Egg Yolk Antibody for Passive Immunization: Status, Challenges, and Prospects.

The immunoglobulin Y (IgY) derived from hyperimmune egg yolk is a promising passive immune agent to combat microbial infections in humans and livestock. Numerous studies have been performed to develop specific egg yolk IgY for pathogen control, but with limited success. To date, the efficacy of commercial IgY products, which are all delivered through an oral route, has not been approved or endorsed by any regulatory authorities. Several challenging issues of the IgY-based passive immunization, which were not fully recognized and holistically discussed in previous publications, have impeded the development of effective egg yolk IgY products for humans and animals. This review summarizes major challenges of this technology, including in vivo stability, purification, heterologous immunogenicity, and repertoire diversity of egg yolk IgY. To tackle these challenges, potential solutions, such as encapsulation technologies to stabilize IgY, are discussed. Exploration of this technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is also updated in this review.

Integrating big data and marketing concepts into tourism, hospitality operations and strategy development.

Big data (BD) research articles are on new issues, this study sought to fill the knowledge gap of linkage the relationships between big data and marketing strategy with comprehensive viewpoints across different research fields in tourism and hospitality literatures. Content analysis was conducted to gather materials from the particular studies. For each study, the content analysis included the title, abstract, journal, type of sample, exploration design, statistical and analytical techniques, data collection process and keywords was also conducted to confirm the main results of the criteria. The research shows that big data adds value to marketing strategies by using social media to collect information from consumers, which is complemented with appropriate evidence relevant to predicting their needs and behaviors.

The third inactivated vaccine booster dramatically enhanced SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses and did not influence the profile of prothrombotic antibody.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the production of both SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and autoantibodies in serum following the third booster vaccination of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, and to study the effect of B cell subsets with CD27 and CD38 phenotypes in peripheral blood on antibody production. METHODS: Routine blood indexes, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, platelet factor 4 and seven antiphospholipid antibodies were detected both before and 2 months after vaccination in the medical staff of the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University. Peripheral blood B cell subtypes were detected prior to vaccination. RESULTS: Following immunization, the positive rate of anti-N-S1 IgG had increased from 24.8% to 91.3% and the average antibody concentration had increased by 11 times. The positive rate of NAb had increased from 24.8% to 91.3%, the average antibody concentration had increased by 12 times, and the primary increased anti-S1 IgG subtype was that of IgG1. Peripheral blood CD27+CD38+ B cells were positively correlated with antibody levels after vaccination and were a predictor of the antibody response. In addition, although some indicators showed slight absolute changes, the blood parameters and antiphospholipid antibodies of most volunteers were normal both before and after COVID-19 inactivated vaccine inoculation, and there was no statistical difference in abnormal rates either before or after inoculation. CONCLUSION: Antibodies in vivo were increased after vaccination with the inactivated vaccine, and IgG1 was the main subtype involved in response to the vaccine. Vaccination with the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine did not appear to affect thrombus-related autoantibodies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among residents of Quang Binh, Vietnam.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic is raging worldwide; the number of new cases and deaths is increasing daily. This study aims to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 among residents of Quang Binh, Vietnam. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted between the 1st and 10th of March 2022 in Quang Binh with 413 participants through convenience sampling. A self-designed questionnaire was used for data collection, using SPSS (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY) version 26.0 for management and analysis. RESULTS: Among the 413 participants, 80.5% of participants had good knowledge about COVID-19. Kinh people and those with a high level of education have higher odds of having good knowledge. 78.2% of participants had a positive attitude and 78.2% had good practice toward COVID-19. Knowledge-Practice scores and Attitude-Practice scores have a positive correlation. TV (65.4%) and the internet (66.6%) are the most popular channels for information about COVID-19. Common barriers for participants taking COVID-19 prevention measures were "due to the demands of life" (61%) or "due to the specificity of the work" (47.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Residents of Quang Binh have a moderate KAP towards COVID-19. Health education programs are needed to improve knowledge about COVID-19 among Quang Binh residents, with a focus on ethnic minorities and people with low levels of education.

Impact Factors of COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy in patients after lung cancer surgery: an outpatients-based cross-sectional study (preprint)

Background The safety and efficacy of several vaccine candidates have been tested and found to be effective and safe against COVID-19. But, little is known about the actual level of people with lung cancer willing to accept a COVID-19 vaccine and the impact factors that affect acceptability. The survey aimed to determine the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in lung cancer patients after surgery and characterize underlying factors contributing to reluctance.Methods An clinical survey was inducted from May 1, 2021, to August 20, 2021. Eligible participants were 18 years or older, were diagnosed with lung cancer, and received lung cancer surgery, including lobectomy, sublobectomy, and pneumonectomy. Data were collected on a self-administered questionnaire from 294 lung cancer patients after surgery.Results Among the final included 281 participants, 54.1% were female, and 93.6% were of Han ethnicity. 48.0% were in pathologic stage I, 36.3% in stage II, 10.3% in stage III, and 5.3% in stage IV. The vaccination hesitancy/refusal rate was 41.6%. In multivariable regression analysis, age over 60 years old, low educational level, duration of cancer (< 1 year), subjective health status, current cancer treatments use, presence of postoperative pain, and report of the items “ever hesitated or refused to get a vaccination,” “get negative information about getting the COVID-19 vaccine”, “worried about vaccine adverse reactions,” and “worried about the COVID vaccine interferes with cancer treatments” were independently associated with hesitant of the COVID-19 vaccine.Conclusions Vaccine hesitancy is common among lung cancer patients after surgery, related mainly to health status and concerns about side effects, worsens cancer prognosis, and interferes with cancer treatments. These results suggest that vaccination programs may need tailoring to specific populations’ hesitancy.

Efficiency Droop and Degradation in AlGaN-Based UVB Light-Emitting Diodes

In this study, we found that the current droop (J-droop) in AlGaN-based UVB light-emitting diodes was more obvious at higher temperatures, despite both the main and parasitic peaks undergoing monotonic decreases in their intensity upon an increase in the temperature. The slower temperature droop (T-droop) did not occur when the forward current was increased to temperatures greater than 298 K. After an aging time of 6000 h, the emission wavelengths did not undergo any obvious changes, while the intensity of the parasitic peak barely changed. Thus, the degradation in the light output power during long-term operation was not obviously correlated to the existence of the parasitic peak.

Electrocardiographic findings over time and their prognostic value in patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to carry out a retrospective analysis of the progression of electrocardiographic (ECG) findings over time, based on biomarkers for myocardial injuries in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Also, the ECG observations were assessed for possible prognostic use. METHODS: Diagnostic criteria provided by the Coronavirus Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment Program of the Chinese National Health Commission were used. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 31 COVID-19 cases diagnosed as positive by high-throughput sequencing of nasopharyngeal nucleic acid test and admitted to Sichuan Province Public Health Clinical Medical Center, Sichuan Province, China. Based on changes in biomarkers, the 31 participants were divided into a non-myocardial injury group (A) and a myocardial injury group (B). Our study observed the dynamic changes and new abnormal changes of the ECG during the hospitalization of patients. RESULTS: The results summarized in the 4 following points: (I) the time sequence changes for ST and T indicated that the absolute ST-segment depression and T-wave inversion values in group B were larger. (II) The heart rate (HR) and RV5 values in group B were higher, the QTC value for group B was lower. (III) The sensitivity of ST-segment depression for the diagnosis of myocardial injury was 32.60% and the specificity was 90.50%. The sensitivity of T-wave inversion was 41.30% and the specificity was 85.10%. (IV) Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is a major factor affecting patient's death. CONCLUSIONS: If abnormal ST-T, increased heart rate, shortened QTC interval, and high ventricular voltage are observed in a COVID-19 patient, it may infer that myocardial damage has occurred. Using ECG as a point of reference for change can compensate for the time limitation of myocardial enzyme index. Regardless of the stage of disease development, ECG can reflect myocardial damage. Particularly in the 8-12 days after hospitalization, almost all myocardial enzymes cannot be applied. The ST-depression and T-wave inversion had diagnostic significance with relatively high sensitivity and specificity for myocardial injury. Assessment of LDH and biomarkers in combination with ECG can more accurately reflect myocardial injury, and facilitate prompt clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Traditional Uses, Pharmacological Effects, and Molecular Mechanisms of Licorice in Potential Therapy of COVID-19.

The current Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a global challenge, and although vaccines have been developed, it is expected that mild to moderate patients will control their symptoms, especially in developing countries. Licorice, not only a food additive, but also a common traditional Chinese herbal medicine, which has several pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammation, detoxification, antibacterial, antitussive, and immunomodulatory effects, especially in respiratory diseases. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizin diamine and glycyrrhizin extract have been widely studied and used in COVID-19 clinical trials. Therefore, it is a very interesting topic to explore the material basis, pharmacological characteristics and molecular mechanism of licorice in adjuvant treatment of COVID-19. In this paper, the material basis of licorice for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 is deeply analyzed, and there are significant differences among different components in different pharmacological mechanisms. Glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid inhibit the synthesis of inflammatory factors and inflammatory mediators by blocking the binding of ACE 2 to virus spike protein, and exert antiviral and antibacterial effects. Immune cells are stimulated by multiple targets and pathways to interfere with the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Liquiritin can prevent and cure COVID-19 by simulating type I interferon. It is suggested that licorice can exert its therapeutic advantage through multi-components and multi-targets. To sum up, licorice has the potential to adjuvant prevent and treat COVID-19. It not only plays a significant role in anti-inflammation and anti-ACE-2, but also significantly improves the clinical symptoms of fever, dry cough and shortness of breath, suggesting that licorice is expected to be a candidate drug for adjuvant treatment of patients with early / mild COVID-19.

Hydroxychloroquine in patients with mainly mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019: open label, randomised controlled trial

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine plus standard of care compared with standard of care alone in adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19). Design: Multicentre, open label, randomised controlled trial. Setting 16 government designated covid-19 treatment centres in China, 11 to 29 February 2020. Participants: 150 patients admitted to hospital with laboratory confirmed covid-19 were included in the intention to treat analysis (75 patients assigned to hydroxychloroquine plus standard of care, 75 to standard of care alone). Interventions Hydroxychloroquine administrated at a loading dose of 1200 mg daily for three days followed by a maintenance dose of 800 mg daily (total treatment duration: two or three weeks for patients with mild to moderate or severe disease, respectively). Main outcome measure: Negative conversion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 by 28 days, analysed according to the intention to treat principle. Adverse events were analysed in the safety population in which hydroxychloroquine recipients were participants who received at least one dose of hydroxychloroquine and hydroxychloroquine non-recipients were those managed with standard of care alone.

Clinical value of laboratory indicators for predicting disease progression and death in patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: As early prediction of severe illness and death for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is important, we aim to explore the clinical value of laboratory indicators in evaluating the progression and prognosis of patients with COVID-19. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Hospital-based study in China. PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients with COVID-19 from December 15, 2019 to March 15, 2020. END POINT: Disease severity and mortality. METHODS: Clinical data of 638 patients with COVID-19 were collected and compared between severe and non-severe groups. The predictive ability of laboratory indicators in disease progression and prognosis of COVID-19 was analysed using the receiver operating characteristic curve. The survival differences of COVID-19 patients with different levels of laboratory indicators were analysed utilising Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: 29.8% (190/638) of patients with COVID-19 progressed to severe. Compared with patients with no adverse events, C reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and D-dimer were significantly higher in severe patients with adverse events, such as acute myocardial injury, respiratory failure, acute kidney injury, mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, multiple organ dysfunction syndromes and death (all p<0.05). The multivariate logistic analysis suggested that CRP, NLR and D-dimer were independent risk factors for the disease progression of COVID-19 (all p<0.05). The model combining all of them owned the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) predicting disease progression and death of COVID-19, with AUC of 0.894 (95% CI 0.857 to 0.931) and 0.918 (95% CI 0.873 to 0.962), respectively. Survival analysis suggested that the patients with a high level of CRP, NLR or D-dimer performed shorter overall survival time (all p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of CRP, NLR and D-dimer could be an effective predictor for the aggravation and death in patients with COVID-19. The abnormal expression of these indicators might suggest a strong inflammatory response and multiple adverse events in patients with severe COVID-19.

Screening S protein - ACE2 blockers from natural products: Strategies and advances in the discovery of potential inhibitors of COVID-19.

The Coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which poses a major threat to human life and health. Given its continued development, limiting the spread of COVID-19 in the population remains a challenging task. Currently, multiple therapies are being tried around the world to deal with SARS-CoV-2 infection, and a variety of studies have shown that natural products have a significant effect on COVID-19 patients. The combination of SARS-CoV-2 S protein with Angiotensin converting enzyme II(ACE2) of host cell to promote membrane fusion is an initial critical step for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, screening natural products that inhibit the binding of SARS-CoV-2 S protein and ACE2 also provides a feasible strategy for the treatment of COVID-19. Establishment of high throughput screening model is an important basis and key technology for screening S protein-ACE2 blockers. Based on this, the molecular structures of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 and their processes in the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 and host cell infection were firstly reviewed in this paper, with emphasis on the methods and techniques of screening S protein-ACE2 blockers, including Virtual Screening (VS), Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), Biochromatography, Biotin-avidin with Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent assay and Gene Chip Technology. Furthermore, the technical principle, advantages and disadvantages and application scope were further elaborated. Combined with the application of the above screening technologies in S protein-ACE2 blockers, a variety of natural products, such as flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols, alkaloids, were summarized, which could be used as S protein-ACE2 blockers, in order to provide ideas for the efficient discovery of S protein-ACE2 blockers from natural sources and contribute to the development of broad-spectrum anti coronavirus drugs.

Single-cell analysis of COVID-19, sepsis, and HIV infection reveals hyperinflammatory and immunosuppressive signatures in monocytes.

The mortality risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients has been linked to the cytokine storm caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Understanding the inflammatory responses shared between COVID-19 and other infectious diseases that feature cytokine storms may therefore help in developing improved therapeutic strategies. Here, we use integrative analysis of single-cell transcriptomes to characterize the inflammatory signatures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with COVID-19, sepsis, and HIV infection. We identify ten hyperinflammatory cell subtypes in which monocytes are the main contributors to the transcriptional differences in these infections. Monocytes from COVID-19 patients share hyperinflammatory signatures with HIV infection and immunosuppressive signatures with sepsis. Finally, we construct a "three-stage" model of heterogeneity among COVID-19 patients, related to the hyperinflammatory and immunosuppressive signatures in monocytes. Our study thus reveals cellular and molecular insights about inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and provides therapeutic guidance to improve treatments for subsets of COVID-19 patients.

SARS-CoV-2-specific immune response in COVID-19 convalescent individuals.

We collected blood from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescent individuals and investigated SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular immunity in these discharged patients. Follow-up analysis in a cohort of 171 patients at 4-11 months after the onset revealed high levels of IgG antibodies. A total of 78.1% (164/210) of the specimens tested positive for neutralizing antibody (NAb). SARS-CoV-2 antigen peptide pools-stimulated-IL-2 and -IFN-γ response can distinguish COVID-19 convalescent individuals from healthy donors. Interestingly, NAb survival was significantly affected by the antigen peptide pools-stimulated-IL-2 response, -IL-8 response, and -IFN-γ response. The antigen peptide pools-activated CD8+ T cell counts were correlated with NAb. The antigen peptide pools-activated natural killer (NK) cell counts in convalescent individuals were correlated with NAb and disease severity. Our data suggested that the development of NAb is associated with the activation of T cells and NK cells. Our work provides a basis for further analysis of the protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and for understanding the pathogenesis of COVID-19. It also has implications for the development of an effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Implementation and evaluation of tourism industry: Evidentiary case study of night market development in Taiwan.

Taiwan's night markets are the most popular and unique characteristics of domestic and foreign tourists' night life and have great potential value for tourism development. However, development of the night market is vulnerable to the negative impact of COVID-19. To discover the potential value and evaluation of the night market, we interviewed 46 experts from several industries and occupations in Taiwan to investigate the relationships between brand equity, benefits, motivations of and satisfaction with night market tourism and development. The results show that travel motivation has both direct and indirect effects on brand equity, benefits and satisfaction. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is the most critical performance attribute of night market tourism, which may be influenced by brand equity, benefit, and motivation. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.

Using remote consultation to enhance diagnostic accuracy of bedside transthoracic echocardiography during COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of remote consultation over bedside transthoracic echocardiography (RC-B-TTE) for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: Five frontline echocardiographers performed and interpreted B-TTE for 30 patients with COVID-19 in the isolation wards, and the on-site B-TTE reports (OSR) were generated. Then remote consultation over the 30 B-TTE studies was conducted by two experienced echocardiographic consultants while blinded to the OSR, and the corresponding remote consultation reports (RCR) were generated. Subsequently, the five frontline echocardiographers were convened together to discuss the difference between the OSR and RCR, and to confirm the correct interpretation and the misdiagnosis using a "majority-vote" consensus as the diagnostic "gold standard". Afterwards the reasons for the misdiagnosis were given by the frontline echocardiographers themselves. The inter-rater agreement between the OSR and the "gold standard" was assessed using Kappa coefficient and percent agreement. RESULTS: Complete correctness of the 30 copies of the RCR were determined by the 5 frontline echocardiographers. The reliability of the OSR in the findings of cardiac chamber dilation, left ventricular hypertrophy and pulmonary hypertension were weak (Kappa <0.6). The reliability of the OSR in the recognition of major cardiac abnormalities was very weak (Kappa =0.304, percent agreement =63.3%). Misdiagnosis of major abnormalities was found in 11 copies of OSR (11/30, 36.7%). CONCLUSIONS: The protocol of RC-B-TTE has shown noticeable superiority in ameliorating diagnostic accuracy of echocardiography, which should be generalized to clinical practice during the COVID-19 or similar pandemic.

Analysis of the results of follow-up COVID-19 patients half a year after discharge in Chengdu

Objective: To summarize the follow-up results of COVID-19 patients half a year after discharge in Chengdu.