ABSTRACT
Saliva has emerged as a promising noninvasive biofluid for the diagnosis of oral and systemic diseases, including viral infections. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a growing number of studies focused on saliva-based detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Taking advantage of the WoS core collection (WoSCC) and CiteSpace, we retrieved 1021 articles related to saliva-based detection of SARS-CoV-2 and conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. We analyzed countries, institutions, authors, cited authors, and cited journals to summarize their contribution and influence and analyzed keywords to explore research hotspots and trends. From 2020 to 2021, research focused on viral transmission via saliva and verification of saliva as a reliable specimen, whereas from 2021 to the present, the focus of research has switched to saliva-based biosensors for SARS-CoV-2 detection. By far, saliva has been verified as a reliable specimen for SARS-CoV-2 detection, although a standardized procedure for saliva sampling and processing is needed. Studies on saliva-based detection of SARS-CoV-2 will promote the development of saliva-based diagnostics and biosensors for viral detection. Collectively, our findings could provide valuable information to help scientists perceive the basic knowledge landscapes on saliva-based detection of SARS-CoV-2, the past and current research hotspots, and future opportunities.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has spread surprisingly fast worldwide, and new variants continue to emerge. Recently, the World Health Organization acknowledged a new mutant strain "Omicron", with children were accounting for a growing share of COVID-19 cases compared with other mutant strains. However, the clinical and immunological characteristics of convalescent pediatric patients after Omicron infection were lacking. In this study, we comparatively analyzed the clinical data from pediatric patients with adult patients or healthy children and the effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on the clinical and immune characteristics in convalescent pediatric patients. Our results indicated that convalescent pediatric patients had unique clinical and immune characteristics different from those of adult patients or healthy children, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination significantly affected on the clinical and immune characteristics and the prevention of nucleic acid re-detectable positive (RP) in convalescent patients. Our study further deepens the understanding of the impact of Omicron on the long-term health of pediatric patients and provides a valuable reference for the prevention and treatment of children infected with Omicron.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has spread surprisingly fast worldwide, and new variants continue to emerge. Recently, the World Health Organization acknowledged a new mutant strain "Omicron", with children were accounting for a growing share of COVID-19 cases compared with other mutant strains. However, the clinical and immunological characteristics of convalescent pediatric patients after Omicron infection were lacking. In this study, we comparatively analyzed the clinical data from pediatric patients with adult patients or healthy children and the effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on the clinical and immune characteristics in convalescent pediatric patients. Our results indicated that convalescent pediatric patients had unique clinical and immune characteristics different from those of adult patients or healthy children, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination significantly affected on the clinical and immune characteristics and the prevention of nucleic acid re-detectable positive (RP) in convalescent patients. Our study further deepens the understanding of the impact of Omicron on the long-term health of pediatric patients and provides a valuable reference for the prevention and treatment of children infected with Omicron.
ABSTRACT
The development of critical thinking skills is one of the core values of higher education. As an important aspect of visual literacy in the core competencies of undergraduate biology teaching, diagram learning activities have been shown to facilitate students' gains in understanding biology concepts and improving critical thinking skills. To address a need to scaffold students' learning processes of the higher-order cognitive skills in Bloom's Taxonomy via diagram, we have developed an instructional tool using diagrams for online and in-person classes. This teaching and learning tool utilizes a digital canvas created in Microsoft Whiteboard. A diagram of a certain complexity is designed and created by the instructor to model the critical thinking linked to the taught content. Students can work simultaneously to fill in the blanks of the diagram using provided terms and phrases that are derived from lecture slides and aligned with course learning objectives. A moderator, either a peer leader or the instructor, can use this online whiteboard to observe and advise students for their study activities and engage students in discussions in real-time. This customized teaching tool may be particularly useful for introductory biology courses to train first-year students and sophomores to learn biological concepts and mechanisms. More importantly, it helps students comprehend and learn the critical thinking skills embedded in the provided diagrams to prepare them to conduct more complex diagram activities and generate their own diagrams.
ABSTRACT
Background: In less than a year, COVID-19 has swept the world and continued, too, seriously threatening the safety of all mankind, and caused great social panic and global economic and financial crisis. At the beginning, the epidemic was first diagnosed in China and the epidemic was severe. Under the strong command of the highest level of the Chinese government, the whole Chinese people united as one, and achieved initial results in the struggle against COVID-19 with scientific prevention and control.
ABSTRACT
In the spring semester of 2020, colleges and universities adopted online teaching as the primary modality due to campus closure for social distancing. While lectures could be more readily converted to online classes, biology labs were challenging to handle since students could not physically conduct experiments in lab classrooms. In the present report, various online teaching materials, including educational and research videos, simulation labs, and real research data, were utilized to achieve the learning objectives of the originally in-person lab classes of an upper-level undergraduate genetics course. Furthermore, certain advantages of online teaching, such as detailed and high-quality annotation of lecture slides using the Apple Pencil and iPad, were observed. While online teaching has its unique strengths, it could not provide students with hands-on experience in performing real biology experiments to master technical skills; the latter are essential for students to develop a career in conducting research in an academic or industrial laboratory setting. Hence, a well-designed hybrid modality of using online teaching to complement conventional face-to-face instruction may allow for better teaching in undergraduate biology courses.
Subject(s)
Curriculum , Education, Distance , Genetics/education , Laboratories , Students , Universities , HumansABSTRACT
Safe, therapeutically effective, and patient-compliant drug delivery systems are needed to design novel tools and strategies to combat the deadliest of diseases such as cancer, SARS, H7N9 avian influenza, and dengue infection. The major challenges in drug delivery are cytotoxicity, poor biodistribution, insufficient functionality, ineffective drug incorporation in delivery devices, and subsequent drug release. Clay minerals are a class of nanolayered silicates that have good biocompatibility, high specific surface area, chemical inertness, colloid, and thixotropy, and are attractive practical and potential nanomaterials in medicine. These properties enable the usage of nanoclays as drug carriers for the delivery of antibiotics, antihypertensive drugs, anti-psychotic, and anticancer drugs. The review examines the latest advances in nanoclay-based drug delivery systems and related applications in gene therapy and tissue engineering. Clay minerals, particularly montmorillonite, kaolinite, and halloysite are used to delay and/or target drug release or even improve drug dissolution due to their surface charge. Chemical modification of clay minerals such as intercalation of ions into the interlayer space of clay minerals or surface modification of clay minerals is a strategy to tune the properties of nanoclays for the loading and release of a drug. The modified nanoclay can take up drugs by encapsulation, immobilization, ion exchange reaction, or electrostatic interactions. Controlled drug release from the drug-clay originates from the incorporation and interactions between the drug and inorganic layers, including electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. Montmorillonite has proven non-toxic through hematological, biochemical, and histopathological analyses in rat. Montmorillonite can also act as a potent detoxifier. Halloysite nanotubes can bind synthetic and biological components such as chitosan, gelatin, and alginate innate nanocarriers for the improved loading and controlled release of drugs, proteins, and DNA. The peculiar properties of clay nanoparticles lead to promising applications in drug delivery, gene delivery, tissue engineering, cancer and stem cell isolation, and bioimaging.