Effect of attribution on the emotions and behavioral intentions of third-party observers toward intergroup discriminators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 has caused intergroup discrimination associated with the disease to become increasingly prominent. Research demonstrates that the attitudes and behaviors of third-party observers significantly impact the progression of discrimination incidents. This study tested a parallel mediating model in which the attribution tendencies of observers influence their behavioral intentions through the mediating effect of the emotions of anger and contempt. The first two studies confirmed the proposed model with discrimination incidents reported against "returnees from Wuhan" and "returning workers from Hubei." Study 3 further manipulated the attribution tendencies of observers, providing empirical evidence for the causality from attribution tendencies to emotions, confirming the validity of the model. These findings enrich the cognitive (attribution)-emotion-action model, further enhancing our understanding of the role of third parties in intergroup conflicts, with implications for the management of people's emotions and behaviors in social crises.

Changes in speeding on Virginia roads during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated changes in the prevalence of speeding during March-June 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Virginia. METHODS: Vehicle speed data from 506 permanent speed counter stations around the state collected during March-June 2019 and March-June 2020 were analyzed. RESULTS: Increases in the proportion of vehicles traveling at least 5 mph and 10 mph above the speed limit were greatest on urban interstates and other freeways, during early morning (6:00-8:59 a.m.) and afternoon commuting hours (3:00-5:59 p.m.) on weekdays, and during afternoons (12:00-5:59 p.m.) on weekends. Logistic regression revealed that the risk of speeding by at least 5 mph increased in 2020 by 22% and by at least 10 mph increased 51% after accounting for road type, time of day, day of week, and traffic volume, relative to 2019. DISCUSSION: Future research should continue to identify where and when speeding problems are most severe, and countermeasures should be directed to the roads and time periods with the largest speeding problems.

Immunotherapy for Sepsis Induced by Infections: Clinical Evidence and Potential Targets.

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by the maladjustment of the body's response to infection. Abnormal immune response plays an important role in the progression of sepsis, and immunomodulatory therapy is a promising therapeutic strategy for sepsis. Great efforts have been made recently to elucidate the mechanism by which immune dysfunction contributes to sepsis, and identify potential biomarkers and targets for the diagnosis and therapy of sepsis induced by emerging pathogens, especially for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)that causes COVID-19. In this review, we summarize recent progress on the understanding of immune dysregulation involved in sepsis, and highlight potential biomarkers and targets to evaluate immune status of the patients with sepsis for individualized and precise immunotherapy.

Provider perceptions of severe pediatric traumatic brain injury care priorities across hospitals in South America before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: To understand provider perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic on priorities of severe pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) care across hospitals in South America. METHODS: Site principal investigators (PIs) from 17 hospitals in South America enrolled in the PEGASUS-Argentina randomized controlled trial completed questionnaires regarding order of tasks performed in the care of a typical pediatric patient with severe TBI before (2019) and during (2021) the COVID-19 pandemic. Acute care processes were examined by quintiles to identify early, mid, and late actions and were categorized and compared. Associations of hospital volume and subspecialty resource availability with prioritization of key process actions were examined. FINDING: Site PIs from 15 and 16 hospitals completed the surveys in 2019 and 2021, respectively, including 14 who completed both. Action category order was stable between 2019 and 2021 and were ranked in priorities as: initial encounter, primary survey, interventions and invasive monitors, diagnostics, medications, staff communication, then disposition (in 2019) or nutrition (in 2021). There was variation in specific action order between hospitals at both timepoints, with only a few initial encounter and disposition actions limited to a single quintile. There was no reported association between hospital volume or subspecialty resource availability with prioritization of key process actions. INTERPRETATION: Despite novel healthcare challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, providers in South America perceived maintaining standard severe pediatric TBI care consistent with BTF guidelines. There was large variability in specific action order between individual hospitals reported.

Rational Design of Peptides Derived from Odorant-Binding Proteins for SARS-CoV-2-Related Volatile Organic Compounds Recognition.

Peptides are promising molecular-binding elements and have attracted great interest in novel biosensor development. In this study, a series of peptides derived from odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) were rationally designed for recognition of SARS-CoV-2-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Ethanol, nonanal, benzaldehyde, acetic acid, and acetone were selected as representative VOCs in the exhaled breath during the COVID-19 infection. Computational docking and prediction tools were utilized for OBPs peptide characterization and analysis. Multiple parameters, including the docking model, binding affinity, sequence specification, and structural folding, were investigated. The results demonstrated a rational, rapid, and efficient approach for designing breath-borne VOC-recognition peptides, which could further improve the biosensor performance for pioneering COVID-19 screening and many other applications.

Non-Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy Following COVID-19 Vaccination.

People are advised to receive a vaccine booster as the Delta and Omicron variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerge, but various adverse ocular reactions after vaccination have been reported. NAION following COVID-19 vaccination appears extremely rarely. Here, we report a case of a 61-year-old female with sudden painless blurred vision developing NAION after receiving ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca) vaccination and provide an in-depth explanation of the possible mechanisms regarding the hypercoagulable state after vaccination. Our report adds to the literature on potential adverse ocular effects after COVID-19 vaccination, and we as ophthalmologists recommend that clinicians should increase awareness of this possible ocular complication when evaluating patients with sudden visual disturbance with a recent history of vaccination.

Greater Traditionalism Predicts COVID-19 Precautionary Behaviors Across 27 Societies (preprint)

People vary in the extent to which they embrace their society’s traditions, impacting a range of social and political phenomena. People also vary in the degree to which they perceive disparate dangers as salient and necessitating a response. Over evolutionary time, traditions likely regularly offered direct and indirect avenues for addressing hazards; consequently, via multiple possible pathways, orientations toward tradition and toward danger may have become associated. Emerging research documents connections between individual differences in traditionalism and variation in threat responsivity in general, and pathogen-avoidance motivations in particular. Importantly, because threat-mitigating behaviors can conflict with competing priorities, the precise associations between traditionalism and pathogen avoidance likely depend on contextually contingent costs and benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic requires individuals to make decisions about consequential and costly pathogen-avoidance behaviors that can clash with other priorities. The pandemic therefore provides a real-world setting in which to test the posited relationship between traditionalism and pathogen avoidance across socio-political contexts. Across 27 societies (N = 7,844), we find that costly COVID-19-avoidance behaviors positively correlate with greater endorsement of traditional norms and values in a majority of countries. Accounting for the conflict that arises in some societies between public health precautions and competing priorities, such as the exercise of personal liberties, reveals a consistent relationship between traditionalism and COVID-19 precautions across an even wider range of social and cultural contexts. These findings support the thesis that traditionalism is associated with an enhanced tendency to attend to hazards.

Reagent free detection of SARS-CoV-2 using an antibody-based microwave sensor in a microfluidic platform.

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an unprecedented economic and societal impact. Developing simple and accurate testing methods for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis is crucial not only for the control of COVID-19, but also for better response to similar outbreaks in the future. In this work, we present a novel proof-of-concept of a microfluidic microwave sensing method for POC diagnosis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This method relies on the antibody immobilized on the microwave sensor to selectively capture and concentrate the SARS-CoV-2 antigen or virus present in a buffer solution flowing through the sensor region in a microchannel. The capturing of the SARS-CoV-2 antigen or virus results in a change in the permittivity of the medium near the sensor region reflected by the resonance frequency shift which is used for detection. The use of microchannels offers precise control of the sample volume and the continuous flow nature also offers the potential to monitor the dynamic capturing process. The microwave-microfluidic device shows a good sensitivity of 0.1 ng ml-1 for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen and 4000 copies per ml for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The resonance frequency shift presents a linear relationship with the logarithm of antigen or virus concentration, respectively. This detection method is able to distinguish SARS-CoV-2 from the antigen of human CD4 and two human coronaviruses (MERS and HKU1), which presents a new pathway towards POC diagnosis of the COVID-19 at the community level. It presents the potential to detect other viruses by functionalizing the microwave sensor with respective antibodies.

Extrapolation of anthropogenic disturbances on hazard elements in PM2.5 in a typical heavy industrial city in northwest China.

Baoji is a typical heavy industrial city in northwest China. Its air quality is greatly impacted by the emission from the factories. Elements in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that are greatly emitted from anthropogenic sources could pose diverse health impacts on humans. In this study, an online AMMS-100 atmospheric heavy metal analyzer was used to quantify 30 elements in PM2.5 under the weak and strong anthropogenic disturbance scenarios before the city lockdown period (from January 9th to 23rd) and the lockdown period (from January 26th to February 9th) due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. During the lockdown period, the average total concentration of total quantified elements was 3475.0 ng/m3, which was 28% and 33% lower than that of the week and strong anthropogenic disturbance scenarios during the pre-lockdown period. The greatest reductions were found for the elements of chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), and Zinc (Zn), consistent with the industrial structure of Baoji. The mass concentrations of most elements showed obvious reductions when the government post-alerted the industries to reduce the operations and production. Dust, traffic sources, combustion, non-ferrous metal processing, and Ti-related industrial processing that are the contributors of the elements in the pre-lockdown period were apportioned by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. Substantial changes in the quantified elements' compositions and sources were found in the lockdown period. Health assessment was conducted and characterized by apportioned sources. The highest non-carcinogenic risk (HQ) was seen for Zn, demonstrating the high emissions from the related industrial activities. The concentration level of arsenic (As) exceeded the incremental lifetime carcinogenic risk (ILCR) in the lockdown period. This could be attributed to the traditional firework activities for the celebration of the Chinese New Year within the lockdown period.

Digital Resilience: How Work-From-Home Feasibility Affects Firm Performance (preprint)

Digital technologies may make some tasks, jobs, and firms more resilient to unanticipated shocks. We extract data from over 200 million U.S. job postings to construct an index for firms’ resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic by assessing the work-from-home (WFH) feasibility of their labor demand. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that public firms with high pre-pandemic WFH index values had significantly higher sales, net incomes, and stock returns than their peers during the pandemic. Our results indicate that firms with higher digital resilience, as measured through our pre-pandemic WFH index, performed significantly better in general, and in non-essential industries in particular, where WFH feasibility was necessary to continue operation. The ability to use digital technologies to work remotely also mattered more in non-high-tech industries than in high-tech ones. Lastly, we find evidence that firms with lower pre-pandemic WFH feasibility attempted to catch up to their more resilient competitors via greater software investment. This is consistent with a complementarity between digital technologies and WFH practices. Our study's results are robust to a variety of empirical specifications and provide a first look at how WFH practices improved resilience to a major, unanticipated social and economic shock.

Socio-economic impact on COVID-19 cases and deaths and its evolution in New Jersey.

Socio-economic factors could impact how epidemics spread. In this study, we investigated the possible effect of several local socio-economic factors on the case count and time course of confirmed Covid-19 cases and Covid-19-related deaths across the twenty one counties of New Jersey. Socio-economic and geographic factors considered included population, percentage of elders in the population, percentage of low-income households, access to food and health facilities and distance to New York. We found that the counties could be clustered into three groups based on (a) the case totals, (b) the total number of deaths, (c) the time course of the cases and (d) the time course of the deaths. The four groupings were very similar to one another and could all be largely explained by the county population, the percentage of low-income population, and the distance of the county from New York. As for food and health factors, the numbers of local restaurants and pharmacies significantly influenced the total number of cases and deaths as well as the epidemic's evolution. In particular, the number of cases and deaths showed a decrease with the number of McDonald's within the county in contrast to other fast-food or non-fast food restaurants. Overall, our study found that the evolution of the epidemic was influenced by certain socio-economic factors, which could be helpful for the formulation of public health policies.

Analysis of the mechanism of Shufeng Jiedu capsule prevention and treatment for COVID-19 by network pharmacology tools.

INTRODUCTION: The novel coronavirus pneumonia that broke out in 2019 has become a global epidemic. According to the diagnosis and treatment plan issued in China and the existing clinical data, Shufeng Jiedu (SFJD) Capsule can be effectively used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to explore its mechanism of action by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. METHODS: The Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Analysis Platform (TCMSP), a Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular mechANism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BATMAN-TCM), the Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ETCM) and related literature records were used to search the composition and main active compounds of SFJD, and to screen out the targets of drug components. Disease-associated genes were obtained by the Human Gene Database (GeneCards), the Human Online Mendelian Inheritance Platform (OMIM) and the DisGeNET database, and the co-targeted genes/proteins as targets of both SFJD and COVID-19 were selected by the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). Co-targeted genes/proteins were analyzed by STRING, the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) and Reactome for proteins to protein interaction (PPI), pathway and GO (gene ontology) enrichment, and predicted by AutoDock for their high-precision docking simulation. In addition, the therapeutic effect for SFJD treatment on COVID-19 was validated by the Chinese medicine anti-novel coronavirus pneumonia drug effect prediction and analysis platform (TCMCOVID). RESULTS: Screening resulted in 163 compounds and 463 targeted genes. The PPI core network contains 76 co-targeted proteins. The Reactome pathways were enriched in signaling by interleukins, immune system, etc. Finally, 6 key proteins of TNF, IL-10, IL-2, IL-6, STAT1 and CCL2 were selected and successfully docked with 4 active ingredients of quercetin, luteolin, wogonin and kaempferol. CONCLUSION: SFJD may play a role in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 through multiple active compounds acting on multiple targets and then multiple pathways.

The impact of epidemic information on the public's worries and attitude toward epidemic prevention measures during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since the outbreak of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in December 2019, the Chinese government has implemented effective epidemic prevention measures. To provide useful information for governments to manage this public health crisis, we conducted an online survey among Chinese general population from February 24 to 28, 2020. In this study, we examined the impact of epidemic information and rumors on public's worries and attitude toward prevention measures during the outbreak of COVID-19. A total of 853 valid questionnaires (641 women, 75.1%) were collected from 24 provincial regions in China. Most respondents' ages ranged from 18 to 60 (833 participants, 97.66%). A mediation model was built to analyze the influence of epidemic information and rumors on worries and attitude. The results showed that the amount of epidemic information positively predicted public's worries, which in turn predicted a supportive attitude toward the prevention measures. Worries partially mediated the relationship between the amount of epidemic information and the supportive attitude. The amount of rumors negatively predicted the supportive attitude. The results of this study implied the importance of timely and credible information providing to evoke a certain level of worry and promote public cooperation, and the necessary attention to refute and resist rumors for effective risk communication in a public health crisis.

Psychological Status Among Anesthesiologists and Operating Room Nurses During the Outbreak Period of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) posed a major threat to public health. Anesthesiologists and operating room (OR) nurses are at high risk of occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and developing COVID-19. We conducted a single-center survey to investigate the psychological status and perceived social support among operation room (OR) medical staffs during the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: A total of 197 OR medical staffs were enrolled in the survey. The authors performed a cohort study during the period of Wuhan lockdown and then conducted a longitudinal follow-up after lifting of lockdown. The Patient Health Questionaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess for depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) for anxiety. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was used to assess perceived social support. We compared the psychological status of OR medical staffs before and after lifting of Wuhan lockdown. Results: During the period of city lockdown, 177 (89.8%) had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases. The prevalence of depression and anxiety in OR medical staffs was 41.6 and 43.1% under Wuhan lockdown, while 13.2 and 15.7% after lifting of lockdown (P = 0.002, P = 0.004). Logistic regression analysis showed that being female, living in suburb areas, shortage of protective equipment and close contact with COVID-19 patients were associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety. Perceived social support was negatively correlated with depression and anxiety severity in the OR medical staffs (P < 0.05). Conclusions: OR medical staffs exhibited high incidence of anxiety and depression faced with the high risk of exposure to COVID-19 patients. More social support and social recognition for anesthesiologists and OR nurses might potentially help them relieve their psychological pressure.

Discovery of a subgenotype of human coronavirus NL63 associated with severe lower respiratory tract infection in China, 2018.

Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) is primarily associated with common cold in children, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Outbreaks caused by HCoV-NL63 are rare. Here we report a cluster of HCoV-NL63 cases with severe lower respiratory tract infection that arose in Guangzhou, China, in 2018. Twenty-three hospitalized children were confirmed to be HCoV-NL63 positive, and most of whom were hospitalized with severe pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Whole genomes of HCoV-NL63 were obtained using next-generation sequencing. Phylogenetic and single amino acid polymorphism analyses showed that this outbreak was associated with two subgenotypes (C3 and B) of HCoV-NL63. Half of patients were identified to be related to a new subgenotype C3. One unique amino acid mutation at I507 L in spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) was detected, which segregated this subgenotype C3 from other known subgenotypes. Pseudotyped virus bearing the I507 L mutation in RBD showed enhanced entry into host cells as compared to the prototype virus. This study proved that HCoV-NL63 was undergoing continuous mutation and has the potential to cause severe lower respiratory disease in humans.

Epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Shenzhen, China: comparison between imported and local cases.

INTRODUCTION: An unprecedented outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has swept across the globe since the end of 2019. Shenzhen confirmed its first imported case from Wuhan on 19 January 2020. However, little is known regarding the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in these imported cities. METHODOLOGY: Data of all 417 confirmed cases diagnosed in Shenzhen before 29 February were collected. The epidemiological characteristics of imported and local cases were compared. The resilience to COVID-19 was evaluated by discharge density. RESULTS: All ten districts reported COVID-19 cases by 29 February, including 331 imported and 86 local cases. The Pearson linear correlation model showed the number of confirmed cases (r = 0.990, p < 0.001) as well as incidence of COVID-19 (r = 0.766, p = 0.010) was positively correlated with the gross domestic product of district. Family clusters were more commonly found in local cases. Imported patients had earlier onset (p < 0.001) and diagnosis (p < 0.001), but longer interval from onset to admission (p = 0.030), diagnosis (p = 0.003) and discharge (p = 0.016). Older and severe cases had lower discharge density (0.024 and 0.018, respectively); while cases with subclinical symptoms exhibited higher discharge density (0.052). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 patients were predominantly imported cases in Shenzhen and the spatial distribution was closely related to district GDP. Imported and local cases differed in the intervals from onset to admission, diagnosis and discharge. Moreover, family-based transmission should not be ignored, especially in local cases.

Mathematical models for devising the optimal SARS-CoV-2 strategy for eradication in China, South Korea, and Italy.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spreads rapidly and has attracted worldwide attention. METHODS: To improve the forecast accuracy and investigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, we constructed four mathematical models to numerically estimate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the efficacy of eradication strategies. RESULTS: Using the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Removed (SEIR) model, and including measures such as city closures and extended leave policies implemented by the Chinese government that effectively reduced the ß value, we estimated that the ß value and basic transmission number, R0, of SARS-CoV-2 was 0.476/6.66 in Wuhan, 0.359/5.03 in Korea, and 0.400/5.60 in Italy. Considering medicine and vaccines, an advanced model demonstrated that the emergence of vaccines would greatly slow the spread of the virus. Our model predicted that 100,000 people would become infected assuming that the isolation rate α in Wuhan was 0.30. If quarantine measures were taken from March 10, 2020, and the quarantine rate of α was also 0.3, then the final number of infected people was predicted to be 11,426 in South Korea and 147,142 in Italy. CONCLUSIONS: Our mathematical models indicate that SARS-CoV-2 eradication depends on systematic planning, effective hospital isolation, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, and some measures including city closures and leave policies should be implemented to ensure SARS-CoV-2 eradication.