An effective method for epidemic suppression by edge removing in complex network

Since the birth of human beings, the spreading of epidemics such as COVID-19 affects our lives heavily and the related studies have become hot topics. All the countries are trying to develop effective prevention and control measures. As a discipline that can simulate the transmission process, complex networks have been applied to epidemic suppression, in which the common approaches are designed to remove the important edges and nodes for controlling the spread of infection. However, the naive removal of nodes and edges in the complex network of the epidemic would be practically infeasible or incur huge costs. With the focus on the effect of epidemic suppression, the existing methods ignore the network connectivity, leading to two serious problems. On the one hand, when we remove nodes, the edges connected to the nodes are also removed, which makes the node is isolated and the connectivity is quickly reduced. On the other hand, although removing edges is less detrimental to network connectivity than removing nodes, existing methods still cause great damage to the network performance in reality. Here, we propose a method to measure edge importance that can protect network connectivity while suppressing epidemic. In the real-world, our method can not only lower the government's spending on epidemic suppression but also persist the economic growth and protect the livelihood of the people to some extent. The proposed method promises to be an effective tool to maintain the functionality of networks while controlling the spread of diseases, for example, diseases spread through contact networks. Copyright © 2023 Liang, Cui and Zhu.

The study of the quality control of clinical research related to the prevention and treatment by traditional Chinese medicine

The scientific research on prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a major and urgent task, of which clinical trials occupy a pivotal position in the entire prevention and control system. 204 relative clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been registered on Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. Through the analysis of all online public protocols of registered trials, it is found that the clinical studies of TCM in China showed lack of research foundation, tight time and heavy tasks, difficult clinical implementation, and disturbance by changes of the epidemic status. Based on these characteristics, this paper put forward several thoughts and suggestions on the quality management and design improvement for clinical trials of TCM preventing and treating COVID-19, in order to improve the quality of clinical trials in China, provide effective supports for the public health decision-making on the epidemic, and also give a reference for the prevention and control of epidemics in the future. © 2023 West China University of Medical Science. All rights reserved.

The study of the quality control of clinical research related to the prevention and treatment by traditional Chinese medicine.

The scientific research on prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a major and urgent task, of which clinical trials occupy a pivotal position in the entire prevention and control system. 204 relative clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been registered on Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. Through the analysis of all online public protocols of registered trials, it is found that the clinical studies of TCM in China showed lack of research foundation, tight time and heavy tasks, difficult clinical implementation, and disturbance by changes of the epidemic status. Based on these characteristics, this paper put forward several thoughts and suggestions on the quality management and design improvement for clinical trials of TCM preventing and treating COVID-19, in order to improve the quality of clinical trials in China, provide effective supports for the public health decision-making on the epidemic, and also give a reference for the prevention and control of epidemics in the future. Copyright © 2023 West China University of Medical Science. All rights reserved.

The study of the quality control of clinical research related to the prevention and treatment by traditional Chinese medicine

The scientific research on prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a major and urgent task, of which clinical trials occupy a pivotal position in the entire prevention and control system. 204 relative clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been registered on Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. Through the analysis of all online public protocols of registered trials, it is found that the clinical studies of TCM in China showed lack of research foundation, tight time and heavy tasks, difficult clinical implementation, and disturbance by changes of the epidemic status. Based on these characteristics, this paper put forward several thoughts and suggestions on the quality management and design improvement for clinical trials of TCM preventing and treating COVID-19, in order to improve the quality of clinical trials in China, provide effective supports for the public health decision-making on the epidemic, and also give a reference for the prevention and control of epidemics in the future. Copyright © 2023 West China University of Medical Science. All rights reserved.

Locating Multi-Sources in Social Networks With a Low Infection Rate

With the development of modern technology, numerous economic losses are incurred by various spreading phenomena. Thus, it is of great significance to identify the initial sources triggering such phenomena. The investigation of source localization in social networks has gained substantial attention and become a popular topic of study. For practical spreading phenomena on social networks, the infection rates are relatively low. Hence, a high uncertainty of spreading trace might be incurred, which further incurs the reduction of localization accuracy obtained through existed source localization methods, especially the observer-based ones. Aiming to solve the source localization problem with a low infection rate, we propose a novel localization algorithm, i.e., path-based source identification (PBSI). First, a small number of nodes are selected and designated as observers. After the propagation process triggered by sources, we can obtain a snapshot. Later, a label is assigned to represent whether a node is infected or not, and observers are supposed to record the paths through which nodes are successfully infected. Based on source centrality theory, observers make the labels flow in the direction recorded during the label iteration process, which ensures the labels of nodes in the direction of the source increase gradually. Extensive experiments indicate that the proposed PBSI can handle source localization problems for both single and multi-source scenarios with better performance than that of state-of-the-art algorithms under different propagation models.

Nurses' willingness to participate in public health emergency: A qualitative study in China

Along with the increasing of infections of COVID-19, nurses are needed more in caring patients with COVID-19. The aim of this study is to explore the real intention and influencing factors of the nurses' willingness to participate in public health emergency in facing the COVID-19. A total of 10 nurses who volunteered to care patients with COVID-19 were selected. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews and analyzed by content analysis method based on the theory of planned behavior. Three main categories were attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control. Under the first category, two subcategories were included: nurses' personal and professional value expectation, patriotism. Two subcategories were yielded for the second category: support from family and friends, role model impact of important people. In addition, three subcategories were identified for the third category: physical condition, professional knowledge and skills, national measures and incentive policies. Nurses with high willingness have seven features: high value expectation, patriotism, generous family support, good physical condition, experienced professional knowledge and skills, awareness of national measures and incentive policies. Combined with our previous quantitative study, developing tailored training programs to improve nurses' professional value expectation, knowledge and skills in coping with unwilling attitude and weak perceived behavior control are effective ways.

Dynamic analysis of single-file pedestrian movement with maintaining social distancing in times of pandemic

In order to uncover the characteristics of pedestrian movement under different social distancing measures, we performed a series of single-file experiments considering two types of social distancing measures, namely 1 m and 2 m, and compared them with normal experiments conducted before Covid-19. Firstly, the findings indicate that social distancing measures do make pedestrians keep a greater distance, but there are social distance violations. When the density is greater than 0.23 m(-1), pedestrians have more violations under the measure of 2 m than that of 1 m at the same density. Although the typical stop-and-go wave is still observed in social distancing experiments, the increase in social distancing causes pedestrian stopping behavior to occur at lower density, and shortens the density range of the transition from free flow to jammed flow. Moreover, the headway-speed relation under social distancing measures is not a simple horizontal displacement of that under normal conditions. Although their free speeds are similar, the increase in social distancing makes pedestrians need longer adaption time and more space to transform the motion state. Finally, fundamental diagrams are obtained, and the maximum specific flows for social distancing of 1 m and 2 m is 0.62 s(-1) and 0.53 s(-1), respectively. Apart from the comparison with normal conditions, the comparison with the two-dimensional social distancing experiments shows that pedestrians are more able to comply with the prescribed social distance and stop less in single-file movement. These enrichments offer empirical data of pedestrian movement under different social distancing measures and benefit pedestrian modeling during pandemics.

Consortium-Chain-Based Emergency Medical Equipment Anti-Counterfeiting and Source Traceability System

During the COVID-19 pandemic, business crimes such as piracy and forcing up price of emergency medical equipment like masks and respirators has been threatening people s life. To rapidly construct an effective and practical supervision system of emergency equipment, an consortium-chain-based tracking and anti-counterfeiting system is designed in this paper to provide a transparent and shared database among equipment manufacturer, sales company and consumers. © 2021 Association for Computing Machinery. All rights reserved.

[Preliminary study of the antibody level in confirmed patients with COVID-19 after discharge].

Objective: To analyze the antibody levels and dynamic changes in patients infected with 2019-novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV). Methods: The average age of 72 corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients was (45.53±16.74)years(median age:47 year), including (44.88±17.09) years(median age:46 year) for 38 males and (46.32±16.52)years (median age:46 year) for 34 females in Loudi City, Hunan Province. There is no significant difference in genders between the severe and mild groups (χ²=0.916, P>0.05). There is a significant difference in the age between the severe and mild groups (F=3.315, P<0.05). The blood samples of 72 discharged patients were collected and the consistence of IgM and IgG antibodies were detected by chemiluminescence method. SPSS25.0 was used for gender, age, case type and antibody analysis of variance, χ2 test and other analysis. Results: The average time of the serum samples collection of 72 patients was (34.89±9.02)days (median time: 34 days) from onset of COVID-19, and (14.53±8.35) days (median time: 14 days) from discharge. The positive rate of IgM or IgG was 97.22% (70/72), and the positive rate of IgM and IgG was 48.61% (35/72) and 97.22% (70/72) respectively. Serum COVID-19 antibodies were detected in 72 patients from 1st to 40th days after discharge. The average concentration of IgM in 1-7 days, 8-14 days, 15-21 days, 22-28 days, above 29 days were 21.91(7.07-52.84)AU/ml, 14.16(6.19-32.88)AU/ml, 11.36(6.65-42.15)AU/ml, 8.15(3.66-30.12)AU/ml, 2.98(0.46-6.37)AU/ml. There was no significant difference in the time of IgM antibody concentration (H= 8.439, P>0.05). The average concentrations of IgG in 1-7 days, 8-14 days, 15-21 days, 22-28 days, 29 days and above were 169.90 (92.06-190.91) AU/ml, 163.89 (91.19-208.02) AU/ml, 173.31 (95.06-191.28) AU/ml, 122.84 (103.19-188.34) AU/ml, 101.98 (43.75-175.30) AU/ml, respectively, (H=2.232, P>0.05). The IgM becomes negative after the 3rd week of discharge and decreases rapidly with time. The IgG concentration higher than IgM during the same period, and keep at high level without any change, and decrease in the fourth week. Among them, 5 cases developed "re-infection" within 1-3 weeks after discharge, and the rate of "re-infection" was 6.94% (5/72 cases). Conclusions: After the COVID-19 patients are discharged from the hospital, the level of antibodies produced varies greatly among individuals, but the overall changes in antibodies have a certain pattern. It is recommended to strengthen the antibody monitoring during hospitalization and after discharge from the hospital to reduce the "re-infection" rate and potential risk of infection.

[Preliminary analysis on COVID-19 case spectrum and spread intensity in different provinces in China except Hubei province].

Objective: To analyze the characteristics of COVID-19 case spectrum and spread intensity in different provinces in China except Hubei province. Methods: The daily incidence data and case information of COVID-19 were collected from the official websites of provincial and municipal health commissions. The morbidity rate, severity rate, case-fatality rate, and spread ratio of COVID-19 were calculated. Results: As of 20 March, 2020, a total of 12 941 cases of COVID-19 had been conformed, including 116 deaths, and the average morbidity rate, severity rate and case-fatality rate were 0.97/100 000, 13.5% and 0.90%, respectively. The morbidity rates in Zhejiang (2.12/100 000), Jiangxi (2.01/100 000) and Beijing (1.93/100 000) ranked top three. The characteristics of COVID-19 case spectrum varied from province to province. The first three provinces (autonomous region, municipality) with high severity rates were Tianjin (45.6%), Xinjiang (35.5%) and Heilongjiang (29.5%). The case-fatality rate was highest in Xinjiang (3.95%), followed by Hainan (3.57%) and Heilongjiang (2.70%). The average spread ratio was 0.98 and the spread intensity varied from province to province. Tibet had the lowest spread ratio (0), followed by Qinghai (0.20) and Guangdong (0.23). Conclusion: The intervention measures were effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and improved treatment effect in China. However, there were significant differences among different regions in severity, case-fatality rate and spread ratio.

Mathematical Modeling of Business Reopening When Facing SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Protection, Cost, and Risk

The sudden onset of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has resulted in tremendous loss of human life and economy in more than 210 countries and territories around the world. While self-protections such as wearing masks, sheltering in place, and quarantine policies and strategies are necessary for containing virus transmission, tens of millions of people in the U.S. have lost their jobs due to the shutdown of businesses. Therefore, how to reopen the economy safely while the virus is still circulating in population has become a problem of significant concern and importance to elected leaders and business executives. In this study, mathematical modeling is employed to quantify the profit generation and the infection risk simultaneously from a business entity's perspective. Specifically, an ordinary differential equation model was developed to characterize disease transmission and infection risk. An algebraic equation is proposed to determine the net profit that a business entity can generate after reopening and take into account the costs associated of several protection/quarantine guidelines. All model parameters were calibrated based on various data and information sources. Sensitivity analyses and case studies were performed to illustrate the use of the model in practice. The results show that with a combination of necessary infection protection measures implemented, a business entity may stand a good opportunity to generate a positive net profit while successfully controlling the within-business infection prevalence under that in the general population. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is also found of significant importance, especially at the early stage of business reopening. © Copyright © 2020 Miao, Gao, Feng, Zhong, Zhu, Wu, Swartz, Luo, DeSantis, Lai, Bauer, Pérez, Rong and Lairson.

[Recommendations for general surgery clinical practice in 2019 coronavirus disease situation].

The 2019 coronavirus disease(COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease, has a long incubation period and a variety of clinical manifestations, which has a significant impact on public health and life. Afterwards, scientific and standardized work processing during the epidemic is of great significance for prevention and control. In order to implement the central government's decision-making deployment and defeat the COVID-19 as soon as possible, we had focused on the key points in the clinical work of general surgery according to latest relevant guidelines, literature and experience in epidemic prevention. Finally, we drafted the prevention and control strategies and recommendations to make a reference for medical staff of general surgery to fight against COVID-19.

[Recommendations for general surgery clinical practice in novel coronavirus pneumonia situation].

Novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) is a highly infectious disease, has a long incubation period and a variety of clinical manifestations, which has a significant impact on public health and life. Afterwards, scientific and standardized work processing during the epidemic is of great significance for prevention and control. In order to implement the central government's decision-making deployment and defeat the NCP as soon as possible, we had focused on the key points in the clinical work of general surgery according to latest relevant guidelines, literature and experience in epidemic prevention. Finally, we drafted the prevention and control strategies and recommendations to make a reference for medical staff of general surgery to fight NCP.