Evaluation of airborne infection risk with different window airing strategies in classroom

The coronavirus disease may spread by airborne aerosols, especially in a poorly ventilated enclosure. Natural ventilation can reduce the transmission of infection. The WHO suggested the minimum ventilation rate of 10 L/s/person in non-residential settings. The objective was to evaluate risk of airborne infection with different settings in natural ventilated classroom. The risk was evaluated by using the modified Wells-Riley equation associated with the variation of contaminant concentration simulated by a multi-zone airflow model. The results provide the guidance of natural ventilation strategy in the classroom to reduce the transmission of airborne infection disease. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.

Emotions, perceived knowledge and food behaviors during stressful periods

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how emotions affect consumers' food choices and food preparation activities during stressful periods, using the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China.Design/methodology/approachThis study used an online survey, with a sample of 1,050 individuals from 32 regions in China. Multi-regression and mediation models were used to test the relationships among perceived knowledge, emotions and food behaviors.FindingsThe results show that positive emotions positively affect healthy food consumption and engagement in food preparations. In contrast, negative emotions contribute to an increase in indulgent food consumption and quick-and-easy meal preparations. Increased knowledge of the current situation can enhance positive emotions and thus promote healthy food behaviors. Lacking knowledge may result in unhealthy food behaviors through negative emotions.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the understanding of emotions and food behaviors by examining the effects of both negative and positive emotions in the general population, exploring a wider constellation of food behaviors and identifying perceived knowledge as an important antecedent to emotions' effects on food behaviors. Implications for consumers and public policy are offered.

[Prediction of protection probability against Omicron BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5 variants in symptomatic infections with prototype strain based on neutralization antibody levels].

Objective: To predict the protection probability of different clinical outcomes after reinfection with Omicron variant in symptomatic and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients who infected with prototype strain. Methods: The data used in this study were derived from a systematic review and meta-analysis which systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Europe PMC databases, included published and uploaded studies of dynamic changes of neutralizing antibodies in symptomatic COVID-19 patients from 1 January 2020 to 2 October 2022 and extracted the literature information, study design, serological experiment information and antibody results. According to the scatter distribution characteristics of antibody titer data, a generalized additive model based on Gaussian distribution was used to fit the titer value of neutralizing antibody based on logarithmic conversion and the dynamic change pattern of neutralizing antibody in symptomatic and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients infected with prototype strain over time was obtained. In this study, the fitted antibody titers of patients on the 28th, 51st, and 261st day after symptom onset was selected to predict the protection probability. Results: Neutralizing antibodies produced in symptomatic and unvaccinated patients infected with prototype strain could provide protection against Omicron reinfection, and the probability of protection gradually decreased with time. Neutralizing antibody level on day 28 after symptom onset provided protection probability of 30.3% (95%CI: 20.0%-45.5%) against reinfection, 51.5% (95%CI: 33.4%-75.9%) against symptomatic reinfection, and 91.2% (95%CI: 77.1%-97.7%) against severe reinfection caused by Omicron BA.5. The protection probability against Omicron BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5 reinfections decreased significantly 261 days after symptom onset, showing 9.6%-12.9%, 18.4%-23.9% and 63.1%-70.3% against three clinical outcomes, respectively. At the same time point and against the same clinical outcome, the protection probability of BA.1 was the highest, followed by BA.4 and BA.5. Conclusions: Neutralizing antibodies induced in symptomatic and unvaccinated COVID-19 patients previously infected with the prototype strain have limited protection probability against Omicron BA.5 reinfections and symptomatic reinfections. The protection probability against Omicron BA.5 reinfections is 30.3% 28 days after symptom onset and decreases to about 10% after 261 days. However, the protection probability against severe reinfections is considerable, with over 90% 28 days after symptom onset and still exceeding 60% after 261 days.

Burnout in healthcare workers in COVID-19-dedicated hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Considering the prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of studies on burnout, particularly in healthcare workers, needs to be addressed. This report aimed to identify the risk factors of burnout by comparing the level of burnout between nurses in general wards and those in COVID-19-dedicated wards in a national university hospital. METHODS: A survey based on the Korean version of Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT-K) was conducted on nurses between 10 January and 31 January 2022. The BAT-K consists of exhaustion, mental distance, cognitive impairment, emotional impairment and secondary symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 165 nurses, including 81 nurses from the COVID-19-dedicated ward, completed the questionnaire. The percentage of general-ward nurses with an emotional impairment score above the clinical cutoff was higher than that of COVID-19 ward nurses. General ward compared to the COVID-19 ward increased the risk of presenting with total-core symptoms. Two factors increased the risk regarding mental distance: short career length and underlying disease. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to previous studies, the risk of burnout in the COVID-19-ward nurses was lower than that of the general ward nurses. The risk regarding mental distance was correlated with short career length and presence of an underlying disease.

The Pandemic in Our Country, the Pandemic in Their Countries: News Values and Media Representation of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic around the world is represented by the New York Times (NYT) and China Daily (CD), newspapers from two countries with long-standing political tension. The data consists of 2572 reports that are classified into three groups: reports on COVID-19 in the US, reports on COVID-19 in China, and reports on COVID-19 in other countries/regions. The reports are analyzed in terms of their discursive news values. Analysis results show that NYT represents the pandemic in the US, and CD represents the pandemic in China as the least negative, the least impactful and with the most personal accounts. NYT represents the pandemic in China, and CD represents the pandemic in the US as the most negative, the most impactful, the most severe, and the least positive and proximate. The selection and representation of other countries/regions reflect a differentiated coverage of the "Others" by both NYT and CD. The study lends support to a previous hypothesis that domestic crises tend to be presented as less negative than those in other countries, and invites contemplation on the influence of nationalism and political antagonism on the news media in times of global health crises.

Molecular epidemiological analysis of COVID-19 imported cases in Ruili from July to November, 2021

Objective To analyze the epidemiological and genomic characteristics of COVID-19 cases imported by land in Ruili, and to provide reference for border epidemic prevention and control in Yunnan Province. Methods We collected information about SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals from overseas land in Ruili, Yunnan from July to November, 2021. The epidemiological characteristics were statistically analyzed. The second-generation sequencing platform of Illumina was used to conduct high-through-put sequencing on the selected 40 positive samples and to analyze their genotyping and variation characteristics. Results During the study period,Ruili City reported 796 COVID-19 cases from abroad.The median age of COVID-19 cases was 28.5 years (Interquantile range 10, range 1–85). The gender ratio between men and women was 4.61 : 1, Most of these infected individuals engaged in business services, accounting for 49.75% (396/796) , 95.60% of COVID-19 cases were mild and moderate cases. The sequencing results of 34 cases can be divided into three clades according to Nextstrain typing method, including 24 cases belong to 21A(Delta) clade, 9 cases belong to 21I(Delta) clade and 1 case belongs to 20I (Alpha V1) clade. Conclusions The virus genotypes of the cases in this study were mainly divided into three branches and there were some differences among them, most of which were Delta mutants.We should continue to implement border control measures and continue to monitor the virus mutation of imported cases, so as to evaluate the threat of the mutant strain to the current situation of epidemic prevention and control in Yunnan Province. © 2023, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.

Protection probability against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5 in asympto- matic infection caused by prototype strain

Objective To estimate the protection probability against SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5 infection, symptomatic infection and severe disease outcomes in asymptomatic individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain previously. Methods Our previous study had shown that the dynamic change of neutralizing antibodies in asymptomatic individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain. Based on our previous study, a peer–reviewed predictive model on the basis of logistic model was used to estimate the protection probability of asymptomatic individuals against Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5. We estimate the protection probability against infection, symptomatic infection and severe disease outcomes on 28, 51 and 261 days after confirmation. Results The protection probability against reinfection of Omicron variant strains BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 on 28 days after confirmation were 30% (95% CI: 16%–52%) , 23% (95% CI: 15%–36%) and 8% (95% CI: 4%–16%) respectively, while decreased to 9% (95% CI: 3%–21%) , 6% (95% CI: 3%–12%) and 2% (95% CI: 1%–4%) on 261 days after confirmation. The protection probability against symptomatic infection of Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 were 51% (95% CI: 28%–80%) , 42% (95% CI: 26%–67%) and 16% (95% CI: 7% – 40%) respectively on 28 days after confirmation, while decreased to 16% (95% CI: 7%–35%) , 12% (95% CI: 7% – 22%) and 3% (95% CI: 1% – 8%) on 261 days after confirmation. The protection probability against severe disease of Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 were 91% (95% CI: 72%–98%) , 88% (95% CI: 70%–97%) and 66% (95% CI: 35%–90%) respectively on 28 days after confirmation, while decreased to 60% (95% CI: 35%–86%) , 51% (95% CI: 32%–75%) and 22% (95% CI: 10%–50%) on 261 days after confirmation. Conclusions Neutralizing antibodies induced in asymptomatic individuals infected with prototype strain could provide higher protection against Omicron strain BA.5 than Omicron strains BA.1 and BA.2. Among the three clinical outcomes, the protective probability against severe disease outcome was better, followed by symptomatic infection, and the protective probability against infection was poor. © 2023, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.

VQ-ViCNet: Strengthen Unique Features Comparison Autoencoder with Embedding Space for Covid-19 Image Classification

In this paper, we propose a new novel coronavirus pneumonia image classification model based on the combination of Transformer and convolutional network(VQ-ViCNet), and present a vector quantization feature enhancement module for the inconspicuous characteristics of lung medical image data. This model extracts the local latent layer features of the image through the convolutional network, and learns the deep global features of the image data through the Transformer's multi-head self attention algorithm. After the calculation of convolution and attention, the features learned by the Transformer Encoder are enhanced by the vector quantization feature enhancement module and able to better complete the final downstream tasks. This model performs better than convolutional architectures, pure attention architectures and generative models on all 6 public datasets. © 2022 IEEE.

Consideration of diagnosis and treatment for hernia and surgical diseases of the abdominal wall under outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia

Currently, the epidemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) is still ongoing. The pathogen of this disease was newly named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Hernia and abdominal wall diseases, as common disorders among population, are likely need emergency surgery. Under the new situation of NCP outbreak, surgeons who practice surgery for hernia and abdominal wall diseases should properly conduct the classified diagnosis and treatment of the hernia and abdominal wall disease, and select the appropriate surgical procedure, following the guidelines and routine diagnosis and treatment methods and complying with the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of NCP;pay sufficient attention to self-protection according to different risk levels in the meantime of proper diagnosis and treatment and nursing process optimization. The patients with hernia or abdominal wall disease should also actively cooperate with the medical staff to complete the examination and inpatient surgical treatment in accordance with the process. © 2020 Authors. All rights reserved.

Molecular epidemiological analysis of COVID-19 imported cases in Ruili from July to November, 2021.

Objective To analyze the epidemiological and genomic characteristics of COVID-19 cases imported by land in Ruili, and to provide reference for border epidemic prevention and control in Yunnan Province. Methods We collected information about SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals from overseas land in Ruili, Yunnan from July to November, 2021. The epidemiological characteristics were statistically analyzed. The second-generation sequencing platform of Illumina was used to conduct high-through-put sequencing on the selected 40 positive samples and to analyze their genotyping and variation characteristics. Results During the study period,Ruili City reported 796 COVID-19 cases from abroad.The median age of COVID-19 cases was 28.5 years (Interquantile range 10, range 1-85). The gender ratio between men and women was 4.61 : 1, Most of these infected individuals engaged in business services, accounting for 49.75% (396/796) , 95.60% of COVID-19 cases were mild and moderate cases. The sequencing results of 34 cases can be divided into three clades according to Nextstrain typing method, including 24 cases belong to 21A(Delta) clade, 9 cases belong to 21I(Delta) clade and 1 case belongs to 20I (Alpha V1) clade. Conclusions The virus genotypes of the cases in this study were mainly divided into three branches and there were some differences among them, most of which were Delta mutants.We should continue to implement border control measures and continue to monitor the virus mutation of imported cases, so as to evaluate the threat of the mutant strain to the current situation of epidemic prevention and control in Yunnan Province.Copyright © 2023, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.

Protection probability against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5 in asympto- matic infection caused by prototype strain.

Objective To estimate the protection probability against SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5 infection, symptomatic infection and severe disease outcomes in asymptomatic individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain previously. Methods Our previous study had shown that the dynamic change of neutralizing antibodies in asymptomatic individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain. Based on our previous study, a peer-reviewed predictive model on the basis of logistic model was used to estimate the protection probability of asymptomatic individuals against Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5. We estimate the protection probability against infection, symptomatic infection and severe disease outcomes on 28, 51 and 261 days after confirmation. Results The protection probability against reinfection of Omicron variant strains BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 on 28 days after confirmation were 30% (95% CI: 16%-52%) , 23% (95% CI: 15%-36%) and 8% (95% CI: 4%-16%) respectively, while decreased to 9% (95% CI: 3%-21%) , 6% (95% CI: 3%-12%) and 2% (95% CI: 1%-4%) on 261 days after confirmation. The protection probability against symptomatic infection of Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 were 51% (95% CI: 28%-80%) , 42% (95% CI: 26%-67%) and 16% (95% CI: 7% - 40%) respectively on 28 days after confirmation, while decreased to 16% (95% CI: 7%-35%) , 12% (95% CI: 7% - 22%) and 3% (95% CI: 1% - 8%) on 261 days after confirmation. The protection probability against severe disease of Omicron strains BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 were 91% (95% CI: 72%-98%) , 88% (95% CI: 70%-97%) and 66% (95% CI: 35%-90%) respectively on 28 days after confirmation, while decreased to 60% (95% CI: 35%-86%) , 51% (95% CI: 32%-75%) and 22% (95% CI: 10%-50%) on 261 days after confirmation. Conclusions Neutralizing antibodies induced in asymptomatic individuals infected with prototype strain could provide higher protection against Omicron strain BA.5 than Omicron strains BA.1 and BA.2. Among the three clinical outcomes, the protective probability against severe disease outcome was better, followed by symptomatic infection, and the protective probability against infection was poor.Copyright © 2023, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.

The Comment on the Economic Performance in 2020Q1

China's economy was hit seriously amid the outbreak of COVID-19 and there arises some doubts about the official GDP growth data. This paper interprets China's GDP growth data in the first quarter of 2020 from the perspective of demand and supply, and explains the relationship between the national GDP and the regional GDP. The research shows that from the demand side, stabilized growth in household's virtual consumption expenditure and the softer decline in government public service consumption expenditure helped to offset the drop of total consumption to some extent;the relatively stable intangible fixed capital formation and the dramatic increase of inventory change counterbalanced the fall in investment demand. The obviously narrowed service trade deficit eased the contraction in net export demand. From the supply side, the emerging services, owner-occupied dwelling service, indirectly measured financial intermediate service and insurance service kept growing, and the public services maintained relatively stable, which to some extent relieved the negative impact from the pandemic on service sector. Meanwhile, the correlation between the growth of electricity consumption and economic growth has been weakened amid the pandemic. In the first quarter, the linkage between the regional and national economic growth was further improved. The economic performance varied across regions given their diversified industrial structure and the pandemic's different impact on different sectors. © 2020, Tsinghua University Press. All rights reserved.

The New Progress and Methods of Privacy Protection on Medical and Health Big Data*

In recent years, due to the emergence of COVID-19(Corona Virus Disease 2019), how to have a higher quality medical environment has become a troubling problem. The proposal of the Office of the State Council on promoting the development of 'Internet plus medical and health' has brought a lot of convenience to the public, but also brought about the problem of data leakage and other user privacy protection. In view of the problems of user's personal information storage and user's health data processing in the medical and health context, how to ensure that these data are not stolen, leaked or tampered with has become a major challenge faced by current researchers. Based on the privacy protection of users in the context of health care, this paper classifies the current privacy protection mechanisms, and introduces the latest progress of related technologies. Finally, according to the integrated information, the research direction of privacy protection technologies in the field of health care is prospected. © 2022 IEEE.

The Antibody Response of an MMF-Containing Immunosuppressive Regimen Aftercovid-19 Vaccination in Asian Heart Transplant Recipient

Organ transplant recipients have diminished humoral immune responses to COVID-19 vaccination than the general population. The current study have reported the risk factors about the antibody response after vaccination. Data from several studies show that to use of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as a major factor associated with poor antibody response after COVID-19 vaccination. But little is known at heart transplant recipients(HTXs) and in Asian race. We performed a single-center, prospective observational cohort study of 59 HTXs from National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan, was conducted between Jun 1, 2021 and July 31, 2022. We identified the response of antibody titers after vaccination and there were stratified into two categories: with MMF;without MMF. Anti‐spike IgG (S‐IgG) antibody was determined at a specified time point, which is 30 days after each dose of vaccine, and a S‐IgG value of 0.8 U/mL or higher was considered positive (Roche Diagnostics). We enrolled 59 patients (age: 53±13 years;86 % were men) with a negative SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibody test. 21 patients received an immunosuppressive regimen with MMF, Among these patients, 21 received an immunosuppressive regimen with MMF (36%) throughout the study period. The time period of vaccine administration between the first and the second dose ranged from 28 to 135 days. The time period between the second and the third dose ranged from 34 to 182 days For those recipient, tacrolimus blood levels is 2.6 to 12.1 ng/mL, MMF is given in dose of 250 to 3000 mg QD, the everolimus(EVR) blood level is 1.6 to 5 ng/mL before the first vaccination. The antibody response positive of HTXs on a MMF-containing immunosuppressive regimen were 13% after first vaccination, whereas the response on the no-MMF regimen was significantly higher at 50% (P = 0.002). And the antibody response titer of an MMF-containing group is were significantly lower than no MMF-containing group (P = 0.019 and P = 0.002) after 1 and 2 vaccinations. An immunosuppressive regimen with MMF (no/with EVR) is hampered the antibody response after COVID-19 2 vaccinations and no significantly after COVID-19 3 vaccinations(p=0.101). The result will not affected by the type of vaccination. This finding should be investigated in larger cohorts, including transplant recipients of all races. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Heart & Lung Transplantation is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Real-World Experience in Conducting Adaptive Platform Trials

Platform trials like RECOVERY, SOLIDARITY, REMAP-CAP, TOGETHER, PRINCIPLE, and many others have dominated the COVID clinical trial effort, changing clinical practice with multiple results in The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. These large-scale international efforts have enrolled tens of thousands of patients and explored dozens of potential therapies for mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19. These trials are the result of a decade of theory and practice building on the experience of oncology platform trials such as I-SPY2. In addition to COVID-19 and oncology, platform trials are now used or planned in Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), antibiotics, psychiatry, and many other clinical areas. Conducting a large-scale platform trial is daunting. While recent platform trial review papers have hundreds of references on the theoretical design issues and research potential of these trials, there is no substitute for the actual real-world experience of implementing an adaptive platform trial, made all the more challenging within a fast-moving global pandemic. This proposed session will investigate the challenges and solutions for successfully executing a platform trial. The proposed speakers bring decades of combined expertise from executing platforms such as ISPY-2, GBM-AGILE, REMAP-CAP, TOGETHER, PRINCIPLE, ANTICOV, HEALEYALS, Precision Promise, and others. They will describe many of the challenges specific to these large global platform trials, and the infrastructure and process needs that underpin these complex trials. The session will consist of 4 speakers with integrated 20-min talks, followed by a question-and-answer period as time allows. Dr. Ed Mills will provide an overview of platform trials and their challenges in relation to simpler clinical trials. Dr. Michelle Detry will sharpen the focus on the complexities specific to trial execution and the interactions between various stakeholders, including publication plans that must account for the perpetual nature of many platform trials. Dr. Anna McGlothlin will then discuss the specific requirements and role of the committee performing the actual interim analyses, and, finally, Dr. Hong Yu will discuss these challenges in the context of the HEALEY-ALS platform trial. All speakers will include examples from their rich realworld experience in implementing complex adaptive platform trials. Speakers (in proposed order) Ed Mills, Cytel COVID-19 has exemplified the utility of platform trials for making clinical and public health decisions in a timely manner. The most useful trials that emerged during the pandemic have been from platform trials. However, with the enthusiasm for platform trials comes the concern that trials should be implemented using methods that many groups are unfamiliar with, such as advanced statistical approaches and implementation of quick changes to the protocols. Challenges exist in interactions with funders, partners managing data sets, and clinical users. This session will use real-world experiences of platform trials in the pandemic to exemplify the utility and challenges of this new approach to clinical evaluation. This talk is for any audience with an interest in clinical trials and will address strategies to promote the use of platform trials while also highlighting the concerns about the quick adoption of this method. Michelle Detry, Berry Consultants Adaptive platform trial designs include interim analyses for pre-specified adaptations, sharing of control arm information, and a perpetual design where investigational agents enter and leave the trial at different time points. This talk will discuss the infrastructure considerations for a perpetual platform trial, ongoing statistical support from both blinded and unblinded statistical teams, setting clear communication channels and firewalls between blinded and unblinded teams, and the role of Data and Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) and their interaction with the independent Statistical Analysis Committe that implements the protocol-specified interim analyses. In addition, ongoing platform trials face unique challenges in determining ''who knows what, when.'' Dr. Detry will discuss planning for public releases of results, and data sharing in situations where an investigational arm may complete their trial arm participation, but the control arm data will still be used for ongoing investigational arms. Anna McGlothlin, Berry Consultants A Statistical Analysis Committee (SAC) is a team of unblinded statisticians tasked with performing the interim analyses for an adaptive trial. The unblinded SAC must have expertise in the statistical methodology being utilized and in the complexities of adaptive designs. This talk will describe the role of the SAC during the preparation and conduct of a platform trial. Responsibilities of the SAC include performing analyses in accordance with the pre-specified design, monitoring each analysis to ensure that the adaptive algorithm is performing as intended, building semi-automated reproducible reports to facilitate quick turnaround of interim results, and partnering with the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) to aid in the interpretation of interim results. In addition, platform trials may have the unique aspect that arms may complete their final read out while other arms continue in the trial. In some cases, the fully unblinded SAC may be the only group that has complete access to the necessary data to perform the final analysis for an arm while other arms continue. Hong Yu, Massachusetts General Hospital A complex adaptive platform trial requires complex infrastructure, and many of the challenges are not revealed when conceiving or planning the trial, but only in the face of actual implementation. In this talk, we will discuss real-world experiences in developing infrastructure for adaptive platform trials, particularly the HEALEY-ALS platform. The specific challenges to be investigated are the required personnel to implement a platform, the system architecture required to support a perpetual trial design beyond the initial set of therapies, and the monitoring and management plans required to maintain robust data throughout multiple interim analyses and periodic reporting of results. Platform trials must be nimble to fulfill their goal of efficiently exploring multiple therapies as quickly as possible. These infrastructure solutions allow the trial to adapt to changing arms, maintain data quality as well as trial integrity, and support multiple sets of results and publications throughout the trial's duration.

Effects of specific doses of E-beam irradiation which inactivated SARS-CoV-2 on the nutrition and quality of Atlantic salmon

The contamination of Atlantic salmon with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has impeded the development of the cold-chain food industry and posed possible risks to the population. Electron beam (E-beam) irradiation under 2, 4, 7, and 10 kGy can effectively inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in cold-chain seafood. However, there are few statistics about the quality changes of salmon exposed to these irradiation dosages. This work demonstrated that E-beam irradiation at dosages capable of killing SARS-CoV-2 induced lipid oxidation, decreased vitamin A content, and increased some amino acids and ash content. In addition, irradiation altered the textural features of salmon, such as its hardness, resilience, cohesiveness, and chewiness. The irradiation considerably affected the L*, a*, and b* values of salmon, with the L* value increasing and a*, b* values decreasing. There was no significant difference in the sensory evaluation of control and irradiated salmon. It was shown that irradiation with 2−7 kGy E-beam did not significantly degrade quality. The inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in salmon is advised at a dose of 2 kGy. © 2022

Losing talent due to COVID-19: The roles of anger and fear on industry turnover intentions

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the US hospitality industry workforce experienced significant job loss via furloughs and job eliminations. Over a year later, the American hospitality industry is now facing a labor shortage. However, there is a dearth of literature explaining why the hospitality industry's response due to a mega-event, like the pandemic, can motivate employees to leave the hospitality industry. Instead, theory and research have primarily focused on organizations as the focal point for understanding turnover, while neglecting the industry. Using the affect theory of social exchange, this paper examined how anger and fear related to job status changes (i.e., being furloughed or laid-off) due to the pandemic, influence intentions to leave the industry. Study 1 used a survey of management-level employees, whereas Study 2 used an experiment to test the proposed model. Both studies showed that employees who lost their job due to the pandemic felt more anger and fear than those still employed. However, mediation analyses revealed anger, but not fear, as the primary driver of industry turnover intentions. These results highlight a potentially problematic trend. Should skilled hospitality workers switch industries due to job loss amidst an industry-wide negative event, it may become difficult for hospitality businesses to find qualified employees once the industry recovers and rehiring begins. © 2022 The Authors

Dynamic Incentive Mechanism Design for COVID-19 Social Distancing

As countries enter the endemic phase of COVID-19, people's risk of exposure to the virus is greater than ever. There is a need to make more informed decisions in our daily lives on avoiding crowded places. Crowd monitoring systems typically require costly infrastructure. We propose a crowdsourced crowd monitoring platform which leverages user inputs to generate crowd counts and forecast location crowdedness. A key challenge for crowd-sourcing is a lack of incentive for users to contribute. We propose a Reinforcement Learning based dynamic incentive mechanism to optimally allocate rewards to encourage user participation.

Risk Factors of In-hospital Death in COVID-19 Patients：a Meta-analysis

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.

Effect of E-beam irradiation on the qualitative attributes of shrimp (Penaeus vannamei)

As a non-thermal food processing technology, Electron beam (E-beam) irradiation has been used to enhance microbial safety by deactivating unwanted spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms in food industry. This study evaluated the effects of E-beam irradiation at doses killing SARS-COV-2 on qualities and sensory attributes. The results showed that irradiation caused little effect on the proximate composition, amino acid content, texture, and sensory attributes (P > 0.05). However, E-beam increased TBARS (Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) and lowered vitamin E content in dose-dependently. Irradiation up to 10 kGy significantly decreased unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) content and inhibited the increase in TVB-N (The total volatile basic nitrogen) while reducing cohesiveness and chewiness (P < 0.05). E-beam irradiation with 7–10 kGy caused greater ΔE values (ΔE > 5) via the significant increase of b*, accompanied by big visual difference in shrimp (P < 0.05). A dose of 4 kGy E-beam irradiation was recommended without altering its physicochemical properties and sensory attributes. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd