Does It Matter to Establish a Strategic Partnership for COVID-19 Prevention and Control? The Perspective of Multiple Distances in Emerging Economies

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has impacted the politics, economy and society of countries around the world. The public health diplomacy system through which developed countries in Europe and America used to provide vertical one-way assistance to developing countries faces huge challenges. How emerging economies can cooperate to fight the pandemic on the basis of mutual trust and mutual benefit has become an urgent issue. In this paper, we examine the impact of political mutual trust on the effectiveness of pandemic prevention and control from the perspective of establishing strategic partnerships between emerging economies. Furthermore, taking into account the huge differences between emerging economies, this paper explores institutional distance, cultural distance, and geographical distance—the adjustment effect of the control effect. Studies have shown that the improvement of political mutual trust is conducive to the formation of a community of shared futures between countries and has a positive effect on curbing the spread of the pandemic. The increase of the three-dimensional distance of institutions, culture, and geography will weaken the effect of establishing strategic partners for pandemic prevention and control. This paper explores a new model of horizontal international cooperation among emerging economies, and provides a reference for emerging economies to deal with common globalization issues in the future.

Frontiers of COVID-19-related myocarditis as assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. In some patients, COVID-19 is complicated with myocarditis. Early detection of myocardial injury and timely intervention can significantly improve the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients. Although endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is currently recognized as the 'gold standard' for the diagnosis of myocarditis, there are large sampling errors, many complications and a lack of unified diagnostic criteria. In addition, the clinical methods of treating acute and chronic COVID-19-related myocarditis are different. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) can evaluate the morphology of the heart, left and right ventricular functions, myocardial perfusion, capillary leakage and myocardial interstitial fibrosis to provide a noninvasive and radiation-free diagnostic basis for the clinical detection, efficacy and risk assessment, and follow-up observation of COVID-19-related myocarditis. However, for the diagnosis of COVID-19-related myocarditis, the Lake Louise Consensus Criteria may not be fully applicable. COVID-19-related myocarditis is different from myocarditis related to other viral infections in terms of signal intensity and lesion location as assessed by CMR, which is used to visualize myocardial damage, locate lesions and quantify pathological changes based on various sequences. Therefore, the standardized application of CMR to timely and accurately evaluate heart injury in COVID-19-related myocarditis and develop rational treatment strategies could be quite effective in improving the prognosis of patients and preventing potential late-onset effects in convalescent patients with COVID-19.

Malnutrition predicts poor outcomes in diabetic COVID-19 patients in Huangshi, Hubei.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has spread throughout the world, which becomes a global public health emergency. Undernourishment prolongs its convalescence and has an adverse effect on its prognosis, especially in diabetic patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of undernourishment and to determine how it is related to the prognostic outcomes in the diabetic patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A retrospective, multicenter study was conducted in 85 diabetic COVID-19 patients from three hospitals in Hubei Province. All patients were assessed using the European Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and other nutritional assessments when admitted. Of them, 35 (41.18%) were at risk of malnutrition (NRS score ≥3). Severe COVID-19 patients had a significantly lower level of serum albumin and prealbumin and higher NRS score than non-severe patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that serum prealbumin and NRS score increased the likelihood of progression into severe status ( P<0.05). Meanwhile, single factor and multivariate analysis determined that grade of illness severity was an independent predictor for malnutrition. Furthermore, prealbumin and NRS score could well predict severe status for COVID-19 patients. The malnutrition group (NRS score ≥3) had more severe illness than the normal nutritional (NRS score <3) group ( P<0.001), and had a longer length of in-hospital stay and higher mortality. Malnutrition is highly prevalent among COVID-19 patients with diabetes. It is associated with severely ill status and poor prognosis. Evaluation of nutritional status should be strengthened, especially the indicators of NRS-2002 and the level of serum prealbumin.