[Characteristics and related factors of viral nucleic acid negative conversion in children infected with Omicron variant strain of SARS-CoV-2].

Objective: To understand the characteristics and associated factors of viral nucleic acid conversion in children infected with Omicron variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in Shanghai. Methods: The clinical symptoms, laboratory results and other data of 177 children infected with SARS-CoV-2 who were hospitalized in Shanghai Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (designated hospital for SARS-CoV-2 infection in Shanghai) from April 25 to June 8, 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the chest imaging findings, the children were divided into mild and common type groups. According to their age, the unvaccinated children were divided into<3 years old group and 3-<18 years old group. According to the vaccination status, the children aged 3-<18 year were divided into non-vaccination group, 1-dose vaccination group and 2-dose vaccination group. Comparison between groups was performed by independent sample t-test and analysis of variance, and multivariate linear regression analysis was used for multivariate analysis. Results: Among the 177 children infected with Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, 96 were males and 81 were females, aged 3 (1, 6) years. The time of viral nucleic acid negative conversion was (10.3±3.1) days. The 177 children were 138 cases of mild type and 39 cases of common type. Among the children aged 3-<18 years old, 55 cases were not vaccinated, 5 cases received 1-dose and 36 cases received 2-dose vaccination. Among the 36 children who received 2 doses of vaccination, the time of viral nucleic acid negative conversion was shorter in those vaccinated within 6 months than those over 6 months ((7.1±1.9) vs. (10.8±3.0) d, t=-3.23, P=0.004). Univariate analysis showed that the time of nucleic acid negative conversion of SARS-CoV-2 was associated with age, underlying diseases, gastrointestinal symptoms, white blood cell count, proportion of neutrophils, proportion of lymphocytes, and the number of doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (t=3.87, 2.55, 2.04, 4.24, 3.51, 2.92, F=16.27, all P<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that older age (ß=-0.33, 95% CI -0.485--0.182, P<0.001) and more doses of vaccination (ß=-0.79, 95% CI -1.463--0.120, P=0.021) were associated with shortened nucleic acid negative conversion time in children, while lower lymphocyte proportion (ß=-0.02, 95% CI -0.044--0.002, P=0.031) and underlying diseases (ß=1.52, 95% CI 0.363-2.672, P=0.010) were associated with prolonged nucleic acid negative conversion time in children. Conclusion: The children infected with Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 with reduced lymphocyte proportion and underlying diseases may have longer time of viral nucleic acid negative conversion,while children with older age and more doses of vaccination may have shorter time of viral nucleic acid negative conversion.

Therapeutical drugs for corona virus disease 2019 in clinical use

The global epidemic of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed a serious threat to the safety of people's lives and property. It is still urgent to develop effective drugs against COVID-19. In this review, the clinical therapeutic drugs for COVID-19 patients in China and abroad are summarized from three categories, which are chemical drugs, biological drugs and traditional Chinese medicine, aiming to provide some useful references for clinical treatment and drug discoveries in the future. Copyright © 2022, Chinese Journal of New Drugs Co. Ltd. All right reserved.

Advances in peptidomimetic inhibitors of coronavirus main protease

Coronavirus (CoVs) is a widespread pathogen that can infect humans and animals to cause serious acute and chronic respiratory diseases. Among them, SARS-CoV broke out in 2003, MERS-CoV was discovered and spread widely in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2 emerged at the end of 2019. They all belong to β-coronavirus. Peptidomimetic inhibitors targeting coronavirus main proteases (Mpro, 3CLpro) have attracted much attention because of their broad spectrum and strong antiviral efficacy. In this review, peptidomimetic inhibitors of coronavirus main protease were classified and summarized according to the different "warheads" in design strategy. And also, the molecular structures, biological activity and design ideas of the inhibitors were analyzed and discussed, which is aimed to provide useful reference for further design and development of coronavirus inhibitors.

Application of intelligent sensory technology in the authentication of alcoholic beverages

Alcoholic beverages play an important role in social gatherings and the consumption of alcohol drinks keep increasing worldwide in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic months. The authentication of alcoholic beverage is usually evaluated by trained panels or chromatography analysis. Over the last few decades, intelligent sensory technology (IST) that imitate the human sensory organs have been developed for quality control and authentication of alcoholic beverages. The artificial sensing system consist of arrays of sensors with cross-sensitivity and various pattern recognition methods, which can be used to discriminate or classify the samples based on the detection requirements. Application of IST on wine authenticity have been extensively studied, however, application of IST in authentication of other alcoholic beverages lacks of systemic study. This paper firstly describes the basic mechanism of current IST instruments and then summarizes the applications of IST in alcoholic beverages authenticity assessments, including discrimination of varietal and geographical origins, detection of frauds and adulterations, discrimination of years of aging, distinction of brands and types, aroma analysis, detection of spoilage and off-flavors, and monitoring of the production process. The potential applications and future development of IST in the brewing industry are also discussed.

Assessment of emission reduction effect in Beijing, Tianjin and surrounding 26 cities from January to March in 2020 during the epidemic of COVID-19

In order to evaluate the effect of air pollutions emission reduction in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and its surrounding 26 cities ("2 + 26" cities) from January to March in 2020 during the epidemic of COVID-19, the air quality model of nested air quality prediction modeling system (NAQPMS) was applied to conduct a few scenarios. The characteristics of air quality from January to March 2020, and during the periods before and after the epidemic of COVID-19 were investigated. The influences of meteorology, emergency emission reduction measures and social economic activities on ambient air quality as well as the uncertainties were elucidated and discussed. The results showed that the number of days achieving good and moderate air quality standard in "2+26" cities accounted for 59.6%, on average of 10.9% increase relative to the same period last year. The mean concentration of PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3-8h-90 per and CO-95 per in "2 + 26" cities from January to March in 2020 were 108, 76, 14, 109, 36μg/m3, and 2.3mg/m3, respectively. During the epidemic period from January 24 to March 31, the concentrations of PM10, NO2, PM2.5, and CO decreased significantly compared with the period prior to the epidemic from January 1to 23. In contrast to January to March in 2019, the PM2.5 concentrations of the cities along the Yan mountain and Taihang mountain increased by 1%~8% in 2020. However, the model simulations revealed that the emergency emission reduction measures potentially avoided twice of the regional heavy air pollution events, resulting in the quarterly mean PM2.5 concentration in "2 + 26" cities reduced by 6 to 26μg/m3. Due to the influence of the Spring Festival holiday and epidemic, the traffic emissions were reduced substantially. In contrast, the emissions from the industry such as coking and thermal power did not show large variations, and the negative impact of loose coal combustion on ambient air quality may become even more severe. © 2021, Editorial Board of China Environmental Science. All right reserved.

[Investigation of a cluster epidemic of COVID-19 in Ningbo].

Objective: To investigate a cluster epidemic of COVID-19 after a mass gathering activity in Ningbo of Zhejiang province and analyze the transmission chain and status of infection cases of different generations. Methods: The tracking of all the close contacts of the first COVID-19 case and epidemiological investigation were conducted on January 29, 2020 after a cluster epidemic of COVID-19 related with a Buddhism rally on January 19 (the 1.19 rally) in Ningbo occurred. The swabs of nose/throat of the cases and close contacts were collected and tested for nucleic acids by real-time fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR. Results: From January 26 to February 20, 2020, a total of 67 COVID-19 cases and 15 asymptomatic infection cases related with the 1.19 rally were reported in Ningbo. The initial case was the infection source who infected 29 second generation cases and 4 asymptomatic infection cases, in whom 23 second generation cases and 3 asymptomatic infection cases once took bus with the initial case, the attack rate was 33.82% (23/68) and the infection rate was 38.24% (26/68). The risks of suffering from COVID-19 and being infected were 28.91 times and 26.01 times higher in rally participants taking bus with initial case compared with those taking no bus with initial case. In this epidemic, 37 third+generation cases and 11 related asymptomatic infection cases occurred, the attack rate was 2.88% (37/1 283) and the infection rate was 4.76% (48/1 008). The main transmission routes included vehicle sharing and family transmission. Conclusion: It was a cluster epidemic of COVID-19 caused by a super spreader in a massive rally. The epidemic has been under effective control.