Disparities in Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms among Young Adults in the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background of the study: The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted people's daily lives, while the influence on behaviors and mental health among college students at the early stage of this pandemic is rarely studied. Objective: This study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the early stage on college students' physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and depressive symptoms and its impact on sex and ethnic disparities in these outcomes. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 111 college students were recruited, and the data were collected before COVID-19 (n = 64) and in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 47), respectively. All participants completed a survey measuring depressive symptoms and wore an accelerometer to monitor PA behavior (light PA [LPA], moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA]), and sedentary behavior. Results: More MVPA engagement and lower levels of depressive symptoms were observed in the early-stage COVID-19 group compared to the before-COVID-19 group. The magnitude of the sex and ethnicity disparities in PA and depressive symptoms were reduced in the early-stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Understanding college students' behaviors and mental health in the midst of a global crisis can be useful to determine appropriate strategies to address health and wellness in the chance of the lockdown returning and to further promote this vulnerable population's physical and mental wellness.

Anxiety, depression, and somatic symptom disorders in health care workers at high altitude during the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant: A prospective cohort study.

Objective: The ongoing spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant and hypoxia exposure to high altitude are the susceptible factors of people's psychological abnormalities, especially the health care workers (HCWs) in the front line of the epidemic. There is no dynamic observation data on the prevalence of mental health disorders among HCWs at high altitude. The study is to assess the prevalence of mental health outcomes and its influencing factors among HCWs at high altitude exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Methods: This prospective cohort study collected sociodemographic data and mental health measurements from 647 HCWs in 3 hospitals in Xining, Qinghai province from 13 April to 4 May 2022. After the mental health intervention for the above-mentioned people in the Chengdong district, we collected mental health indicators on days 7 and 14, respectively. We used the generalized linear model and the generalized estimation equation and for further analysis. Results: The baseline cross-sectional survey of 647 HCWs in the Chengdong and Chengbei districts of Xining, Qinghai province shows that the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and somatic disorders were 45.75, 46.52, and 52.55%, respectively. The multivariable model showed that chronic diseases and nucleic acid collection were associated with increased scores of GAD-7, PHQ-9, and PHQ-15. And the GAD-7 score of HCWs with elderly people at home increased by 0.92 points. Subsequent repeated measurements of the mental health of HCWs in Chengdong district in Xining, Qinghai province, showed that anxiety, depression, and somatic disorders were significantly relieved, and physical exercise showed a significant protective effect, while loans and nucleic acid collection showed an adverse effect after 2 weeks of intervention. Additionally, engaged in nucleic acid collection was the risk factor of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: In this survey of HCWs on frontline at high altitude during the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, participants reported experiencing mental health disorders, especially in those with chronic disease, loans, and those who worked with longer hours and engaged in nucleic acid collection in Xining, Qinghai province, China. Exercise may help to improve anxiety and physical disorders.

An Efficient Face Mask Wearing Detection Algorithm Based on Improved YOLOv3

In recent years, the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) epidemic has raged around the world, with more than 500 million people diagnosed. Relevant medical research and analysis results on Covid-19 indicate that wearing masks is an effective method to prevent and restrain virus transmission. Mask detection stations have been set up in hospitals, railway stations, schools, where there is large crowd flow, but results are not as good as expected. In order to ameliorate pandemic preventing and control measures, a mask wearing detection algorithm YOLOv3-M3 was designed and proposed in this paper. The algorithm can effectively detect people without mask, while consequently reminding them. Firstly, we substituted the feature extraction network of YOLOv3 with MobileNetv3, a lightweight convolutional neural network. Secondly, we utilized K-Means++ to substitute the original ground truth clustering algorithm to improve prediction precision. In addition, the bounding box regression loss function was revised as CIoU loss function. This loss function solves the issues of overlapping between the ground truth and the anchor box, which has increased the training speed. After experiments, the precision of YOLOv3 algorithm on mAP 0.5 and mAP 0.75 is 93.5% and 71.9%, respectively. Elevating 3.1% and 2.6%, respectively, higher than that of YOLOv3 algorithm, and it was superior to SSD, SSD Lite, YOLOv3-Tiny and other one-stage object detection algorithms. The detection speed can reach 13.6 frame/s, which has met the requirements of pandemic prevention and control in most places and can be deployed on terminal devices for object detection. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Social-Ecological Factors Predict College Students’ Physical Activities and Sedentary Behavior

Guided by the socio-ecological model, the aim of this study was to investigate the predictive strengths of individual, social, and physical environmental factors toward different intensities of physical activity (PA;vigorous PA, moderate PA, walking) and sedentary behavior (SB) among college students. A cross-sectional research design was used. There were 287 college students (Mage = 20.75 ± 2.91;54% female) recruited from a public research university in the Southwestern United States. Participants completed previously validated questionnaires assessing their PA, SB, and perceptions of self-efficacy, social support, and physical environment variables. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were performed to examine the associations and the relative contributions of those individual, social, and physical environmental factors to PA and SB, respectively. The findings indicated that self-efficacy, social support from friends, and convenience of using exercise facilities were positively correlated with vigorous PA. Self-efficacy and physical environmental factor such as convenience of using exercise facilities were significantly associated with students’ moderate PA. Physical environmental factors, including convenience of using exercise facilities, satisfaction with neighborhood services, ease of walking to public transportation stop, and detached single-family residence were significantly related to walking, while only detached single-family residence was associated to SB. The results highlight PA interventions may do well to focus on the promotion of individual and environmental variables to increase PA in college students. More evidence is needed to determine the relationships between social ecological factors and SB.

Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among People Living With HIV in Wuhan, China.

Background: In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, people living with HIV (PLWH) face more challenges. However, it is unclear if PLWH is more susceptible to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection than HIV-negative individuals. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the associated risk factors among PLWH. Methods: From 1 to 30 May 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional survey that enrolled 857 PLWH and 1,048 HIV-negative individuals from the Wuchang district in Wuhan, China. Our data analysis compared the rate of the SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH and HIV-negative participants, and the proportions of symptomatic patients and asymptomatic infectors between the two groups. We also assessed the risk factors associated with the SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH. Results: Overall, 14/857 (1.6%) PLWH and 68/1,048 (6.5%) HIV-negative participants were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Among the SARS-CoV-2-infected PLWH participants, 6/14 (42.8%) were symptomatic patients, 4/14 (28.6%) were SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid-positive asymptomatic infectors, and 4/14 (28.6%) were serology-positive asymptomatic infectors. Among the infected HIV-negative participants, 5/68 (7.4%) patients were symptomatic and 63/68 (92.6%) were serology-positive asymptomatic infectors. The rate of the SARS-CoV-2 infection was lower among the PLWH than in the HIV-negative group (1.96% vs. 5.74%, p = 0.001) and the rate of morbidity among the symptomatic patients was similar between the two groups (p = 0.107). However, there were more serology-positive asymptomatic infectors among the infected HIV-negative participants than among the infected PLWH (0.54% vs. 5.46%, p = 0.001). Furthermore, being 50 years or older (aOR = 4.50, 95% CI: 1.34-15.13, p = 0.015) and having opportunistic infections (aOR = 9.59, 95% CI: 1.54-59.92, p = 0.016) were associated with an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH. Conclusions: PLWH has more varied forms of the SARS-CoV-2 infection than the HIV-negative population and should, therefore, undertake routine screening to avoid late diagnosis. Also, older age (≥50 years) and having opportunistic infections increase the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH.

Driving force of COVID-19 among people living with HIV in Wuhan, China.

BACKGROUND: Although people living with HIV (PLWH) were considered to be at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the driving force among this group of individuals is still not clear. METHODS: We investigated 1,709 PLWH through a telephone interview and identified 11 COVID-19 patients in four districts of Wuhan, China. The demographic features and major clinical characteristics of these patients were retrieved from the information management systems for COVID-19 patients of the four districts' CDC. Statistical analysis was performed to find out the driving force of COVID-19 among PLWH. RESULTS: The prevalence of COVID-19 in PLWH is 0.6% (95% CI: 0.2% - 1.0%), which is comparable to the overall population prevalence in Wuhan city (0.6%). Nine out of the 11 COVID-19 patients had relatively high CD4+ T lymphocyte count (>200/µl) and undetectable HIV viral load (<20 copies/ml), and ten of them were on antiretroviral therapy. Older PLWH with low CD4 + count, got HIV infected through homosexual activity, and had been diagnosed with HIV for a long time, were more likely to develop COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 related morbidity rates were comparable between PLWH and the general population. Older age with low CD4 count, an extended period of HIV diagnosis, and treatment-naivety were potential driving forces of COVID-19 prevalence among PLWH. Strategies for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH with weak immune responses are required.

Distinct Infection Forms of SARS-CoV-2 Among People Living With HIV.

BACKGROUND: People living with HIV (PLWH) are immunodeficient, it is vague if they are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection than HIV negative individuals. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 857 PLWH and 1048 HIV negative individuals were enrolled from the Wuchang district in Wuhan, China. We compared the total rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the rate of COVID-19, asymptomatic carriers, and unapparent infectors in the two groups. The risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH were explored. RESULTS: Fourteen out of 857 (1.63%) PLWH were infected with SARS-CoV-2, while 68 of 1048 (6.49%) HIV negative individuals were infected. In PLWH, there were 6 confirmed COVID-19 (0.70%), 4 asymptomatic carriers (0.47%) and 4 unapparent infectors (0.47%). In the HIV negative group, the cases of COVID-19, asymptomatic carrier, and unapparent infector were 5 (0.48%), 0 (0.00%), and 63 (6.01%), respectively. After adjusting for age, gender, and chronic comorbidities, the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in PLWH was lower than that in HIV negative group (1.96% vs 5.74%, P=0.001). The morbidity of COVID-19 was similar between the two groups (P=0.107), but the rate of unapparent infection in PLWH was lower than that in the HIV negative group (0.54% vs 5.46%, P=0.001). Older age (aOR=4.50, 95%CI: 1.34-15.13, P=0.015) and OIs (aOR=9.59, 95%CI: 1.54-59.92, P=0.016) were risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH. CONCLUSIONS: PLWH has different infection forms of SARS-CoV-2 compared with the general population. Older age and OIs were considered to driving causes of SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWH.

Chinese medicine treatment of mastitis in COVID-19 patients: A protocol for systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Assessing the effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicine for the mastitis in COVID-19 patients is the main purpose of this systematic review protocol. METHODS: The following electronic databases will be searched from inception to April 2020: MEDLINE, Ovid, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), VIP Database and Wanfang Database. In addition, Clinical trial registries, like the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), the Netherlands National Trial Register (NTR) and ClinicalTrials.gov, will be searched for ongoing trials with unpublished data. No language restrictions will be applied. The primary outcome will be the time of disappearance of main symptoms (including fever, asthenia, cough disappearance rate, and temperature recovery time), and serum cytokine levels. The secondary outcome will be the accompanying symptoms (such as myalgia, expectoration, stuffiness, runny nose, pharyngalgia, anhelation, chest distress, dyspnea, crackles, headache, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea) disappear rate, negative COVID-19 results rate on 2 consecutive occasions (not on the same day), CT image improvement, average hospitalization time, occurrence rate of common type to severe form, clinical cure rate, and mortality. Two independent reviewers will conduct the study selection, data extraction and assessment. RevMan V.5.3 will be used for the assessment of risk of bias and data synthesis. RESULTS: The results will provide a high-quality synthesis of current evidence for researchers in this subject area. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of the study will provide an evidence to judge whether Chinese medicine is effective and safe for mastitis in COVID-19 patients. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020189924.

Driving Force of Covid-19 Among People Living With HIV/AIDS in Wuhan, China.

Background: Even people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) were considered to be at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the driving force among this group of individuals is still not clear. Methods : We investigated 1,701 PLWHA through a telephone interview and found 11 COVID-19 patients in four districts of Wuhan, China. The demographic features and major clinical characteristics of these patients were retrieved from the information management systems for COVID-19 patients of four districts' CDC. Statistical analysis was performed to find out the driving force of COVID-19 among PLWHA. Results : The incidence proportion of COVID-19 in PLWHA is 0.6% (95% CI: 0.2% - 1.0%), which is comparable to the overall population incidence rate in Wuhan city (0.6%). Nine out of the 11 COVID-19/AIDS patients had relatively high CD4+ T lymphocyte count (>200/µl) and undetectable HIV viral load (＜20 copies/ml), and ten of them were on antiretroviral therapy. PLWHA who were old, had low CD4+ T lymphocyte count, infected HIV through homosexual activity, and had been diagnosed for HIV for a long time, were more likely to develop COVID-19. Conclusions: PLWHA has comparable COVID-19 morbidity rates as the general population, and older age, low CD4 count, long length since HIV diagnosis, and treatment-naive were potential driving forces of COVID-19 occurrence among PLWHA. Strategies in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWHA with worse immune responses are needed. Article Summary Line: As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are also at risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2. We investigated the factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among PLWHA in Wuhan, China.

Epidemiology of COVID-19 in older persons, Wuhan, China.

BACKGROUND: the epidemiological characteristics of older patients with COVID-19 was far from clear. OBJECTIVE: to explore the epidemiology of older patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. DESIGN: a retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: a population-based study. SUBJECTS: the resident older patients (>65 years) diagnosed with COVID-19. METHODS: city-wide case series reported to Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 12 December 2019 to 17 March 2020 were included. The epidemic curves were constructed by dates of disease onset. RESULTS: 14,238 confirmed COVID-19 cases were older persons. The number of male cases were slightly less than female cases (1:1.01). The attack rate of COVID-19 in the older persons was 11.49‰ in Wuhan. There was a rapid increase of disease at the early stage of the epidemic and then a gradual and steady decrease was performed. 3,723 (26.15%) and 734 (5.16%) patients were diagnosed as severe and critical cases, respectively. The attributable crude fatality ratio of COVID-19 in the older population was 222.57/100,000, and the crude fatality ratio of COVID was 19.37%. The proportion of severe and critical cases, and fatality ratio were both higher in downtown area and increased with age. CONCLUSIONS: the older persons are sensitive to COVID-19. The proportion of severe and critical cases and fatality ratio are higher than that in children and younger adults. Strengthen the protection and control strategies for the older adults are of priorities. More detailed epidemiological and clinical information should be measured in further studies.