[Analysis of non-bacterial respiratory pathogens in children in Ningbo City from 2019 to 2021].

Objective: To investigate the distribution characteristics of respiratory non-bacterial pathogens in children in Ningbo from 2019 to 2021. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 23 733 children with respiratory tract infection who visited the department of pediatrics of Ningbo Women and Children's Hospital from July 2019 to December 2021. There were 13 509 males (56.92%) and 10 224 females (43.08%), with an age range of 1 day to 18 years old. There were 981 cases in the neonatal group (younger than 1 month old), 5 880 cases in the infant group (1 month to younger than 1 year old), 6 552 cases in the toddler group (1 to younger than 3 years old), 7 638 cases in the preschool group (3 to younger than 7 years old), and 2 682 cases in the school-age group (7 to 18 years old). Thirteen respiratory pathogens were detected by multiple polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on capillary electrophoresis, and SPSS 23.0 software was used for statistical analysis of the results, the count data were expressed as percentages, and the χ2 test was used for comparison between groups. Results: Of the 23 733 specimens, 13 330 were positive for respiratory pathogens, with a total positive rate of 56.17%. The positive rates of human rhinovirus (HRV) 24.05% (5 707/23 733), human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) 10.45% (2 480/2 3733) and mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) 7.03% (1 668/23 733) were in the first three. The positive rates of pathogens in the male and female children were 57.47% (7 763/13 509) and 54.45% (5 567/10 224), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=21.488, P<0.001). The positive rates in the neonatal group, infant group, toddler group, preschool group, and school-age group were 31.80% (312/981), 54.71% (3 217/5 880), 63.23% (4 143/6 552), 59.83% (4 570/7 638), 40.57% (1 088/2 682), respectively, and the difference among the groups was statistically significant (χ2=681.225, P<0.001). The single infection rate was 47.43% (11 256/23 733), the mixed infection rate of two or more pathogens was 8.74% (2 074/23 733), most of which were mixed infections of two pathogens. HRV, HADV, HCOV, Ch disseminated in the whole year. HRSV, HMPV, Boca, HPIV occurred mostly in fall and winter. The positive rates of FluA, FluB, Mp were at a low level after the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic (2020 and 2021). The positive rates of FluA, H1N1, H3N2, FluB, HADV, Mp in 2020 were significantly lower than in 2019 (P<0.05). The positive rates of HPIV, HRV, HCOV, Ch in 2020 were significantly higher than in 2019 (P<0.05). The positive rates of FluA, H1N1, H3N2, HPIV, HCOV, Mp, Ch in 2021 were significantly lower than in 2020 (P<0.05). The positive rates of Boca, HMPV, HRSV in 2021 were significantly higher than in 2020 (P<0.05). Conclusion: From 2019 to 2021, the main non-bacterial respiratory pathogens of children in Ningbo City were Mp and HRV, and the detection rates of respiratory pathogens varied among different ages, seasons and genders.

Constructing a virtual destination: Li Ziqi's Chinese rural idyll on YouTube

This paper investigates the key elements of a rural idyll constructed collaboratively by YouTube influencer Li Ziqi and her global audience in order to provide insights on how the imaginaries of a virtual destination help viewers to experience a rural idyll through watching YouTube videos and its implications for rural tourism. We employed grounded theory analysis in analyzing viewer comments to identify several groups of themes that are linked to the theories of Shi Wai Tao Yuan and rural idyll. The paper discusses a rural idyll constructed online and its potential for developing the current system of rural tourism management.

A BIG-DATA ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICE ROBOTS AMID COVID-19

This research note investigates public perceptions of robotic services in the hospitality and tourism industry in the context of COVID-19. Relevant comments from YouTube videos were crawled and analysed by Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques including explorative analysis, sentiment analysis, and topic modelling. The results reveal that while there are supporters and opponents toward robotic services during the pandemic, the overall public sentiment is neutral, and confirm that the health factor and a series of social-cultural factors encompassing the employment concern, political influence, and cultural norm should be involved as more significant variables for COVID-Tourism research. Some practical suggestions for robotic services amidst COVID-19 are accordingly put forward.

Atmospheric-pressure non-equilibrium plasmas for effective abatement of pathogenic biological aerosols

The COVID-19, viral influenza, tuberculosis, and other widespread infectious diseases evidence that pathogenic biological aerosols (PBAs) are a serious threat to public health. Different from traditional inactivation methods, such as ultraviolet (UV) light which are only safe to use when people are not present, and high-efficiency particulate filters (HEPA) which merely filter microbes without killing them, atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma (APNP) has shown its tremendous potential in drastically diminishing the aerosol transmission route of the infectious agents through the abatement of PBAs. The key issues to develop high performance APNP based air purification system are critically reviewed. Systematic studies on the hazards of different PBAs and the spread of PBAs in indoor environments guide the development of APNP sources to control communicable diseases. The key six sampling and seven detection methods on PBAs are introduced to analyze the PBA abatement efficiency by APNP. Seven common APNP sources which can remove viruses and bacteria aerosols efficiently developed during the past 8 years are introduced. For the APNP sources with small plasma volume, the electric field and diffusion driven charging are the dominant mechanisms to charge PBAs, while the common methods of dusty plasma research can be adapted to atmospheric-pressure conditions to describe the charging effects of APNP sources with large plasma volume. Plentiful long- and short-lifetime reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) generated by APNP effectively contribute to inactivation of bacterial aerosols. Current studies suggest that viral aerosols are mainly inactivated by short-lifetime RONS including O-1(2), ONOO- and ONOOH. The study on the dissolution and reaction of gaseous RONS in microdroplets and accurate measurements on the evolution of charged PBAs are envisaged to be the focus of future research. Opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborative research to advance the development of next-generation high-performance plasma-based air purifiers are highlighted.

Blood molecular markers associated with COVID-19 immunopathology and multi-organ damage

COVID-19 is characterized by dysregulated immune responses, metabolic dysfunction and adverse effects on the function of multiple organs. To understand host responses to COVID-19 pathophysiology, we combined transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to identify molecular markers in peripheral blood and plasma samples of 66 COVID-19-infected patients experiencing a range of disease severities and 17 healthy controls. A large number of expressed genes, proteins, metabolites, and extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) exhibit strong associations with various clinical parameters. Multiple sets of tissue-specific proteins and exRNAs varied significantly in both mild and severe patients suggesting a potential impact on tissue function. Chronic activation of neutrophils, IFN-I signaling, and a high level of inflammatory cytokines were observed in patients with severe disease progression. In contrast, COVID-19-infected patients experiencing milder disease symptoms showed robust T-cell responses. Finally, we identified genes, proteins, and exRNAs as potential biomarkers that might assist in predicting the prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These data refine our understanding of the pathophysiology and clinical progress of COVID-19. SYNOPSIS image Proteomics, metabolomics and RNAseq data map immune responses in COVID-19 patients with different disease severity, revealing molecular makers associated with disease progression and alterations of tissue-specific proteins. A multi-omics profiling of the host response to SARS-CoV2 infection in 66 clinically diagnosed and laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients and 17 uninfected controls. Significant correlations between multi-omics data and key clinical parameters. Alteration of tissue-specific proteins and exRNAs. Enhanced activation of immune responses is associated with COVID-19 pathogenesis. Biomarkers to predict COVID-19 clinical outcomes pending clinical validation as prospective marker.