Impact of covid-19 epidemic and large-scale emergency vaccination on the concept and experience of routine immunization among children's parents

Objective To understand the impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic and mass emergency vaccination on parents' perception and experience of immunization. Methods From May 6, 2021 to June 20, 202l, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among 4 171 parents of children using the mobile APP of vaccination service in Guangzhou. Results Of all the respondents, 1 911 of them (45.8%) agreed with the suspension of routine immunization measures during the COVID-19 epidemic, and 1 508 respondents (36.2%) would actively postpone child immunization even if the vaccination clinic was not stopped during the COVID-19 epidemic. 2 959 (70.9%), 2 558 (61. 3%) and 2 399 (57. 5%)respondents were satisfied with the protective measures, on-site order and service quality a ter the resumption of vaccination, respectively. 3 437 respondents (82. 4%) indicated that the COVID-19 epidemic had enhanced their attention to vaccination. A total of 1 415 (33.9%) parents of children said that the discontinuation of vaccination clinics weakened their attention to the timeliness of vaccination, and 1 380 (33.1%) parents agreed that "the postponement of vaccination will not affect the vaccination effect”. Compare to parents with higher education (university or above), parents with young children, parents with secondary education (below university), and parents with older children who were older in age themselves were relatively satisfied with the various protective measures taken by vaccination units during the period of suspension of vaccination clinics and the resumption of vaccination. They believed that the field order and the quality of vaccination service were improved. They were more sensitive to the COVID-19 epidemic and tend to actively delay vaccination. They pay more attention to the importance and timeliness of vaccination, and were vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19 epidemic and medical suspension. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the control measures after the resumption of vaccination, 1 882 (45. 1%) children missed routine vaccination. The top three reasons were that the outpatient clinic only had the appointment number but could not make an appointment, the outpatient clinic reduced the daily dose of vaccination, and the outpatient discontinuation. Conclusion The satisfaction of parents of children in Guangzhou with the prevention and control measures of vaccination clinics during the COVID-19 epidemic and after the resumption of vaccination is above the medium level. The COVID-19 epidemic and the suspension of vaccination clinics have a two-way impact on the immunization concept and behavior of parents of children in Guangzhou, and some parents increase their attention to immunization. A small number of parents weakened their emphasis on the timeliness of vaccination, suggesting that vaccination units need to arrange staff and vaccination time reasonably, relieve the pressure on vaccination caused by the backlog of COVID-19 epidemic, carry out targeted positive publicity and guidance, and spread the correct knowledge of vaccination, so as to eliminate the doubts of children's parents. © 2023, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.

Non-contact sensing system based on GaN optoelectronic chip

As the global spread of COVID-19becomesarapidly19 becomes a rapidly evolvingcrisis,thedevelopmentofcontactlesssharedevolving crisis, the development of contactless shared interactivedisplaysisanurgentiinteractive displays is an urgent issuetoreducetheriskofssue to reduce the risk of viralandbacterialcrosscontaminationduetotheuseofviral and bacterial cross contamination due to the use of touchtouch -operatedshareduserterminals.Here,weoperated shared user terminals. Here, we experimentallydemonstrateacontactlessuserterminalexperimentally demonstrate a contactless user terminal fabricatedwithamonolithicGaNOptoelectronicsystemfabricated with a monolithic GaN Optoelectronic system (MGOS),which(MGOS), which integratesthetransmitterandreceiverintointegrates the transmitter and receiver into asinglechip.a single chip. TheinherentspectralemissionThe inherent spectral emission-responsivenessresponsiveness overlapofGaNQWdiodesgivesthedeviceauniqueabilityoverlap of GaN QW diodes gives the device a unique ability todetectlighttransmittedbydiodesthatsharethesameQWto detect light transmitted by diodes that share the same QW structure.WhentheGaNtransmstructure. When the GaN transm itteremitslighttoitter emits light to illuminateanexternalobject,theintegratedGaNreceiverilluminate an external object, the integrated GaN receiver candetectthereflectedlightencodingtheinformationandcan detect the reflected light encoding the information and converttheopticalsignalintoanelectricalsignal,sothatconvert the optical signal into an electrical signal, so that thenonthe non--contactuserterminalhastheabilitytouselcontact user terminal has the ability to use lightforight for bidirectionaldatacommunication.Comparedtotraditionalbidirectional data communication. Compared to traditional handwritingsystems,theseterminalsoperateascontactlesshandwriting systems, these terminals operate as contactless informationentrydevicesthatcanhelpreducepotentialinformation entry devices that can help reduce potential crosscross--contaminationduetocontactwithhandwritingcontamination due to contact with handwriting terminals,providepterminals, provide precautionstokeeptheenvironmentrecautions to keep the environment clean,andhelppreventvirustransmission.clean, and help prevent virus transmission.

Beyond the Limits of Predictability in Human Mobility Prediction: Context-Transition Predictability

Urban human mobility prediction is forecasting how people move in cities. It is crucial for many smart city applications including route optimization, preparing for dramatic shifts in modes of transportation, or mitigating the epidemic spread of viruses such as COVID-19. Previous research propose the maximum predictability to derive the theoretical limits of accuracy that any predictive algorithm could achieve on predicting urban human mobility. However, existing maximum predictability only considers the sequential patterns of human movements and neglects the contextual information such as the time or the types of places that people visit, which plays an important role in predicting one's next location. In this paper, we propose new theoretical limits of predictability, namely Context-Transition Predictability, which not only captures the sequential patterns of human mobility, but also considers the contextual information of human behavior. We compare our Context-Transition Predictability with other kinds of predictability and find that it is larger than these existing ones. We also show that our proposed Context-Transition Predictability provides us a better guidance on which predictive algorithm to be used for forecasting the next location when considering the contextual information. Source code is at https://github.com/zcfinal/ContextTransitionPredictability.

Support vector regression model for flight demand forecasting

Flight demand forecasting is a particularly critical component for airline revenue management because of the direct influence on the booking limits that determine airline profits. The traditional flight demand forecasting models generally only take day of the week (DOW) and the current data collection point (DCP) adds up bookings as the model input and uses linear regression, exponential smoothing, pick-up as well as other models to predict the final bookings of flights. These models can be regarded as time series flight demand forecasting models based on the interval between the current date and departure date. They fail to consider the early bookings change features in the specific flight pre-sale period, and have weak generalization ability, at last, they will lead to poor adaptability to the random changes of flight bookings. The support vector regression (SVR) model, which is derived from machine learning, has strong adaptability to nonlinear random changes of data and can adaptively learn the random disturbances of flight bookings. In this paper, flight bookings are automatically divided into peak, medium, and off (PMO) according to the season attribute. The SVR model is trained by using the vector composed of historical flight bookings and adding up bookings of DCP in the early stage of the flight pre-sale period. Compared with the traditional models, the priori information of flight is increased. We collect 2 years of domestic route bookings data of an airline in China before COVID-19 as the training and testing datasets, and divide these data into three categories: tourism, business, and general, the numerical results show that the SVR model significantly improves the forecasting accuracy and reduces RMSE compared with the traditional models. Therefore, this study provides a better choice for flight demand forecasting.

Predictive value of C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio for risk of 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia

Objectives: To explore the predictive value of C-reactive protein (CRP)-to-albumin (ALB) ratio (CAR) for the risk of 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia.Methods: A total of 152 patients with severe pneumonia treated from January 2020 to January 2022 were enrolled and assigned into survival group (n=107) and death group (n=45) according to their survival status after treatment for 28 d. Their clinical data were compared, and the influencing factors for 28-day mortality were explored by multiple logistic regression analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to assess the value of CAR for predicting 28-day mortality risk. A risk prediction model was constructed, and its prediction efficiency was evaluated.Results: The death group had significantly older age, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, Murray Lung Injury Score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score, white blood cell count, neutrophil count, red cell volume distribution width, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), fibrinogen, procalcitonin, blood lactic acid (Lac), CRP and CAR and significantly lower oxygenation index and ALB than those of the survival group (p<0.05). APACHE II score, NLR, Lac and CAR were independent risk factors for 28-day mortality (p<0.05). AUC of the established prediction model was 0.826, with sensitivity of 88.45 % and specificity of 87.32 %, indicating high discrimination. The nomogram model had clinical value when the risk threshold probability was 11-93 %.Conclusions: CAR is an independent risk factor that shows a high predictive value for the 28-day mortality risk in patients with severe pneumonia.

Preparation of PLA-based SMS nonwoven composites and its applications in protective apparel

The global COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a huge demand for the protective nonwovens. However, the main raw material of nonwovens comes from petroleum, and the massive consumption of petroleum-based polymers brings great pressure to ecosystem. Therefore, it is significant to develop biodegradable protective barrier products. In this work, a polylactic-based composite (a tri-layer nonwovens composed of spunbond, meltblown and spunbond, SMS) was prepared and applied for protective apparel. The surface morphology and chemical changes of the fibers were characterized and analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The liquid contact angle and permeability, breathability and moisture permeability, frictional charge and mechanical strength of the samples were evaluated and compared. The samples degradability was also recorded. The results demonstrate that the optimum formula for anti-fouling treatment on SMS is F-30. The treated fabric possesses superior liquid repellency and anti-permeability, with contact angles of water and alcohol at 128° and 115° respectively, while the alcohol repellent grade reaches level 7. The treated sample has less strength loss but exhibits favorable breathability, moisture permeability and anti-static properties, which can meet the requirements of protective apparels. After fluorine resin coating, the composite still provide excellent degradation performance, and the weight loss rate reaches more than 80% after 10 days water degradation. These results provide new insights for the application of PLA-based SMS in biodegradable protective apparel. © 2023 The Textile Institute.

Recommendations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has spread worldwide and threatened human's health. With the passing of time, the epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 evolves and the knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 infection accumulates. To further improve the scientific and standardized diagnosis and treatment of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in China, the Chinese Society of Perinatal Medicine of Chinese Medical Association commissioned leading experts to develop the Recommendations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection under the guidance of the Maternal and Child Health Department of the National Health Commission. This recommendations includes the epidemiology, diagnosis, management, maternal care, medication treatment, care of birth and newborns, and psychological support associated with maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is hoped that the recommendations will effectively help the clinical management of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection.Copyright © Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Metaphor analysis of the COVID-19 public health emergency on Chinese national news media

COVID-19 poses a threat to social stability globally, which requires efficacious governance and public cooperation. To handle the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese national news media have mobilized the public to identify and collaborate with the nation. This paper investigates how war, chess, and examination metaphors, nation personification, and metonymies (i.e. the part representing the whole) are utilized in news reports and editorials to achieve the purpose. We adhere to the theoretical framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis and analyze 156 articles that are sourced from Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily from January 22, 2020 to February 13, 2020. Besides demonstrating the specific entailments of these metaphors and metonymies, we also involve scenarios such as the 'Heroic Fight' scenario and the 'Harmonious Family' scenario. Those framing devices function to evoke patriotism and reinforce national identity by activating collective, historical, and cultural memories and evaluating in-group members positively.

Can't Touch This: Rethinking Public Technology in a COVID-19 Era

What do pedestrian crossings, ATMs, elevators and ticket machines have in common? These are just a few of the ubiquitous yet essential elements of public-space infrastructure that rely on physical buttons or touchscreens;common interactions that, until recently, were considered perfectly safe to perform. This work investigates how we might integrate touchless technologies into public-space infrastructure in order to minimise physical interaction with shared devices in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on an ethnographic exploration into how public utilities are being used, adapted or avoided, we developed and evaluated a suite of technology probes that can be either retrofitted into, or replace, these services. In-situ community deployments of our probes demonstrate strong uptake and provide insight into how hands-free technologies can be adapted and utilised for the public domain;and, in turn, used to inform the future of walk-up-and use public technologies.

Study on the risk signal mining related to lopinavir/ritonavir based on the US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System.

Objective: To explore the clinical safety of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) by mining the risk signals of adverse events (AEs) related to LPV/r for the safe application of the drug in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). Method(s): The risk signals related to LPV/r in AE reports of US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) from the first quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2019 were mined by reporting odds ratio (ROR). An AE with reports more than 3 and 95% confidence interval (CI) lower limit of ROR greater than 1 was defined as a positive signal. AEs were counted and classified using the preferred system organ class (SOC) and preferred term (PT) of Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA). The PTs of top 50 adverse event reports and signal strength were selected and analyzed. Result(s): From the first quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2019, a total of 13 335 AE reports with LPV/r as the primary suspicious drug were reported in the FAERS database. Four hundred and fifty-five AE risk signals with reports more than 3 and the 95%CI lower limit of ROR greater than 1 were detected, involving 7 718 AE reports. The top 2 system organs involved in AE reports were "injury, poisoning and procedural complications" [13.6% (1 051/7 718)] and "pregnancy, puerperium and perinatal conditions" [11.7% (899/7 718)]. However, 998 (95.0%) of 1051 AE reports involved in "injury, poisoning and procedural complications" were related to drug exposure during pregnancy. The system organ with the highest signals was "congenital, familial and genetic disorders" [16.3% (74/455)]. In addition, 144 AEs caused by drug interactions were detected, which ranked the 7th in the AE reports. Conclusion(s): The risk signals of fetal, neonatal and infant abnormalities related to LPV/r during pregnancy were detected, suggesting that attention should be paid to the risk of using LPV/r in pregnant women and infants. The interaction between LPV/r and other drugs was also worthy of attention.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

Non-contact sensing system based on GaN optoelectronic chip

As the global spread of COVID-19 becomes a rapidly evolving crisis, the development of contactless shared interactive displays is an urgent issue to reduce the risk of viral and bacterial cross contamination due to the use of touch-operated shared user terminals. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a contactless user terminal fabricated with a monolithic GaN Optoelectronic system (MGOS), which integrates the transmitter and receiver into a single chip. The inherent spectral emission-responsiveness overlap of GaN QW diodes gives the device a unique ability to detect light transmitted by diodes that share the same QW structure. When the GaN transmitter emits light to illuminate an external object, the integrated GaN receiver can detect the reflected light encoding the information and convert the optical signal into an electrical signal, so that the non-contact user terminal has the ability to use light for bidirectional data communication. Compared to traditional handwriting systems, these terminals operate as contactless information entry devices that can help reduce potential cross-contamination due to contact with handwriting terminals, provide precautions to keep the environment clean, and help prevent virus transmission. © 2023 IEEE.

Institutional and individual investors' short-term reactions to the COVID-19 crisis in China

This study examines how the severity of the local COVID-19 crisis affected the investment divergence between institutional and individual investors in China. The COVID-19 crisis significantly increased both environmental uncertainty and fear sentiment. We predict that individual investors, who are at an information disadvantage and rely more on heuristics, are more likely than institutional investors to decrease their investments in stocks of firms headquartered in provinces with more severe COVID-19 crisis. We find that the number of newly confirmed local COVID-19 cases is positively associated with the investment divergence between institutional and individual investors. Further analysis shows that the investment divergence is much lower for firms that have higher information disclosure quality, are followed by more analysts and engage Big 4 auditors. We also find that subsequent price reversals are faster for stocks with higher net investments by institutional investors and slower for stocks with higher net investments by individual investors. Lastly, we find that institutional investors increase their investments in undervalued stocks of firms located in provinces with more severe COVID-19 crisis and firms less affected by the pandemic, whereas individual investors decrease such investments. The results suggest that institutional investors are more sophisticated in identifying undervalued stocks and analysing the impact of the information about the pandemic prevention policies on firms' operations. Our main results hold after a battery of robustness tests. © 2023 Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand.

An Effective COVID-19 CT Image Denoising Method Based on a Deep Convolutional Neural Network

Background: Faced with the global threat posed by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), as the primary diagnostic tool, is often accompanied by high levels of noise. This can easily interfere with the radiologist's assessment. Convolutional neural networks (CNN), as a method of deep learning, have been shown to have excellent effects in image denoising. Objective: The objective of the study was to use modified convolutional neural network algorithm to train the denoising model. The purpose was to make the model extract the highlighted features of the lesion region better and ensure its effectiveness in removing noise from COVID-19 lung CT images, preserving more important detail information of the images and reducing the adverse effects of denoising. Methods: We propose a CNN-based deformable convolutional denoising neural network (DCDNet). By combining deformable convolution methods with residual learning on the basis of CNN structure, more image detail features are retained in CT image denoising. Results: According to the noise reduction evaluation index of PSNR, SSIM and RMSE, DCDNet shows excellent denoising performance for COVID-19 CT images. From the visual effect of denoising, DCDNet can effectively remove image noise and preserve more detailed features of lung lesions. Conclusion: The experimental results indicate that the DCDNet-trained model is more suitable for image denoising of COVID-19 than traditional image denoising algorithms under the same training set. © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

Strategies for general surgery related issues in the treatment of critically ill patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

In order to improve the cure rate of critically ill patients in Wuhan epidemic area and reduce the fatality rate, the state have dispatched medical staffs from the whole country to support Wuhan and treat critically ill patients in dedicated facilities. A medical team from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, consisting of 133 medical staffs major in critical care medicine, respiralogy, infection, cardiology, and general surgery, entirely took over the critical care unit of the East Hospital of the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, and formed a multidisciplinary collaboration team with local medical staffs to treat patients together. Up to March 13th in 2020, the author's medical team has admitted a total of 109 patients, of which 48 had been discharged up on recovery. Critically ill patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019 mainly have elder age, comorbidities, complicated conditions, and difficult diagnosis and treatment. The author and the author's team combined with clinical practice, share experience and strategies of general surgery related issues in the treatment of critically ill patients, providing reference for collegues in general surgery.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

Can the Social Network Hinder the Impact of COVID-19 on Economic Uncertainty? New Evidence from China

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic uncertainty and its spillover network based on social network analysis. The study constructs the inter-provincial Chinese economic uncertainty spillover network using a mixed frequency dataset and the provincial social network using microblog user data. Furthermore, the temporal exponential random graph model is used to analyze the impact of COVID-19 and social network during three periods. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affects China's provincial economic uncertainty and social network significantly hinders economic uncertainty spillover networks. The inhibitory effect of social networks on uncertainty spillover network has regional heterogeneity, which is more significant in provinces severely affected by the pandemic and strictly controlled. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Evaluation and Prediction of COVID-19 Case Fatality Rates from 156 countries

Background: Understanding the key factors affecting case fatality rates (CFRs) of COVID-19 is essential to guiding national response to pandemics. We aimed to investigate the country and period features of CFR in COVID-19 and predict the changes in CFR. Method(s): Cross-temporal and cross-country variations in CFR were identified by Extreme Gradient Boosting models using multiple features, and the effects of features were explained by applying SHapley Additive exPlanations. Result(s): The determinants of CFR changed during the COVID-19 pandemic from health conditions to a mixed effect dominated by vaccination rates (Fig 1). Overall, most countries have concurrent risk factors besides the main risk factors, and 156 countries were grouped into five clusters based on key CFR risk factors (Fig 1). A low vaccination rate drove cluster 1 was found primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Aging drove cluster 2, primarily distributed in the high-income European countries, and a high burden of disease characterises cluster 3 and low GDP related cluster 4 were scattered across continents. Furthermore, simulating a 5% increase in vaccination rates resulted in a 31.2% and 15.0% change in CFR for cluster 1 and cluster 3, respectively, but only 3.1% for cluster2. (Fig 1). Conclusion(s): The features affecting COVID-19 CFRs show diversity across countries, and declining CFRs require more than increasing vaccination coverage. (Figure Presented).

Retrospective Analysis of the Duration of Hospitalization of Imported Patients Infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Guangzhou, 2021

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 is "not over,"in fact, the "dynamic clearing"policy for SARS-CoV-2 control and prevention in China has been firmly enforced. This study aimed to analyze the clinical symptoms and dynamic viral RNA changes in 2021 at Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital. This study showed that 31.4% of the patients (695/2212) tested negative for viral RNA from admission to the final release from quarantine. Of all negative cases, 86.5% (601/695) remained in the hospital for no more than 5 days and were asymptomatic or mild. Among the remaining 402 patients who stayed for no more than 5 days, 76.4% (307/402) were viral RNA retest positive during the isolation stage. However, 96.4% of the peak viral RNA (296/307) was over Ct = 33 cycles during the isolation stage. © Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.