Investigation on external quantum efficiency droops and inactivation efficiencies of AlGaN-based ultraviolet-c LEDs at 265-285 nm.

The temperature-dependent external quantum efficiency (EQE) droops of 265 nm, 275 nm, 280 nm, and 285 nm AlGaN-based ultraviolet-c light-emitting diodes (UVC-LEDs) differed in Al contents have been comprehensively investigated. The modifiedABCmodel (R = An+Bn2+Cn3) with the current-leakage related term,f(n)= Dn4, has been employed to analyze the recombination mechanisms in these UVC-LED samples. Experimental results reveal that, at relatively low electrical-current levels, the contribution of Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination exceeds those of the Auger recombination and carrier leakage. At relatively high electrical-current levels, the Auger recombination and carrier leakage jointly dominate the EQE droop phenomenon. Moreover, the inactivation efficiencies of 222 nm excimer lamp, 254 nm portable Mercury lamp, 265 nm, 280 nm, and 285 nm UVC-LED arrays in the inactivation ofEscherichia colihave been experimentally investigated, which could provide a technical reference for fighting against the new COVID-19.

Gramsci, the Relativity of the Integral State-Society, and the COVID-19 Interregnum

Gramscian scholars have engaged with Gramsci's leitmotif (‘rhythm of thought') and the stato integrale (integral state), a concept he introduced in Autumn 1930. This represents remarkable progress in the Marxist community. But what requires further attention is the interconnection between an integral state and a totalitarian one, two of the three expressions of state-society formations that Perry Anderson identified as Gramsci's antinomies. This article argues that the integral state is fragile but hegemonic if it can be sustained. Otherwise, it can degenerate into a totalitarian state. The article refigures the ‘integral state' as the ‘integral state-society'. It exists relatively, depending on whether the ‘integral momentum' or the ‘totalitarian tendency' prevails in a dynamic interaction between radical Left, Far Right, and those currents in between. Identifying this relativity helps to formulate a deeper understanding of Gramsci's thought and show how his legacy supports a class struggle perspective on the COVID-19 interregnum.

[Clinical features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron variant infection in children: an analysis of 201 cases]. / 201ä¾‹å„¿ç«¥æ–°åž‹å† çŠ¶ç— æ¯’Omicronå˜å¼‚æ ªæ„ŸæŸ“çš„ä¸´åºŠç‰¹å¾åˆ†æž.

OBJECTIVES: To study the clinical features of children with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant infection. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 201 children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who were hospitalized and diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in Quanzhou First Hospital from March 14 to April 7, 2022. Among the 201 children, there were 34 children with asymptomatic infection and 167 with symptomatic infection. The two groups were compared in terms of clinical features, results of experimental examinations, and outcome. RESULTS: Of all the 201 children, 161 (80.1%) had a history of exposure to COVID-19 patients and 132 (65.7%) had a history of COVID-19 vaccination. Among the 167 children with symptomatic infections, 151 had mild COVID-19 and 16 had common COVID-19, with no severe infection or death. Among the 101 children who underwent chest CT examination, 16 had ground glass changes and 20 had nodular or linear opacities. The mean time to nucleic acid clearance was (14±4) days for the 201 children with Omicron variant infection, and the symptomatic infection group had a significantly longer time than the asymptomatic infection group [(15±4) days vs (11±4) days, P<0.05]. The group vaccinated with one or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine had a significantly higher positive rate of IgG than the group without vaccination (P<0.05). The proportions of children with increased blood lymphocyte count in the symptomatic infection group was significantly lower than that in the asymptomatic infection group (P<0.05). Compared with the asymptomatic infection group, the symptomatic infection group had significantly higher proportions of children with increased interleukin-6, increased fibrinogen, and increased D-dimer (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the children with Omicron variant infection have clinical symptoms, which are generally mild. The children with symptomatic infection are often accompanied by decreased or normal blood lymphocyte count and increased levels of interleukin-6, fibrinogen, and D-dimer, with a relatively long time to nucleic acid clearance. Some of them had ground glass changes on chest CT.

A Frequency Estimation Scheme Based on Gaussian Average Filtering Decomposition and Hilbert Transform: With Estimation of Respiratory Rate as an Example.

Frequency estimation plays a critical role in vital sign monitoring. Methods based on Fourier transform and eigen-analysis are commonly adopted techniques for frequency estimation. Because of the nonstationary and time-varying characteristics of physiological processes, time-frequency analysis (TFA) is a feasible way to perform biomedical signal analysis. Among miscellaneous approaches, Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) has been demonstrated to be a potential tool in biomedical applications. However, the problems of mode mixing, unnecessary redundant decomposition and boundary effect are the common deficits that occur during the procedure of empirical mode decomposition (EMD) or ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD). The Gaussian average filtering decomposition (GAFD) technique has been shown to be appropriate in several biomedical scenarios and can be an alternative to EMD and EEMD. This research proposes the combination of GAFD and Hilbert transform that is termed the Hilbert-Gauss transform (HGT) to overcome the conventional drawbacks of HHT in TFA and frequency estimation. This new method is verified to be effective for the estimation of respiratory rate (RR) in finger photoplethysmography (PPG), wrist PPG and seismocardiogram (SCG). Compared with the ground truth values, the estimated RRs are evaluated to be of excellent reliability by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and to be of high agreement by Bland-Altman analysis.

Gramsci, the Relativity of the Integral State-Society, and the COVID-19 Interregnum

Gramscian scholars have engaged with Gramsci?s leitmotif (?rhythm of thought?) and the stato integrale (integral state), a concept he introduced in Autumn 1930. This represents remarkable progress in the Marxist community. But what requires further attention is the interconnection between an integral state and a totalitarian one, two of the three expressions of state-society formations that Perry Anderson identified as Gramsci?s antinomies. This article argues that the integral state is fragile but hegemonic if it can be sustained. Otherwise, it can degenerate into a totalitarian state. The article refigures the ?integral state? as the ?integral state-society?. It exists relatively, depending on whether the ?integral momentum? or the ?totalitarian tendency? prevails in a dynamic interaction between radical Left, Far Right, and those currents in between. Identifying this relativity helps to formulate a deeper understanding of Gramsci?s thought and show how his legacy supports a class struggle perspective on the COVID-19 interregnum.

Cardiogenic shock complicating multisystem inflammatory syndrome following COVID-19 infection: a case report.

BACKGROUND: With the high prevalence of COVID-19 infections worldwide, the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults (MIS-A) is becoming an increasingly recognized entity. This syndrome presents in patients several weeks after infection with COVID-19 and is associated with thrombosis, elevated inflammatory markers, hemodynamic compromise and cardiac dysfunction. Treatment is often with steroids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg). The pathologic basis of myocardial injury in MIS-A, however, is not well characterized. In our case report, we obtained endomyocardial biopsy that revealed a pattern of myocardial injury similar to that found in COVID-19 cardiac specimens. CASE PRESENTATION: A 26-year-old male presented with fevers, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea 5 weeks after his COVID-19 infection. His SARS-CoV-2 PCR was negative and IgG was positive, consistent with prior infection. He was found to be in cardiogenic shock with biventricular failure, requiring inotropes and diuretics. Given concern for acute fulminant myocarditis, an endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) was performed, showing an inflammatory infiltrate consisting predominantly of interstitial macrophages with scant T lymphocytes. The histologic pattern was similar to that of cardiac specimens from COVID-19 patients, helping rule out myocarditis as the prevailing diagnosis. His case was complicated by persistent hypoxemia, and a computed tomography scan revealed pulmonary emboli. He received IVIg, steroids, and anticoagulation with rapid recovery of biventricular function. CONCLUSIONS: MIS-A should be considered as the diagnosis in patients presenting several weeks after COVID-19 infection with severe inflammation and multi-organ involvement. In our case, EMB facilitated identification of MIS-A and guided therapy. The patient's biventricular function recovered with IVIg and steroids.

Computational Analysis Illustrates the Mechanism of Qingfei Paidu Decoction in Blocking the Transition of COVID-19 Patients from Mild to Severe Stage.

BACKGROUND: The epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 has made COVID-19 a serious threat to human health around the world. The severe infections of SARS-CoV-2 are usually accompanied by higher mortality. Although the Qingfei Paidu Decoction (QFPDD) has been proved to be effective in blocking the transition of COVID-19 patients from mild to severe stage, its mechanism remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the mechanism of QFPDD in blocking the transition of COVID- 19 patients from mild to severe stage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the process of screening active ingredients, oral bioavailability (OB) and drug likeness (DL) are key indicators, which can help to screen out pivotal compounds. Therefore, with the criteria of OB≥30% and DL≥0.18, we searched active ingredients of QFPDD in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP, https://tcmspw.com/) by using its 21 herbs as keywords. RESULTS: We filtered out 6 pivotal ingredients from QFPDD by using the bioinformatics method, namely quercetin, luteolin, berberine, hederagenin, shionone and kaempferol, which can inhibit the highly expressed genes (i.e. CXCR4, ICAM1, CXCL8, CXCL10, IL6, IL2, CCL2, IL1B, IL4, IFNG) in severe COVID-19 patients. By performing KEGG enrichment analysis, we found seven pathways, namely TNF signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, NFkappa B signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, JAK-STAT signaling pathway, and Th17 cell differentiation, by which QFPDD could block the transition of COVID-19 patients from mild to severe stage. CONCLUSION: QFPDD can prevent the deterioration of COVID-19 in the following mechanisms, i.e. inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 invasion and replication, anti-inflammatory and immune regulation, and repairing body damage. These results will be helpful for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Empirical research on coastal economy technical barriers to trade (Tbts) and income inequality

With the acceleration of globalisation, the economic and trade communication among countries including coastal economy in the world are getting closer, bilateral and multilateral trade including coastal economy is developing faster and faster, and the emerging technical barriers to trade are getting more and more attention. At this time, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc around the world. While countries including coastal economy are fighting the epidemic, their economies are all affected to different degrees. Therefore, many countries hope to boost their economies by increasing technical barriers to trade. While reducing the import of foreign goods and protecting domestic industries, it is not clear whether technical barriers to trade will also bring about a series of social problems, such as income inequality, etc., and there is little research on this aspect domestic and overseas. In this paper, the relationship between technical barriers to trade and income inequality is quantitatively analysed by studying transnational data. Finally, by comparing the actual situation of Brazil and India, this paper proves that less TBT notification can optimise the industrial structure, enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, and then improve the domestic income inequality. © 2021, Scibulcom Ltd.. All rights reserved.