How Differential Dimensions of Social Media Overload Influences Young People's Fatigue and Negative Coping during Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic? Insights from a Technostress Perspective.

Although social networking sites have emerged as the primary source of information for young people, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning the underlying associations between differential aspects of social media overload and whether social media overload ultimately influenced people's negative coping strategies during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In order to fill this gap in existing knowledge, the current research employed the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) theoretical paradigm to explicate social media fatigue and negative coping strategies from a technostress perspective. The study used cross-sectional methodology, whereby 618 valid questionnaire responses were gathered from WeChat users to assess the conceptual model. The obtained outcomes demonstrated that information overload and communication overload positively impacted young people's fatigue. Furthermore, these two patterns of perceived overload heighten social media fatigue, which ultimately leads to young people's negative coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings would extend the present social media fatigue and technical stress literature by identifying the value of the SSO theoretical approach in interpreting young people's negative coping phenomena in the post-pandemic time.

Elevated levels of fructosamine are independently associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection: A 12-mo follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: The association between blood levels of fructosamine (FMN) and recurrent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently unclear. AIM: To investigate a prospective relationship between blood levels of FMN and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reinfection. METHODS: A total of 146 Chinese hospitalized patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were consecutively collectively recruited and followed from January 2020 to May 2021. Diagnosis of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 reinfection was based on the diagnostic criteria and treatment protocol in China. The levels of FMN were determined in blood and divided into tertiles based on their distribution in the cohort of COVID-19 patients. Multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for SARS-CoV-2 reinfection across the tertiles of FMN levels. A Cox regression model was used to generate the HR for SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in the participants in the top tertile of FMN levels compared with those at the bottom. Disease-free survival was used as the time variable, and relapse was used as the state variable, adjusted for age, gender, influencing factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and corticosteroid therapy, and clinical indexes such as acute liver failure, acute kidney failure, white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein, prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and blood lipids. Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank tests was used to compare the survival rate between patients with elevated FMN levels (FMN > 1.93 mmol/L, the top tertile) and those with nonelevated levels. RESULTS: Clinical data for the 146 patients with confirmed COVID-19 [age 49 (39-55) years; 49% males] were analyzed. Eleven patients had SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. The SARS-CoV-2 reinfection rate in patients with elevated FMN levels was significantly higher than that in patients with nonelevated FMN (17% vs 3%; P = 0.008) at the end of the 12-mo follow-up. After adjustments for gender, age, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, corticosteroid therapy, WBC count, PNI, indexes of liver and renal function, and blood lipids, patients with nonelevated FMN levels had a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection than those with elevated FMN levels (HR = 6.249, 95%CI: 1.377-28.351; P = 0.018). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the cumulative survival rate of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 was higher in patients with nonelevated FMN levels than in those with elevated FMN levels (97% vs 83%; log rank P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Elevated levels of FMN are independently associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection, which highlights that patients with elevated FMN should be cautiously monitored after hospital discharge.

Transforming waste polypropylene face masks into S-doped porous carbon as the cathode electrode for supercapacitors.

The spread of COVID-19 has led to an explosive increase in the number of waste polypropylene face masks worldwide, landfill and incineration of which will cause serious pollution and resource waste. This study aims to develop a new method for the safe and high-added value reuse of materials for polypropylene face masks based on carbonization of porous polymer. The waste masks were first sulfonated in an autoclave, then used as carbon source and turned into a dense hollow fiber porous structure after a one-step heat treatment. This porous structure has a high specific capacitance, namely 328.9 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1. Besides, the assembled solid-state capacitor possesses a good energy density of 10.4 W h kg-1 at a power density of 600 W kg-1, and excellent cycling stability with a capacitance retention rate of 81.1% after 3000 cycles. These findings indicate that the novel carbonization technology in this study can not only be used to obtain high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials but also provide a new idea for the recycling and utilization of wastes such as medical devices.

Clinical epidemiological analyses of overweight/obesity and abnormal liver function contributing to prolonged hospitalization in patients infected with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: During the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, obesity may contribute to COVID-19 transmission and deterioration. In addition, many patients with COVID-19 infection have suffered liver damage which might contribute to a worse prognosis. We conducted a clinical epidemiological analysis to investigate the association of overweight/obesity and abnormal liver function (ALF) with hospitalized duration in patients infected with COVID-19. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Fifty-eight patients with diagnosed COVID-19 (22 women & 36 men; average age: 49.2 ± 13.1 yr) were included, and their clinical data were collected at The Second Affiliated and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang. Overweight/obesity was determined as body mass index (BMI) ≥24 kg/m2, ALF was determined as alanine aminotransferase >40 U/L, and prolonged hospitalization was lasting more than the median value of the hospitalized days (19 days) in this population. RESULTS: The proportions of prolonged hospitalization were elevated in patients with overweight/obesity and ALF compared with those without overweight/obesity (62.1% versus 26.1%, P = 0.010) and those without ALF (70.6% versus 41.5%, P = 0.043). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the hospitalized duration was increased from the patients with neither overweight/obesity nor ALF to those with either overweight/obesity or ALF, and to those with both of overweight/obesity and ALF (mean with 95% confidence interval: 16.4 [14.5-18.3] versus 25.3 [21.6-29.1] versus 28.3 [24.6-32.0], P for trend = 0.001). Being discharged from hospital in time was inversely and independently associated with BMI (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.63-0.90, P for trend = 0.002) and ALT (HR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92-0.99, P for trend = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Present findings suggested that overweight/obesity and/or ALF contributed to predicting a probability of prolonged hospitalization in patients with COVID-19 infection, to whom extra attentions and precautions should be paid during clinical treatments.

Predictive value of the prognostic nutritional index for the severity of coronavirus disease 2019.

OBJECTIVES: Malnutrition plays a critical role in the onset and progress of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of the present study was to explore the association of the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) score with the severity of COVID-19 and its predictive value of the severe form of COVID-19. METHODS: Clinical data were collected from 122 patients infected with COVID-19 and hospitalized at the Sixth People's Hospital of Wenzhou, China, a specialized infectious hospital affiliated with the Wenzhou Central Hospital. PNI score was calculated as serum albumin (g/L) + 5 × total lymphocyte count (/nL). RESULTS: The study population consisted of 105 patients (86.1%) with a common form and 17 patients (13.9%) with a severe form of COVID-19. PNI score significantly decreased from patients with common to severe forms of COVID-19 (P = .029) regardless of sex, age range, and body mass index (BMI). After adjustment for sex, age, indexes of liver and renal function, C-reactive protein, and current smoking status, PNI scores remained independently and inversely associated with the severity of COVID-19 (odd ratio: 0.797; P = .030). A receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that PNI scores had a similar accuracy to predict severe forms of COVID-19 compared with its combination with sex, age, and BMI (P = .402). PNI < 49 was defined as the cutoff value to predict the severe form of COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Poorer nutritional status predisposed patients infected with COVID-19 to its severe form. Independently associated with the severity of COVID-19, PNI score could serve as a simple, fast, and effective predictor among patients with different sex, age, and BMI.

Prognosis models for severe and critical COVID-19 based on the Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidity indices.

Background: Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. This study established prognostic scoring models based on comorbidities and other clinical information for severe and critical patients with COVID-19. Material and Methods: We retrospectively collected data from 51 patients diagnosed as severe or critical COVID-19 who were admitted between January 29, 2020, and February 18, 2020. The Charlson (CCI), Elixhauser (ECI), and age- and smoking-adjusted Charlson (ASCCI) and Elixhauser (ASECI) comorbidity indices were used to evaluate the patient outcomes. Results: The mean hospital length of stay (LOS) of the COVID-19 patients was 22.82 ± 12.32 days; 19 patients (37.3%) were hospitalized for more than 24 days. Multivariate analysis identified older age (OR 1.064, P = 0.018, 95%CI 1.011-1.121) and smoking (OR 3.696, P = 0.080, 95%CI 0.856-15.955) as positive predictors of a long LOS. There were significant trends for increasing hospital LOS with increasing CCI, ASCCI, and ASECI scores (OR 57.500, P = 0.001, 95%CI 5.687-581.399; OR 71.500, P = 0.001, 95%CI 5.689-898.642; and OR 19.556, P = 0.001, 95%CI 3.315-115.372, respectively). The result was similar for the outcome of critical illness (OR 21.333, P = 0.001, 95%CI 3.565-127.672; OR 13.000, P = 0.009, 95%CI 1.921-87.990; OR 11.333, P = 0.008, 95%CI 1.859-69.080, respectively). Conclusions: This study established prognostic scoring models based on comorbidities and clinical information, which may help with the graded management of patients according to prognosis score and remind physicians to pay more attention to patients with high scores.