectures are usually manually designed with rich expertise that is scarce in practice. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) can automatically search for the proper CNN architectures and voluntarily optimize the related hyperparameters. The networks searched by EAs can be used to effectively process COVID-19 computed tomography images without expert knowledge and manual setup. In this paper, we propose a novel EA-based algorithm with a dynamic searching space to design the optimal CNN architectures for diagnosing COVID-19 before the pathogenic test. The experiments are performed on the COVID-CT data set against a series of state-of-the-art CNN models. The experiments demonstrate that the architecture searched by the proposed EA-based algorithm achieves the best performance yet without any preprocessing operations. Furthermore, we found through experimentation that the intensive use of batch normalization may deteriorate the performance. This contrasts with the common sense approach of manually designing CNN architectures and will help the related experts in handcrafting CNN models to achieve the best performance without any preprocessing operations.

Optimization of Multi-Blade Centrifugal Fan Blade Design for Ventilation and Air-Conditioning System Based on Disturbance CST Function

The multi-blade centrifugal fan is commonly used in modern building ventilation and air-conditioning system. However, it does not readily satisfy the increasing demand for energy saving, high efficiency or noise reduction. Its performance is inherently limited by the geometrical structure of single circular arc blades. Q35-type multi-blade centrifugal fan studied as an example by combining the disturbance CST function to parameterize the blades. The optimization parameter change range is confirmed, and test samples are extracted before establishing an RBF proxy model. The NSGA-II algorithm is incorporated, and multi-objective optimization is performed with flow rate and total pressure efficiency as optimization goals. The results show that the fan performance is effectively improved. At the design working point, the air volume of the multi-blade centrifugal fan increases by 1.4 m3/min;at the same time, the total pressure efficiency increases by 3.1%, and the noise is reduced by 1.12 dB, applying the proposed design. The obtained higher fan efficiency can effectively improve performance of the whole ventilation and air-conditioning system. This novel optimization method also has relatively few parameters, which makes it potentially valuable for designing multi-wing centrifugal and other types of fans, providing a new idea for energy saving and emission reduction design of fan.

Meta-analysis with zero-event studies: a comparative study with application to COVID-19 data.

BACKGROUND: Meta-analysis is a statistical method to synthesize evidence from a number of independent studies, including those from clinical studies with binary outcomes. In practice, when there are zero events in one or both groups, it may cause statistical problems in the subsequent analysis. METHODS: In this paper, by considering the relative risk as the effect size, we conduct a comparative study that consists of four continuity correction methods and another state-of-the-art method without the continuity correction, namely the generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). To further advance the literature, we also introduce a new method of the continuity correction for estimating the relative risk. RESULTS: From the simulation studies, the new method performs well in terms of mean squared error when there are few studies. In contrast, the generalized linear mixed model performs the best when the number of studies is large. In addition, by reanalyzing recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) data, it is evident that the double-zero-event studies impact the estimate of the mean effect size. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend the new method to handle the zero-event studies when there are few studies in a meta-analysis, or instead use the GLMM when the number of studies is large. The double-zero-event studies may be informative, and so we suggest not excluding them.

The relationship of perceived social support to feelings of hopelessness under COVID-19 pandemic: The effects of epidemic risk and meaning in life.

Lockdown orders were issued on January 23, 2020 in Wuhan, China, for the purpose of preventing and controlling COVID-19, which led to severe psychological problems for residents. The present study aimed to investigate the recovery model of hopelessness through interpersonal pathways during the COVID-19 epidemic. An online survey was conducted in 34 provinces (those in autonomous regions and municipalities) of China. This survey investigated residents' hopelessness and the impact of three factors on it, including their perceived social support, meaning in life, and epidemic risk levels. Results showed that both perceived social support and meaning in life negatively predicted hopelessness, while meaning in life played a partial mediating role between perceived social support and hopelessness. Further, epidemic risk level played a moderating role between perceived social support and meaning in life, indicating a "marginal zone effect." Specifically, when comparing other province, perceived social support showed a stronger positive relationship with meaning in life among residents living in other regions of Hubei province. In sum, this study extends the recovery model of hopelessness through interpersonal pathways, and has important implications for public health emergency management.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-epidemic periods on the process of endovascular treatment for acute anterior circulation ischaemic stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to analyse endovascular treatment (EVT) in patients presenting acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke with large-vessel occlusion (AIS-LVO) during the pandemic and post-epidemic periods. METHODS: Patients with AIS-LVO of the anterior circulation who underwent EVT were enrolled. According to the times of Wuhan closure and reopening, patients were divided into a pre-pandemic group (from November 8, 2019, to January 22, 2020), pandemic group (from January 23, 2020, to April 8, 2020) and post-epidemic group (from April 9, 2020, to June 24, 2020). The primary endpoints were the time delay among symptom onset to arriving hospital door, to groining puncture and to vascular reperfusion. Secondary endpoints were the functional outcomes evaluated by 90-day modified Rankin scale (mRS) score. RESULTS: In total, the times from onset to reperfusion (OTR, median 356 min vs. 310 min, p = 0.041) and onset to door (OTD, median 238 min vs. 167 min, p = 0.017) were prolonged in the pandemic group compared to the pre-pandemic group, and the delay continue in the post-epidemic period. In the subgroup analysis, the time from door to imaging (DTI) was significantly prolonged during the pandemic period. Interestingly, the prolonged DTI was corrected in the directly admitted subgroup during post-epidemic period. In addition, the functional outcomes showed no significant differences across the three periods. CONCLUSIONS: Total time and prehospital time were prolonged during the pandemic and post-epidemic periods. Urgent public education and improved in-hospital screening processes are necessary to decrease time delays.

Evaluation of Cell-penetrating Peptides as Mucosal Immune Enhancers for Nasal Vaccination (preprint)

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been evaluated as enhancers in drug delivery, their addition in medical formulations favors absorption allowing obtaining the pharmacological effect with lower drug doses. In vaccine formulations their inclusion has been also explored with interesting results. Currently mucosal vaccination constitutes a promising alternative with the main advantage of inducing both systemic and mucosal immune responses, which are crucial for control tumors and infections at mucosal tissues. The known CPP Penetratin was recently evaluated in vaccine formulations designed for nasal administration. The authors demonstrated that this non-covalent linked CPP could improve the antigen-specific systemic and mucosal antibody responses. In the present work we evaluate in Balb/C mice the nasal immune-enhancing effect of four CPPs. Animals were intranasally immunized with CPP and the recombinant hepatitis B surface protein (HBsAg) as model antigen. The IgG antibody response in sera and the mucosal IgA response were measured by ELISA. The IFN-g secretion response at spleen was also evaluated by ELISPOT and ELISA. Among the CPPs studied one novel peptide stand out by its ability to potentiate the humoral and cellular immune response against the co-administered antigen. Considering that the use of mucosal routes is a promising strategy in vaccination against infectious diseases and cancer, which are gaining special relevance nowadays in the development of novel candidates against SARS-CoV-2 and other potential emerging respiratory virus, the searching and development of safe mucosal adjuvants constitute a current need.

Targeting of Protein Kinase CK2 Elicits Antiviral Activity on Bovine Coronavirus Infection (preprint)

Coronaviruses constitute a global threat to human population since three highly pathogenic coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2) have crossed species to cause severe human respiratory disease. Considering the worldwide emergency status due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, effective pan-coronavirus antiviral drugs are required to tackle the ongoing as well as future (re)emerging virus outbreaks. Protein kinase CK2 has been deemed a promising therapeutic target in COVID-19 supported by its in vitro pharmacologic inhibition and molecular studies on SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. CIGB-325 is a first-in-class synthetic peptide impairing the CK2-mediated signaling whose safety and clinical benefit have been evidenced in Covid-19 and cancer patients after intravenous administration. Here, we explored the putative antiviral effect of CIGB-325 over MDBK cells infected by bovine coronavirus (BCoV) Mebus. Importantly, CIGB-325 inhibited both the cytopathic effect and the number of plaques forming units with a half-inhibitory concentrations IC50 = 3.5 uM and 17.7 uM, respectively. Accordingly, viral protein accumulation at the cytoplasm was clearly reduced by treating BCoV-infected cells with CIGB-325 over time, as determined by immunocytochemistry. Of note, data from pull-down assay followed by western blot and/or mass spectrometry identification revealed physical interaction of CIGB-325 with nucleocapsid (N) protein and a bona fide cellular CK2 substrates. Functional enrichment and network analysis from the CIGB-325 interacting proteins indicated cytoskeleton reorganization and protein folding as the most represented biological processes disturbed by this anti-CK2 peptide. Altogether, our findings not only unveil the direct antiviral activity of CIGB-325 on coronavirus infection but also provide molecular clues underlying such effect. Also, our data reinforce the scientific rationality behind the pharmacologic inhibition of CK2 to treat coronavirus infections.

SARS-CoV-2 ORF9b inhibits RIG-I-MAVS antiviral signaling by interrupting K63-linked ubiquitination of NEMO.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a current global health threat caused by the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Emerging evidence indicates that SARS-CoV-2 elicits a dysregulated immune response and a delayed interferon (IFN) expression in patients, which contribute largely to the viral pathogenesis and development of COVID-19. However, underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Here, we report the activation and repression of the innate immune response by SARS-CoV-2. We show that SARS-CoV-2 RNA activates the RIG-I-MAVS-dependent IFN signaling pathway. We further uncover that ORF9b immediately accumulates and antagonizes the antiviral type I IFN response during SARS-CoV-2 infection on primary human pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells. ORF9b targets the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) essential modulator NEMO and interrupts its K63-linked polyubiquitination upon viral stimulation, thereby inhibiting the canonical IκB kinase alpha (IKKα)/ß/γ-NF-κB signaling and subsequent IFN production. Our findings thus unveil the innate immunosuppression by ORF9b and provide insights into the host-virus interplay during the early stage of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Bibliometric analysis of researches on traditional Chinese medicine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a worldwide pandemic, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an important role in response. We aimed to analyze the published literature on TCM for COVID-19, and provide reference for later research. METHODS: This study searched the CBM, CNKI, PubMed, and EMBASE from its establishment to March 11, 2020. VOSviewer 1.6.11 and gCLUTO 2.0 software were used to visually analyze the included studies. RESULTS: A total of 309 studies were included, including 61 journals, 1441 authors, 277 institutions, and 27 provinces. Research collaborations among regions were among those close in geographical distance. The collaborations of institutions and authors were more likely to be restricted to the same region. Among the authors with frequency greater than two (65 authors), only 19 authors had connection with others. More than 70% (358/491) of keywords were only presented once, and 20 keywords were shown more than 10 times. Five research topics were identified: Data mining method based analysis on the medication law of Chinese medicine in prevention and management of COVID-19; exploration of active compounds of Chinese medicine for COVID-19 treatment based on network pharmacology and molecular docking; expert consensus and interpretation of COVID-19 treatment; research on the etiology and pathogenesis of COVID-19; and clinical research of TCM for COVID-19 treatment. CONCLUSION: The research hotspots were scattered, and the collaboration between authors and institutions needed to be further strengthened. To improve the quality and efficiency of research output, the integration of scientific research and resources, as well as scientific collaboration are needed.

[Analysis of traditional Chinese medicine from patent information sharing platform of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)].

Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) is a newly emerged and highly contagious respiratory disease. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has both systematism theory knowledge and clinical practical value in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Therefore, it was particularly important to examine the effect of TCM in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The patents of TCM might reflect the latest progression of scientific research. We aimed to provide reference for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 by extracting and analyzing the TCM patents from the Patent Information Sharing Platform of COVID-19. The antiviral TCM patents were screened and exported from the Patent Information Sharing Platform. VOSviewer 1.6.14 was used to visualize and analyze the network of TCM in these patents. There were total 292 TCM patents, including 52 patents for etiological treatment and 240 patents for symptomatic treatment. Thirty-two provinces and 1 076 inventors were involved, mainly from Beijing, Guangdong and Jiangsu. Overall, there were 356 TCMs, 71 single prescriptions, and 221 compound prescriptions. The patents for treatment of coronavirus mainly focused on the treatment of coronavirus, while the patents for symptomatic treatment mainly focuses on the improvement of respiratory symptoms, such as fever and cough. There were 14 highly frequently used TCMs, including Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Scutellariae Radix, Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, Forsythiae Fructus, Isatidis Radix, Astragali Radix, Menthae Haplocalycis Herba, Gypsum Fibrosum, Houttuyniae Herba, Isatidis Folium, Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, Gardeniae Fructus, Platycodonis Radix, Armeniacae Semen Amarum. The analyzed results of the TCM patents from the patent information sharing platform of COVID-19 were consistent with the Guideline of Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19(7th edition), and the combination of TCM in each cluster may also provide future directions for drug compatibility.