Effective Responses to Public Emergencies at the Urban Community Level: A Perspective of COVID-19 Prevention and Control

Community is directly responsible for implementing the policy measures against public emergencies such as extreme weather, earthquake, flash flood and pandemic diseases. Summarizing the experience at the urban community level can help promote the global emergency management. This paper, from the perspective of COVID-19 prevention and control, selects three communities with different features to explore an effective response system for public emergency management at the urban community level. It demonstrates that based on a centralized leadership, the multi-level governance (MLG) network combined with information technology has mobilized their participation in combating COVID-19 and ensured the effective and timely response to the public emergencies, which blocked the spread of epidemic to the greatest extent, proving worthy of being promoted as one of the Chinese approaches and Chinese wisdom. © Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies. All rights reserved.

Progress of the development of anti-COVID-19 drugs

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease COVID-19 (also known as 2019-nCoV) caused by SARS-CoV-2 in the end of 2019, it has spread rapidly in worldwide. Besides developing effective vaccines, it is urgent to develop safe and effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs to fight this disease. Paxlovid, molnupiravir, sotrovimab and bebtelovimab are urgently authorized by FDA have been proved to be effective against Omicron. This manuscript mainly reviews the recent progress of effective inhibitors against the virus in the world, including receptor inhibitors, antibodies, natural product inhibitors, synthetic inhibitors and broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that are effective against other RNA viruses.

Progress of the development of anti-COVID-19 drugs

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease COVID-19 (also known as 2019-nCoV) caused by SARS-CoV-2 in the end of 2019, it has spread rapidly in worldwide. Besides developing effective vaccines, it is urgent to develop safe and effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs to fight this disease. Paxlovid, molnupiravir, sotrovimab and bebtelovimab are urgently authorized by FDA have been proved to be effective against Omicron. This manuscript mainly reviews the recent progress of effective inhibitors against the virus in the world, including receptor inhibitors, antibodies, natural product inhibitors, synthetic inhibitors and broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that are effective against other RNA viruses. © 2023, Chinese Pharmaceutical Association. All rights reserved.

Research progress on mechanism and clinic application of traditional Chinese medicine against coronavirus

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are the largest positive-strand RNA viruses discovered, with high variability and high infectivity. There are seven kinds of CoVs that can infect humans so far. Among them, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003, middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019 have caused global outbreaks, posing a serious threat to global public health security. Research on CoVs infection has never stopped, and the current treatment methods mainly focus on improving symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history and rich experience in preventing and treating various diseases. In terms of anti-CoVs, TCM has attracted much attention because of its multi-CoVs and multi-targets, significant antiviral effect and few side effect. TCM extracts or their compounds can exert anti-CoVs effects by directly or indirectly inhibiting the invasion, replication, assembly of CoVs, regulating immunity and inhibiting inflammation. This article systematically reviews the mechanism and clinical application of TCM in anti-CoVs and alleviating virus-induced symptoms, in order to provide theoretical reference for the research and development of anti-coronavirus drugs. © 2023 Editorial Office of Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs. All rights reserved.

Impact assessment of China?s inter-provincial trade on trade-related sustainable development goals

Assessing progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is among the most pressing areas for sustainability research. Both international and inter-provincial trade has substantial impacts on sustainability. However, little is known about the impacts of inter-provincial trade on progress towards achieving the SDG targets and the relationships among SDG indicators through time and space. Here we, taking Chinese inter-provincial trade as a study case, used a spatiotemporal approach and the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to examine changes in six SDG indicators and their relationships within China in the year 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2017. The results showed that (1) Chinese inter-provincial trade improved the trade-related SDG target scores of 16 provinces out of the evaluated 30 provinces but reduced the trade-related SDG target scores of the remaining 14 provinces. (2) Chinese inter-provincial trade and distant trade were more beneficial for achieving the trade-related SDG targets in developed provinces (e.g., Beijing), which thus improved China's overall SDG target scores. In contrast, Chinese inter-provincial trade suppressed the trade-related SDG target scores of developing provinces (e.g., Guangxi). (3) Individual SDG indicators, SDG target bundles, and interactions among SDG indicators changed across both time and space. (4) The no-trade scenario in Hubei province during the COVID-19 pandemic will have a clearly inhibiting effect on China's overall SDG target scores. Besides, trade with adjacent provinces would improve Hubei's SDG target scores, while these trades have more negative effects (approximately 50-83% of provinces suffered from greater reductions in SDG target scores) on Hubei's adjacent provinces. Our study suggests the spatiotemporal dynamic characteristics of SDG indicators and their interactions deserve more attention, which can help identify the drivers behind these changing relationships.

Severing the Belt and Road: Overseas Chinese Networks and COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have imposed a wide variety of entry restrictions on international travel. Historical cases illustrate that public health concerns based on entrenched prejudices toward immigrant communities have led to restrictive measures against migration from foreign countries. Using our new dataset, COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Categories, we examine whether Chinese migrant networks around the world have driven government decisions to bar the entry of Chinese nationals and travelers from China in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our survival analysis of China-specific travel restrictions from January to March 2020 shows that not all Chinese migrant networks were important determinants. We find that entry bans on travel from China emerged more quickly in countries where a large number of temporary Chinese migrants work in clustered sites of Chinese contracted projects.

What effects will Covid-19 have on the G7 stock markets? New evidence from a cross-quantilogram approach

With several commodity and financial markets allegedly performing poorly during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the objective of this study is to examine how the pandemic has affected stock markets in the G7 economies. The study applies the recently developed cross-quantilogram model introduced by Han et al. (2016) to investigate quantile dependence between the conditional stock return distributions of G7 countries and the total daily global confirmed Covid-19 cases across investment horizons. The results reveal that the cross-quantile dependence between the confirmed Covid-19 cases and G7 stock returns is most significant in the short and medium term. The interlinkage weakens as the lag period lengthens. These findings imply that, in the short and medium term, stock markets in the G7 countries reacted negatively and disproportionately to the increase in the number of daily verified Covid-19 cases. Besides, cross-quantile correlations calculated from recursive subsamples indicate that they change over time, especially in low and medium quantiles, suggesting that they are prone to jumps and discontinuities in the dependence structures. The findings can aid investors and policymakers in better understanding stock market dynamics, particularly during times of great stress and unknown events.

Integration of a hybrid scan approach and in-house high-resolution MS2 spectral database for charactering the multicomponents of Xuebijing Injection

Xuebijing (XBJ) Injection is a reputable patent Chinese medicine widely used to cure sepsis, among the Chinese ″Three Medicines and Three Prescriptions″ solution to fight against COVID-19. We were aimed to achieve the comprehensive multicomponent characterization from the single drugs to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, by integrating powerful data acquisition and the in-house MS2 spectral database searching. By ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/ion mobility-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/IM-QTOF-MS), a hybrid scan approach (HDMSE-HDDDA) was developed, while the HDMSE data for five component drugs and 56 reference compounds were acquired and processed to establish an in-house MS2 spectral database of XBJ. Good resolution of the XBJ components was accomplished on a Zorbax Eclipse Plus C18 column within 24 min, while a fit-for-purpose HDMSE-HDDDA approach was elaborated in two ionization modes for enhanced MS2 data acquisition. XBJ MS2 spectral library was thus established on the UNIFITM platform involving rich structure-related information for the chemicals from five component drugs. We could identify or tentatively characterize 294 components from XBJ, involving 81 flavonoids, 51 terpenoids, 42 phthalides, 40 organic acids, 13 phenylpropanoids, seven phenanthrenequinones, six alkaloids, and 54 others. In contrast to the application of conventional MS1 library, this newly established strategy could demonstrate superiority in the accuracy of identification results and the characterization of isomers, due to the more restricted filtering/matching criteria. Conclusively, the integration of the HDMSE-HDDDA hybrid scan approach and the in-house MS2 spectral database can favor the efficient and more reliable multicomponent characterization from single drugs to the TCM formula. © 2022 The Author(s)

Analyzing interconnection among selected commodities in the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic

This study investigates the interconnection among several commodities in the advent of two well-known phenomena: the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic. We use a daily return series for selected commodities: three base metals (copper, zinc, and lead), two benchmark crude oils (WTI and Brent), and gold. Three different methods have been considered to study interconnection: Multifractality, Network theory, and Wavelet coherences. By applying Detrending Moving-average Cross-correlation Analysis (DMCA) method, we witnessed an increase in cross-correlation in the higher time windows in most time series. Generally, we observe that the benchmark crude oils have the highest relationships, and then, in the following positions, we have the dependency among base metals (copper, lead, and zinc) and between the base metals and the crude oils. In the context of the Wavelet analysis, we notice that the significant fluctuations and changes in the extent of interconnections among data could be traced when the two crises occurred, particularly between October 2018 and April 2021, and in the frequency range of 4-128 days. This phenomenon indicates the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in creating a volatile situation in the commodity markets. The findings of this study have significant implications for investors, academic researchers, and policymakers.

Recent Evidence-based Treatments for COVID-19: A Review

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a pandemic disease caused by SARS-COV-2 that primarily attacks the respiratory system of the host. This disease was first reported in early December 2019, and the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic disease-causing global public health emergency by mid-January 2020. The human-to-human transmission occurs by droplets, infected hands, or surfaces with an in-cubation time of 2-14 days. It displays signs and symptoms, and if the disease progresses, it leads to death. To avoid symptomatic symptoms or increase infection severity, early diagnosis, quarantine, and supportive care can help to cure the patient infected with COVID-19. Several attempts have been projected for the development of vaccines against COVID-19. As of July 2, 2021, 600 vaccine candidates worldwide were evaluated against SARS-CoV-2, of which 300 have reached the preclinical stage of their development. Presently, Moderna (mRNA-1273), Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute (LV-SMENP-DC), Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute (Pathogen specific APC), CanSino Biologicals (Ad5-nCoV), Inovio Pharmaceuti-cals (INO-4800) have plunged into the phase I/II clinical trials (Source: ClinicalTrials.gov web-site;WHO). Scientists are increasingly seeking a key hide behind pathogenic pathways, epide-miological features, and future drug goals, which will lead to the development of successful strategies for prevention and treatment. Based on the current published data, we summarize the structure, life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 and the various product categories available as anti-COVID-19 agents (antiviral), with special emphasis on Chinese herbal medicines, which were licensed as anti-COVID agents by the Chinese Government. Such knowledge can be used as guidelines for COVID-19 clinical therapy. © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

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.

Acupuncture for olfactory dysfunction in infected COVID-19 patients: Study protocol for a randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial

Background: Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is a common symptom of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is defined as the reduced or distorted ability to smell during sniffing (orthonasal olfaction) and represents one of the early symptoms in the clinical course of COVID-19 infection. A large online questionnaire-based survey has shown that some post-COVID-19 patients had no improvement 1 month after discharge from the hospital. Objective: To explore the efficacy of acupuncture for OD in COVID-19 infected patients and to determine whether acupuncture could have benefits over sham acupuncture for OD in post-COVID-19 patients. Methods: This is a single-blind, randomized controlled, cross-over trial. We plan to recruit 40 post-COVID-19 patients with smell loss or smell distortions lasting for more than 1 month. Qualified patients will be randomly allocated to the intervention group (real acupuncture) or the control group (sham acupuncture) at a 1:1 ratio. Each patient will receive 8 sessions of treatment over 4 weeks (Cycle 1) and a 2-week follow-up. After the follow-up, the control group will be subjected to real acupuncture for another 4 weeks (Cycle 2), and the real acupuncture group will undergo the 4-week sham acupuncture. The primary outcomes will be the score changes on the questionnaire of olfactory functioning and olfaction-related quality of life at week 6, 8, 12, and 14 from the baseline. The secondary outcomes will be the changes in the olfactory test score at week 6 and 12 from the baseline measured by using the Traditional Chinese version of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT-TC). Discussion: The results of this trial will help to determine the effectiveness of acupuncture for OD in post-COVID-19 patients. This may provide a new treatment option for patients.

Transnational or Not: COVID Pandemic and Chinese Academic Migrants

Based on 25 in-depth interviews collected during the COVID pandemic from Chinese academic immigrants in the U.S., we find that COVID immediately halted their transnational travels. Furthermore, catalyzed by changes in the Sino-U.S. geopolitical relationship, the soaring Anti-Asian hate in the U.S., and the raging storm of patriotism and nationalism in China, COVID impacts academic migrants' perceptions of opportunities, pursuits of transnational movements, and ethnic and diasporic identities. The disrupted transnational migration of people and knowledge due to the intersection of the pandemic, social contexts, and geopolitics may have long-term detrimental effects at the individual, institutional, national, and global levels. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Indonesia's Relations With China in the Age of COVID-19

Seven decades after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and China, the COVID-19 pandemic presents new prospects and challenges for bilateral cooperation. We seek to analyse various traits in China–Indonesia relations since 2020 by examining how Indonesia attempts balancing between such cooperation and maintaining peaceful ethnic relations domestically. By tracking the domestic discourse surrounding COVID-19 and China through Indonesia's domestic news media, the paper analyses the development of the pandemic in Indonesia, its procurement of vaccines, and, most significantly, domestic sentiments concerning Indonesia's ethnic Chinese Tionghoa citizens, as well as Indonesia's bilateral relations with China in general. The article argues that while the COVID-19 pandemic has created new avenues of cooperation between Indonesia and China, it has also adversely affected the domestic relations between ethnic Chinese citizens and the rest of the population. However, this has not translated into a widespread backlash toward China that might hinder bilateral cooperation. © The Author(s) 2023.

Zhong-yong action self as a contributing factor to COVID-19 crisis management

This paper adopts an indigenous approach to explain why China can contain the COVID-19 Crisis swiftly and efficiently. For this purpose, it proposes a new conceptualization for studying the Chinese self—the Zhong-yong action self. The action self refers to the self, activated by the situation an individual is facing, based on which the actor thinks about and decides the proper action to take. During the COVID-19 Crisis, beside the individuated self (the small self), many other more inclusive selves (the large selves), such as the family self, the community self, and the country self, are being mobilized at the same time, all of which demand the actor to exercise self-control and to help others to achieve the common goal—defeating the virus. This concerted effort thereby creates strength and flexibility in managing the crisis. In every-day life situation, the many selves activated may demand conflicting actions from the actor. An adoption of the Zhong-yong deliberation process negotiate the most appropriate action, to help maintain inner peace and outer harmony with others and the flux environment. The author hopes that this new formulation will lead to new directions to the study of "the Chinese self.”. © 2023, Science Press. All rights reserved.

Different associations of parental involvement with children's learning of Chinese, English, and math: a three-wave longitudinal study

Due to the impact of COVID-19, children and their parents are spending more time at home, which increases parent–child interactions. The goals of the present study were to examine the mediating effects of children's learning engagement on the relationships of parental involvement in Chinese, English, and math performance and to investigate whether parent-perceived parental involvement and child-perceived parental involvement consistently affected children's academic performance. Data were collected from 253 Chinese primary school students (117 boys, Mage = 10.53) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included parental involvement perceived by the parents and by the children to comprehensively describe parental involvement (in wave 2);we collected children's learning engagement (wave 2);and we compared children's Chinese, English and math academic performances before (wave 1) and after (wave 3) China's first wave of COVID-19 in 2020. The results showed that after controlling for gender, age, and SES, the parental involvement perceived by parents could be directly and positively related to children's learning engagement, and it also indirectly influenced children's learning engagement through the children's perceived parental involvement. Learning engagement was a mediator of the relationship between parental involvement and children's academic performance. Parental involvement significantly predicted children's Chinese and English performances through their learning engagement, while parental involvement failed to predict children's mathematics performances during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research provides insights into the underlying mechanisms of how parental involvement affects children's academic performances during school closures and hopes to guide parents and schools to consider how to cooperate and continue to use rapidly developing digital education resources amid the long-term impact of COVID-19 to provide children using more effective and suitable guidance in the future. © 2022, Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida.

Do emerging art market segments have their own price dynamics? Evidence from the Chinese art market

This study examines the nonlinear dynamics in the price series of Chinese art market segments between 2000 and 2019. We employ a hedonic price model to construct price indices of Chinese art market segments and analyze the nonlinearities and regime-switching properties of the individual segment using a series of Markov switching model specifications. We argue that occasional shocks would only temporarily alter their data-generating processes and have transitory effects. Moreover, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on Chinese art market segments. Our findings have implications for market participants in identifying the price characteristics and dynamic behavior of art market segments. © 2022 The Author

Sociodemographic and COVID-Related Predictors for Mental Health Condition of Mainland Chinese in Canada Amidst the Pandemic.

The current study investigates the mental health condition of Mainland Chinese in Canada and identifies the associated sociodemographic and COVID-19-related predictors. A sample of 471 Mainland Chinese aged 18 or older completed an online survey that collected information on demographics, experience, cognition, and behaviours related to the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health condition. Mental health condition was assessed with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) for the depression, anxiety, and stress levels of Mainland Chinese during the pandemic. Moderate to severe depression, anxiety, and stress levels were respectively reported by 11.30%, 10.83%, and 5.10% of respondents. Univariate analysis of variance models (ANOVAs) were conducted to assess mental health condition variance as stratified by independent sociodemographic- or COVID-19-related explanatory variables, to identify possible predictors to be entered into the subsequent regression models. The regression models identified age, income level, health status, and perceived discrimination as significant sociodemographic predictors (absolute value of ßs = 1.19-7.11, ps < 0.05), whereas self-infection worry, attitude towards Canadian measures, information confusion, food/goods stocking, and room cleaning/sanitizing were identified as significant COVID-19-reltaed predictors (absolute value of ßs = 1.33-3.45, ps < 0.05) for mental health outcomes. The results shed light on our understanding of the major factors associated with the mental health condition of Mainland Chinese in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Influence of Korean and Chinese dramas on Indian university students in the context of COVID-19 lockdown

This paper attempts to make a critical analysis of the influence of Korean and Chinese dramas on university students in India, especially in the backdrop of the COVID-19 lockdown. Considering the current trend of an increasing surge in drama consumption among GenZ, the research attempts to identify both positive and adverse effects of the soaps on different aspects of their lives. The study is premised on a mixed-method online survey, the data of which is analyzed using the Percentage Analysis method and interpreted based on the Mood-Cue Approach in Cognitive Film Theory proposed by Greg M. Smith. Subsequently, the researcher establishes that the lockdown period has provided great opportunities for the young generation of students to explore a wide variety of Korean and Chinese content. And if the factors leading to the adverse effects on the youth are judiciously controlled, these soaps can contribute a lot to the self-betterment of university students in India. © 2022 Asian Media Information and Communication Centre.

Analysis of medication regularities of epidemic disease prescription in Treatise on Febrile Diseases and mechanism of core drugs in treatment of COVID-19

Objective To analyze the medication rules of related epidemic disease prescription in Treatise on Febrile Diseases based on data mining, and the mechanism of "Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix)-Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix)” as the core drugs in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by network pharmacology, in order to explore the contemporary value of classical prescriptions in the treatment of epidemic diseases. Methods The prescriptions for treating epidemic diseases in Treatise on Febrile Diseases were screened, and the medication rules such as drug frequency, flavor and meridian tropism as well as correlation, apriori algorithm were analyzed by using software such as R language. The mechanism of the core drugs in the medication pattern in the treatment of COVID-19 was explored by the network pharmacology. A "disease-drug-ingredient-target” network was constructed on the selected components and targets with Cytoscape. The key targets were introduced into String database for network analysis of protein-protein interaction (PPI), and gene ontology (GO) functional analysis and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were conducted in R language. Results A total of 61 prescriptions for treating epidemic diseases in Treatise on Febrile Diseases were included, including 52 traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). In the top 20 high-frequency drugs, warm drugs, spicy drugs and qitonifying drugs were mainly used, mostly in the spleen and lung meridian. Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix) and Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix) herb pair had the strongest correlation. A total of five clusters were excavated: supplemented formula of Xiaochaihu Decoction (小柴胡汤), Sini Decoction (四逆汤), supplemented formule of Maxing Shigan Decoction (麻杏石甘汤), Fuling Baizhu Decoction (茯苓白术汤) and Dachengqi Decoction (大承气汤). A total of 45 active ingredients, 189 action targets of Bupleuri Radix-Scutellariae Radix herb pair, and 543 targets of COVID-19 were obtained from TCMSP and Genecards, and 64 intersection targets were generated. The results of the network analysis showed that the main components of core drugs pair against COVID-19 may be quercetin, wogonin, kaempferol baicalein, acacetin etc., and the core targets may be VEGFA, TNF, IL-6, TP53, AKT1, CASP3, CXCL8, PTGS2, etc. A total of 1871 related entries and 164 pathways were obtained by GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, respectively. Conclusion In Treatise on Febrile Diseases, the treatment of epidemic diseases mainly chose pungent, warm, spleen-invigorating and qi-tonifying herbs, such as Xiaochaihu Decoction, Sini Decoction and Dachengqi Decoction, etc. It was found that Bupleuri Radix-Scutellariae Radix core herb pair prevent and treat COVID-19 through multi-target targets such as PTGS2, IL-6 and TNF. The ancient prescriptions for treating epidemic disease in Treatise on Febrile Diseases may have significant reference value for the prevention and treatment of new epidemic diseases today. © 2023 Editorial Office of Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs. All rights reserved.