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
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
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a major quality of life problem for many people. In women, SUI is associated with pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and in men after a radical prostatectomy. A safety review started in 2011 by the FDA of POP mesh resulted in the 2019 recall. This study reviews the prevalance and procedure trends for SUI between 2012 to 2020. METHOD(S): Using the 100% Optum Clinformatics Data Mart data and 100% national Medicare Fee-for-Service data, we identified subjects claims for urinary incontinence (UI) and any procedures performed for UI. Results reported as mean +/- standard deviation. RESULT(S): From 2012 - 2020, the mean prevalence of any UI in the 18-64 age group was 37,529 +/- 3292 or 0.62% of the population. In the Medicare population (aged 65+), it was 1,439,221 +/- 90507, or 5.7% of the group. The Female to Male ratio in the <65 yr group was 2.52:1 and in the 65+ was 5.31:1. The Medicare mean SUI prevalence was 212223 +/- 14292 (0.84% population), and the Optum group was 13,179 +/- 1,535 (0.22%).38,677 Medicare patients received procedures for UI in 2012. This increased to 54,122 by 2019, falling to 45,667 during COVID. In 2012, 12,286 patients received SUI procedures, which plateaued at 8,670/yr for 2015 to 2019. In 2020, 6508 patients had a SUI procedure. (Breakdown in Figure 1A). 4020 patients with UI aged 18-64 got a procedure in 2012, which decreased by 45% to 2635 in 2019 with a dip for COVID to 2020. The numbers plateaued from 2014 to 2019 at 2500 patients/yr approximately. The SUI patient numbers for this group decreased from 2501 in 2012 to 967 in 2020, plateaued between 2014 and 2019 at 1250 patients/yr approximately. (Breakdown in Figure 1B) There was a 50% decrease in patients getting sling procedures. Patients obtaining artificial urinary sphincter, and injectables remained constant. Men receiving artificial urinary sphincter, slings, and injectables has remained even in the 65+ age group. However, in the 18-64 age group, men obtaining slings decreased. CONCLUSION(S): The claims prevalence for UI has increased in older age and decreased in younger patients. Sling use has decreased in all female patients and younger men. The overall decrease in procedures for SUI, appears partly due to decreased reporting of incontinence claims in the younger population, together decreased Sling procedures in female patients.
ABSTRACT
Background and Aims: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19), discovered in December 2019, has now spread throughout the world. Studies have shown that patients with cancer have a higher risk of COVID-19 and are more likely to develop severe symptoms and progress to exacerbation. Head and neck tumors, as the major disease entities to be encountered in a cancer-specialized hospital, have a large number of cases of complex disorders, and some of them are highly malignant with rapid progress, for which the treatment cannot be delayed. Moreover, the operations involving the mouth, throat and airway are unavoidable during the diagnosis and treatment process of head and neck tumors, which may increase the risk of COVID-19 infection between doctors and patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to mainly investigate the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of head and neck tumors and prevention and control strategies of COVID-19 in a cancer-specialized hospital amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The clinical data of 38 patients with head and neck malignant tumors admitted for therapy by scheduled appointment in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital from February 1th, 2020 to February 22rd, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. In our center, the time-phased appointments were implemented, patients were appropriately diverted based on the diagnosis and treatment guidelines and clinical practice, and the hospitalization indications were rigorously adhered to. All admitted patients received surgery or chemotherapy on the premise of exclusion of COVID-19 by detailed epidemiological investigation, nucleic acid detection and chest CT scan. During hospitalization, the epidemic prevention and control measures were strictly implemented, the treatment process was carefully observed, and the temperature monitoring and management were paid particular attention. After discharge, the outcomes of patients were followed up and the patients received medical advice and post-discharge treatment through internet-based hospitals or other online channels. Results: Among the 38 patients with head and neck tumors, 17 cases were males and 21 were females, with an average age of 49 years. There were 21 cases of thyroid cancer, 6 cases of oral malignancies, 3 cases of salivary gland cancer, 2 cases of laryngeal cancer, 2 cases of hypopharyngeal cancer, and 1 case each of cervical esophageal cancer, lymphoma, nasopharyngeal cancer and of angiosarcoma. COVID-19 was excluded in all 38 patients upon admission. Thirty-one patients underwent surgical treatment and the other 7 patients were subjected to chemotherapy. Fever occurred in 3 patients during the process of treatment, which included fever associated with agranulocytosis in 1 case, fever caused by tumor necrosis and infection in 1 case and fever caused by wound infection in 1 case. Patients generally had an uneventful treatment course and recovered well. No COVID-19 infection was found in patients and medical staff during hospitalization and at the end of 2 weeks after discharge from hospital. Conclusion: In the situation of COVID-19 pandemic, rational distribution of patients as well as scientific prevention and control based on the diagnosis and treatment guidelines and clinical practice, making full use of the advantages of "internet + medical service", to protect cancer patients from virus while engage in the fight against the epidemic, providing psychological support to the patients, and minimizing the impact of the epidemic on treatment and ensuring the continuity of treatment are feasible strategies for the clinical treatment of head and neck tumors. © 2020 by the Author(s).
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Background: Accurate measurement of antibodies is a necessary tool for assessing exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and facilitating an understanding of the role antibodies play in overall immunity. Most available assays are qualitative in nature and employ a threshold to determine the presence of antibodies, however some-quantitative assays are now available. Using cross-sectional data collected as part of an ongoing longitudinal cohort study, we aim to assess the seroprevalence of SARSCoV-2 antibodies using the Abbott AdviseDX SARS-CoV-2 IgG II (anti-S) assay and compare these results to previously measured seroprevalence of anti-nucleoprotein (anti-N) IgG in this cohort of health care workers (HCWs) at an academic medical center in Boston. Method(s): A total of 1,743 HCWs at Boston Medical Center (BMC) provided serum samples that were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 anti-S IgG and IgM using the Abbott AdviseDx SARS-CoV-2 IgG II and Abbott AdviseDx SARS-CoV-2 IgM assay, respectively. These results were compared to previously assessed anti-N IgG seroprevalence. Precision, linearity, and positive and negative concordance with prior reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test were evaluated for the anti-S IgG II assay. Seroprevalence and its association with demographic variables was also assessed. Result(s): Linearity and precision results were clinically acceptable. The anti-S IgG positive and negative concordance with RT-PCR results were 88.2% (95% CI: 79.4-94.2%) and 97.4% (95% CI: 95.2-98.8%), respectively. Overall, 126 (7.2%) of 1,743 participants were positive for anti-S IgG. The original agreement in this population with the qualitative, anti-N IgG assay was 70.6%. Upon optimizing the threshold from 1.4 to 0.49 signal to cut-off ratio (S/CO) of the anti-N IgG assay, the positive agreement of the assay increased to 84.7%. Conclusion(s): The anti-S IgG II assay demonstrated reproducible and reliable measurements. Higher anti-S IgG to anti-N IgG seroprevalence highlights the present differences between serum antibodies to different epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Further, the greater seroprevalence of anti-S IgG compared to positive RT-PCR results points to a potential for asymptomatic infection among this group of HCWs. Our results also highlight the potential utility in optimizing thresholds of the qualitative SARS-CoV-2 anti-N IgG assay for better agreement with the anti-S IgG II assay by the same vendor.Copyright © 2022 by the Author(s).
ABSTRACT
At present, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2(SARS-CoV-2)infection is still rampant worldwide.As of September 10, 2021, there were about 222 million confirmed cases of corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19)and more than 4.6 million deaths worldwide.With the development of COVID-19 vaccines and the gradual vaccination worldwide, the increasing number of cases in children and unvaccinated young people has drawn attention.According to World Health Organization surveillance data, the proportion of COVID-19 infection cases in children gradually increased, and the proportion of cases in the age groups of under 5 years and 5-14 years increased from 1.0% and 2.5% in January 2020 to 2.0% and 8.7% in July 2021, respectively.At present, billions of adults have been vaccinated with various COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, and their protective effects including reducing infection and transmission, reducing severe disease and hospitalization, and reducing death, as well as high safety have been confirmed.Canada, the United States, Europe and other countries have approved the emergency COVID-19 vaccination in children and adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, and China has also approved the phased vaccination of COVID-19 vaccination in children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years. For smooth advancement and implementation of COVID-19 vaccination in children, academic institutions, including National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, National Center for Children's Health, and The Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association organized relevant experts to reach this consensus on COVID-19 vaccination in children.Copyright © 2021 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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With the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the global economy is on the downswing and the credit crisis is coming. In order to prevent credit risk and further standardize credit rating methods, this paper innovatively introduces the machine learning method-XGBoost model to credit rating based on financial indicator data of 1021 listed Chinese companies in 2020 and real bond default data in 2021. By comparing with the logistic regression model, it is found that the XGBoost model has better prediction effect, and its output index importance score can provide guidance for enterprises to manage their own credit ratings. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2(SARS-CoV-2)infection is still worldwide.As a vulnerable group, severe and dead pediatric cases are also reported.Under this severe epidemic situation, children should be well protected.With the widespread vaccination of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in adults, the infection rate have decreased.Therefore, SARS-CoV-2 vaccine inoculation for children groups step by step is of great significance to the protection of children and the prevention and control of corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19) as a whole.But the safety of children vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is a main concern of parents.Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of vaccination and the implementation of vaccination work, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, National Center for Children's Health and the Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association organized experts to interpret the main issue of parents about SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for children, in order to answer the doubts of parents.Copyright © 2021 by the Chinese Medical Association.
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2019 novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV) outbreak is one of the public health emergency of international concern.Since the 2019-nCoV outbreak, China has been adopting strict prevention and control measures, and has achieved remarkable results in the initial stage of prevention and control.However, some imported cases and sporadic regional cases have been found, and even short-term regional epidemics have occurred, indicating that the preventing and control against the epidemic remains grim.With the change of the incidence proportion and the number of cases in children under 18 years old, some new special symptoms and complications have appeared in children patients.In addition, with the occurrence of virus mutation, it has not only attracted attention from all parties, but also proposed a new topic for the prevention and treatment of 2019-nCoV infection in children of China.Based on the second edition, the present consensus further summarizes the clinical characteristics and experience of children's cases, and puts forward recommendations on the diagnostic criteria, laboratory examination, treatment, prevention and control of children's cases for providing reference for further guidance of treatment of 2019-nCoV infection in children.Copyright © 2021 Chinese Medical Association
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Background The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has turned into a global catastrophic public health crisis，and the conclusion about the risk factors of hospital death in COVID-19 patients is not uniform. Objective To explore risk factors of in-hospital death in patients with COVID-19 by a meta-analysis. Methods Case-control studies about risk factors of in-hospital death in COVID-19 patients were searched from databases of the Cochrane Library，ScienceDirect，PubMed，Medline，Wanfang Data，CNKI and CQVIP from inception to October 1，2021. Literature screening，data extraction and methodological quality assessment were conducted. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15.1. Meta-regression was used to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. Results Eighty studies were included which involving 405 157 cases〔349 923 were survivors（86.37%），and 55 234 deaths（13.63%）〕，that were rated as being of high quality by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Meta-analysis showed that being male〔OR=1.49，95%CI（1.41，1.57），P<0.001），older age〔WMD=10.44，95%CI（9.79，11.09），P<0.001〕，dyspnoea〔OR=2.09，95%CI（1.80，2.43），P<0.001〕，fatigue〔OR=1.49，95%CI（1.31，1.69），P<0.001〕，obesity〔OR=1.46，95%CI（1.43，1.50），P<0.001〕，smoking〔OR=1.18，95%CI （1.14，1.23），P<0.001〕，stroke〔OR=2.26，95%CI（1.41，3.62），P<0.001〕，kidney disease〔OR=3.62，95%CI （3.26，4.03），P<0.001〕，cardiovascular disease〔OR=2.34，95%CI（2.21，2.47），P<0.001〕，hypertension〔OR=2.23，95%CI（2.10，2.37），P<0.001〕，diabetes〔OR=1.84，95%CI（1.74，1.94），P<0.001〕，cancer〔OR=1.86，95%CI （1.69，2.05），P<0.001〕，pulmonary disease〔OR=2.38，95%CI（2.19，2.58），P<0.001〕，liver disease〔OR=1.65，95%CI（1.36，2.01），P<0.001〕，elevated levels of white blood cell count〔WMD=2.03，95%CI（1.74，2.32），P<0.001〕，neutrophil count〔WMD=1.77，95%CI（1.49，2.05），P<0.001〕，total bilirubin〔WMD=3.19，95%CI（1.96，4.42），P<0.001〕，aspartate transaminase〔WMD=13.02，95%CI（11.70，14.34），P<0.001〕，alanine transaminase 〔WMD=2.76，95%CI（1.68，3.85），P<0.001〕，lactate dehydrogenase〔WMD=166.91，95%CI（150.17，183.64），P<0.001〕，blood urea nitrogen〔WMD=3.11，95%CI（2.61，3.60），P<0.001〕，serum creatinine〔WMD=22.06，95%CI （19.41，24.72），P<0.001〕，C-reactive protein〔WMD=76.45，95%CI （71.33，81.56），P<0.001〕，interleukin-6 〔WMD=28.21，95%CI（14.98，41.44），P<0.001〕，and erythrocyte sedimentation rate〔WMD=8.48，95%CI（5.79，11.17），P<0.001〕were associated with increased risk of in-hospital death for patients with COVID-19，while myalgia〔OR=0.73，95%CI（0.62，0.85），P<0.001〕，cough〔OR=0.87，95%CI（0.78，0.97），P=0.013〕，vomiting〔OR=0.73，95%CI （0.54，0.98），P=0.030〕，diarrhoea〔OR=0.79，95%CI（0.69，0.92），P=0.001〕，headache〔OR=0.55，95%CI（0.45，0.68），P<0.001〕，asthma〔OR=0.73，95%CI（0.69，0.78），P<0.001〕，low body mass index〔WMD=-0.58，95%CI （-1.10，-0.06），P=0.029〕，decreased lymphocyte count〔WMD=-0.36，95%CI（-0.39，-0.32），P<0.001〕，decreased platelet count 〔WMD=-38.26，95%CI（-44.37，-32.15），P<0.001〕，increased D-dimer〔WMD=0.79，95%CI（0.63，0.95），P<0.001〕，longer prothrombin time〔WMD=0.78，95%CI（0.61，0.94），P<0.001〕，lower albumin〔WMD =-1.88，95%CI（-2.35，-1.40），P<0.001〕，increased procalcitonin〔WMD=0.27，95%CI（0.24，0.31），P<0.001〕，and increased cardiac troponin〔WMD=0.04，95%CI（0.03，0.04），P<0.001〕were associated with decreased risk of in-hospital death due to COVID-19. According to the meta-regression result，the heterogeneity in gender，renal disease，cardiovascular diseases，asthma，white blood cell count，neutrophil count，platelet count，hemoglobin，and urea nitrogen differed siangificnatly by country（P<0.05）. Conclusion The risk of in-hospital death due to COVID-19 may be increased by 25 factors（including being male，older age，dyspnoea，fatigue，obesity，smoking，stroke，kidney disease，cardiovascular disease，hypertension，diabetes，cancer，pulmonary disease，liver disease，elevated levels of white blood cells，neutrophil count，total bilirubin，aspartate transaminase，alanine transaminase，lactate dehydrogenase，blood urea nitrogen，serum creatinine，C-reactive protein，interleukin-6，and erythrocyte sedimentation rate），and may be decreased by 13 factors（including myalgia，cough，vomiting，diarrhoea，headache，asthma，low body mass index，decreased lymphocyte count and platelet count，increased D-dimer，longer prothrombin time，lower albumin，increased procalcitonin and cardiac troponin）. The conclusion drawn from this study needs to be further confirmed by high-quality，multicenter，large-sample，real-world studies. © 2023 Chinese General Practice. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has turned into a global catastrophic public health crisis，and the conclusion about the risk factors of hospital death in COVID-19 patients is not uniform. Objective To explore risk factors of in-hospital death in patients with COVID-19 by a meta-analysis. Methods Case-control studies about risk factors of in-hospital death in COVID-19 patients were searched from databases of the Cochrane Library，ScienceDirect，PubMed，Medline，Wanfang Data，CNKI and CQVIP from inception to October 1，2021. Literature screening，data extraction and methodological quality assessment were conducted. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15.1. Meta-regression was used to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. Results Eighty studies were included which involving 405 157 cases〔349 923 were survivors（86.37%），and 55 234 deaths（13.63%）〕，that were rated as being of high quality by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Meta-analysis showed that being male〔OR=1.49，95%CI（1.41，1.57），P<0.001），older age〔WMD=10.44，95%CI（9.79，11.09），P<0.001〕，dyspnoea〔OR=2.09，95%CI（1.80，2.43），P<0.001〕，fatigue〔OR=1.49，95%CI（1.31，1.69），P<0.001〕，obesity〔OR=1.46，95%CI（1.43，1.50），P<0.001〕，smoking〔OR=1.18，95%CI （1.14，1.23），P<0.001〕，stroke〔OR=2.26，95%CI（1.41，3.62），P<0.001〕，kidney disease〔OR=3.62，95%CI （3.26，4.03），P<0.001〕，cardiovascular disease〔OR=2.34，95%CI（2.21，2.47），P<0.001〕，hypertension〔OR=2.23，95%CI（2.10，2.37），P<0.001〕，diabetes〔OR=1.84，95%CI（1.74，1.94），P<0.001〕，cancer〔OR=1.86，95%CI （1.69，2.05），P<0.001〕，pulmonary disease〔OR=2.38，95%CI（2.19，2.58），P<0.001〕，liver disease〔OR=1.65，95%CI（1.36，2.01），P<0.001〕，elevated levels of white blood cell count〔WMD=2.03，95%CI（1.74，2.32），P<0.001〕，neutrophil count〔WMD=1.77，95%CI（1.49，2.05），P<0.001〕，total bilirubin〔WMD=3.19，95%CI（1.96，4.42），P<0.001〕，aspartate transaminase〔WMD=13.02，95%CI（11.70，14.34），P<0.001〕，alanine transaminase 〔WMD=2.76，95%CI（1.68，3.85），P<0.001〕，lactate dehydrogenase〔WMD=166.91，95%CI（150.17，183.64），P<0.001〕，blood urea nitrogen〔WMD=3.11，95%CI（2.61，3.60），P<0.001〕，serum creatinine〔WMD=22.06，95%CI （19.41，24.72），P<0.001〕，C-reactive protein〔WMD=76.45，95%CI （71.33，81.56），P<0.001〕，interleukin-6 〔WMD=28.21，95%CI（14.98，41.44），P<0.001〕，and erythrocyte sedimentation rate〔WMD=8.48，95%CI（5.79，11.17），P<0.001〕were associated with increased risk of in-hospital death for patients with COVID-19，while myalgia〔OR=0.73，95%CI（0.62，0.85），P<0.001〕，cough〔OR=0.87，95%CI（0.78，0.97），P=0.013〕，vomiting〔OR=0.73，95%CI （0.54，0.98），P=0.030〕，diarrhoea〔OR=0.79，95%CI（0.69，0.92），P=0.001〕，headache〔OR=0.55，95%CI（0.45，0.68），P<0.001〕，asthma〔OR=0.73，95%CI（0.69，0.78），P<0.001〕，low body mass index〔WMD=-0.58，95%CI （-1.10，-0.06），P=0.029〕，decreased lymphocyte count〔WMD=-0.36，95%CI（-0.39，-0.32），P<0.001〕，decreased platelet count 〔WMD=-38.26，95%CI（-44.37，-32.15），P<0.001〕，increased D-dimer〔WMD=0.79，95%CI（0.63，0.95），P<0.001〕，longer prothrombin time〔WMD=0.78，95%CI（0.61，0.94），P<0.001〕，lower albumin〔WMD =-1.88，95%CI（-2.35，-1.40），P<0.001〕，increased procalcitonin〔WMD=0.27，95%CI（0.24，0.31），P<0.001〕，and increased cardiac troponin〔WMD=0.04，95%CI（0.03，0.04），P<0.001〕were associated with decreased risk of in-hospital death due to COVID-19. According to the meta-regression result，the heterogeneity in gender，renal disease，cardiovascular diseases，asthma，white blood cell count，neutrophil count，platelet count，hemoglobin，and urea nitrogen differed siangificnatly by country（P<0.05）. Conclusion The risk of in-hospital death due to COVID-19 may be increased by 25 factors（including being male，older age，dyspnoea，fatigue，obesity，smoking，stroke，kidney disease，cardiovascular disease，hypertension，diabetes，cancer，pulmonary disease，liver disease，elevated levels of white blood cells，neutrophil count，total bilirubin，aspartate transaminase，alanine transaminase，lactate dehydrogenase，blood urea nitrogen，serum creatinine，C-reactive protein，interleukin-6，and erythrocyte sedimentation rate），and may be decreased by 13 factors（including myalgia，cough，vomiting，diarrhoea，headache，asthma，low body mass index，decreased lymphocyte count and platelet count，increased D-dimer，longer prothrombin time，lower albumin，increased procalcitonin and cardiac troponin）. The conclusion drawn from this study needs to be further confirmed by high-quality，multicenter，large-sample，real-world studies. © 2023 Chinese General Practice. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory SARS-CoV-2. Regardless of the availability of treatment strategies for COVID-19, effective therapy will remain essential. A promising approach to tackle the SARS-CoV-2 could be small interfering (si) RNAs. Here we designed the small hairpin RNA (named as shRNA688) for targeting the prepared 813 bp Est of the S protein genes (Delta). The conserved and mutated regions of the S protein genes from the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 variants in the public database were analyzed. A 813 bp fragment encoding the most part of the RBD and partial downstream RBD of the S protein was cloned into the upstream red florescent protein gene (RFP) as a fusing gene in the pCMV-S-Protein RBD-Est-RFP plasmid for expressing a potential target for RNAi. The double stranded of the DNA encoding for shRNA688 was constructed in the downstream human H1 promoter of the plasmid in which CMV promoter drives enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) marker gene expression. These two kinds of the constructed plasmids were co-transfected into HEK293T via Lipofectamine 2000. The degradation of the transcripts of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein fusing gene expressed in the transfected HEK293T treated by RNAi was analyzed by RT-qPCR with a specific probe of the targeted SARS-CoV-2 S protein gene transcripts. Our results showed that shRNA688 targeting the conserved region of the S protein genes could effectively reduce the transcripts of the S protein genes. This study provides a cell model and technical support for the research and development of the broad-spectrum small nucleic acid RNAi drugs against SARS-CoV-2 or the RNAi drugs for the other hazard viruses which cause human diseases. Copyright © Weiwei Zhang, Linjia Huang, Jumei Huang, Xin Jiang, Xiaohong Ren, Xiaojie Shi, Ling Ye, Shuhui Bian, Jianhe Sun, Yufeng Gao, Zehua Hu, Lintin Guo, Suyan Chen, Jiahao Xu, Jie Wu, Jiwen Zhang, Daxiang Cui, and Fangping Dai.
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Policy innovation is an essential approach for local governments to deal with external challenges, which is also the case in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article discusses the effects of fiscal decentralization and leaders' intergovernmental mobility on the innovativeness of local governments in pandemic response. By investigating the economic relief policy of local governments in China, we find that both fiscal decentralization and local leaders' intergovernmental mobility in their previous careers facilitate the innovativeness of local governments' economic relief policy for pandemic recovery, and the business experience of local leaders enhances the positive influence of fiscal decentralization on the innovativeness of local policy. The results indicate that fiscal decentralization and the intergovernmental connection based on leaders' political mobility are likely to be two predominant factors for local governments to enable horizontal mutual learning and central-local policy coordination, and as a result foster policy innovativeness in response to the pandemic. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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COVID-19 has brought significant impacts on the global economy and environment. The Global Economic-and-environmental Policy Uncertainty (GEPU) index is a critical indicator to measure the uncertainty of global economic policies. Its prediction provides evidence for the good prospect of global economic and environmental policy and recovery. This is the first study using the monthly data of GEPU from January 1997 to January 2022 to predict the GEPU index after the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models have been adopted to predict the GEPU. In general, the RNN outperforms the LSTM networks, and most results suggest that the GEPU index will remain stable or decline in the coming year. A few results point to the possibility of a short-term increase in GEPU, but still far from its two peaks during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. This forecast confirms that the impact of the epidemic on global economic and environmental policy will continue to wane. Lower economic and environmental policy uncertainty facilitates global economic and environmental recovery. Economic recovery brings more opportunities and a stable macroeconomic environment, which is a positive sign for both investors and businesses. Meanwhile, for the ecological environment, the declining GEPU index marks a gradual reduction in the direct impact of policy uncertainty on sustainable development, but the indirect environmental impact of uncertainty may remain in the long run. Our prediction also provides a reference for subsequent policy formulation and related research.
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Whether Chinese soybean importers can keenly grasp the changes of different source countries’ market power, will directly affects the safety and cost of soybean import. Based on the analysis of changes in China’s soybean import trade structure, this paper utilizes monthly data from January 2009 to December 2021, combines with the residual demand elasticity model, to compare and analyse the market power of the three major source countries. The results show that although the United States is no longer China’s largest soybean import country, its market power in China’s soybean import market has not been affected, while Argentina’s market power is gradually increasing. Although Brazil has grown into the first source of China’s soybean imports, it has only weak market influence. In addition, China, as the world’s largest buyer, doesn’t have market power. China’s soybean import price is mainly affected by futures prices, domestic soybean prices, international crude oil prices, Sino-US trade frictions and COVID-19 epidemic. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Since the first report of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the disease has rapidly spread to many countries worldwide. The initial reports showed that the incidence rate in adults was higher, while children and adolescents had fewer cases of infection. However, the number of COVID-19 cases has gradually increased in children and adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the percentage of children and/or adolescents of the total patients diagnosed with COVID-19. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched to find relevant studies. All statistical analyses were conducted using StataMP 14 software. A total of 12 studies met the inclusion criteria. The final results showed that the percentage of children and/or adolescents of all COVID-19 cases was 0.06 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.04-0.07], which meant an average of 6 cases in children per 10,000 COVID-19 cases. The percentage of children and/or adolescents with COVID-19 was 0.03 (95% CI, 0.01-0.05), 0.09 (95% CI, 0.08-0.09), 0.09 (95% CI, 0.03-0.16) and 0.04 (95% CI, 0.00-0.10) in Asia, South America, North America and Europe, respectively. The present study showed a low percentage of COVID-19 cases of children and/or adolescents, but not without infection risk. Therefore, we should pay attention to the cases of children and/or adolescents during the COVID-19 period and raise our vigilance. © 2022, Medcom Limited. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
In early 2020, an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic happened in China. In the following three months, 42 600 medical personnels and more than 9 000 public health employees were "rushed out" of their own position and onto Wuhan and other areas in Hubei Province. They helped to strengthen the treatment of severe cases and the isolation of mild cases, and actively carried out community screenings, and eventually won victory in the defense of Wuhan. During the normalization stage of prevention and control of the epidemic of COVID-19, China adopted the expanded preventive strategy by focusing on widely implement PCR testing, and integrate general and emergency departments to improve the performance of public health system. In this stage, China put out the cluster of epidemics that have occurred in several places one after another, and effectively controlled the spread of the epidemic in 2 to 3 incubation periods. In the stage of "dynamic zeroing", China emphasized the strategy of "grasping early, grasping the basics", focused on specific measures such as precise prevention in key areas. The rule of golden 24 hours was used to control the spread of the epidemic within one incubation period. During the epidemic, China continues to adopt active prevention and control strategies. This self-confidence and determination depends on adhering to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the distinct essence of medical and health services, and significant advantages of social governance on health.