ABSTRACT
Background:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious and even lethal respiratory illness. The mortality of critically ill patients with COVID-19, especially short term mortality, is considerable. It is crucial and urgent to develop risk models that can predict the mortality risks of patients with COVID-19 at an early stage, which is helpful to guide clinicians in making appropriate decisions and optimizing the allocation of hospital resoureces.Methods:In this retrospective observational study, we enrolled 949 adult patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to Tongji Hospital in Wuhan between January 28 and February 12, 2020. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval for assessing the risk factors for 30-day mortality.Results:The 30-day mortality was 11.8% (112 of 949 patients). Forty-nine point nine percent (474) patients had one or more comorbidities, with hypertension being the most common (359 [37.8%] patients), followed by diabetes (169 [17.8%] patients) and coronary heart disease (89 [9.4%] patients). Age above 50 years, respiratory rate above 30 beats per minute, white blood cell count of more than10 × 109/L, neutrophil count of more than 7 × 109/L, lymphocyte count of less than 0.8 × 109/L, platelet count of less than 100 × 109/L, lactate dehydrogenase of more than 400 U/L and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein of more than 50 mg/L were independent risk factors associated with 30-day mortality in patients with COVID-19. A predictive CAPRL score was proposed integrating independent risk factors. The 30-day mortality were 0% (0 of 156), 1.8% (8 of 434), 12.9% (26 of 201), 43.0% (55 of 128), and 76.7% (23 of 30) for patients with 0, 1, 2, 3, ≥4 points, respectively.Conclusions:We designed an easy-to-use clinically predictive tool for assessing 30-day mortality risk of COVID-19. It can accurately stratify hospitalized patients with COVID-19 into relevant risk categories and could provide guidance to make further clinical decisions. © 2021 The Chinese Medical Association, Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To establish a high-throughput platform for drug discovery targeting receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, a surface display system was designed and constructed to deliver functional RBD to the surface of Pichia pastoris. Methods: Four anchor molecules were fused to RBD, and then were transformed into Pichia pastoris by using electroporation. The surface display efficiency of RBD was measured using flow cytometry, and the affinity of RBD binding to the ACE2 receptor was further determined. Results: RBD-Sed1p system exhibited the highest surface display efficiency of 70%. The binding affinity to ACE2 of RBD displayed on the cellular surface (KD=30.42 nmol/L) was close to that of RBD in solution (KD=16.00 nmol/L). Conclusion: A surface display system of RBD was successfully developed in Pichia pastoris, which can be used for high-throughput screening and evaluation of anti-COVID-19 drugs. © 2022, China Biotechnology Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
While the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have yet to be determined, its immediate impact on crowdfunding is nonetheless significant. This study adopts a computational approach to better understanding this consequence. We aim to gain insight into whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed crowdfunding. Using a unique dataset of all GoFundMe campaigns published over the past 2 years, we explore the factors that have led to successfully funded crowdfunding projects. In particular, we study a corpus of 36,370 projects from November 2018 to December 2020 by analyzing cover images and other attributes commonly found on crowdfunding sites. We first construct a classifier and a regression model to assess the importance of features based on XGBoost. Next, we employ counterfactual analysis to investigate the causality between features and the success of crowdfunding. Furthermore, sentiment analysis and paired sample t-tests are performed to examine differences in crowdfunding campaigns before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. Findings suggest a significant racial disparity in crowdfunding success. In addition, sad emotions expressed in a campaign's description became significant after the COVID-19 outbreak. This study enriches our understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crowdfunding as well as the prevalence of discrimination in crowdfunding.
ABSTRACT
Plastic waste caused by the extensive usage of face masks during COVID-19 pandemic has become a severe threat to natural environment and ecosystem. Herein, an eco-friendly approach to repurpose face mask waste for clean water production via solar thermal evaporation is proposed. By taking advantage of its interwind structure, face mask holds the promise to be an ideal candidate material for constructing photothermal evaporator. In-situ surface modifications are performed successively with polyvinyl alcohol and polypyrrole to improve its wettability and solar absorption (97%). The obtained face mask-based evaporator achieves significantly enhanced solar efficiency (91.5%) and long-term salt-rejection stability. The harvested clean water befits plant growing to enable farming on sea surface. A floating photothermal evaporation prototype is then developed to demonstrate autonomous solar ocean farming, with plants successfully cultivated over time. As such, the proposed strategy provides a promising solution towards ecological sustainability by tapping multiple benefits.
ABSTRACT
Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are a class of cationic surfactants routinely used for the disinfection of industries, institutions and households, and have seen a sharp increase in use during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, current commercial QACs consist of only stable chemical bonds such as C-N, C-C, and C-H, which makes their natural degradation rather difficult. Recent studies suggest that emerging negative environmental impacts, such as systemic antibiotics resistance and toxicity to living organisms, are directly associated with prolonged exposure to QACs. Here we report a new class of QAC which contains relatively volatile chemical functional groups such as ester and thioether bonds. Degradation kinetics in aqueous solutions suggests that the stability of these QACs depends not only on their intrinsic hydrophobicity but also on external environmental factors such as pH, temperature and ion presence. The microbicidal effects of QACs containing carbon chains with various lengths were also tested, one of which, named "Ephemora", is highly active against a broad spectrum of microbes including fungi, bacteria and viruses, for instance, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The easy synthesis and purification of Ephemora starting from inexpensive commercially available reagents, together with its excellent antimicrobial activity and ability to degrade in natural waters over time, make its large-scale commercial production possible.