A study on the assessment of risk management performance in maritime start-ups: evidence from China

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the international shipping market has been highly volatile, posing a serious threat to the survival and development of many maritime start-ups. With the development of the digital economy, digital transformation is affecting the evolution and upgrading of many traditional enterprises, including maritime enterprises. In the post-COVID-19 era, start-up small and medium-sized enterprises will need to consider the importance of enterprise risk management to achieve transformation and upgrading. The purpose of this study is to provide guidance for the establishment and upgrading of risk management systems for start-ups based on the identification of risk management strategies of maritime enterprises and the evaluation of their performance. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and importance-performance analysis methods were used to rank the operational risk, financial risk, market risk, innovation risk, and disaster risk according to sub-items and screen out the risk management schemes for priority improvements. Through empirical research, it was found that the financial risk and market risk response schemes have the lowest performance and need to be prioritised for improvement. This study argues that start-ups can appropriately challenge their risk management strategies to meet potential risk management needs based on their own circumstances.

Nexus between green financing, renewable energy generation, and energy efficiency: empirical insights through DEA technique.

The study aims to test the nexus of green financing with renewable electricity generation and energy efficiency. The study used data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique during the year of 2016 to 2020 in developed and developing countries. The findings show that there is a 24% possibility of worldwide rise in expenditures in renewable energy through energy efficiency projects and probably could fall around 17% much further in 2017 and 2018. This may jeopardize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate change agreement. Lack of access to private financing slows the development of green initiatives. Now that sustainable energy is not about science and technology, it is all about getting financing in developed and developing countries. As policy measure, the study suggested to value environmental initiatives, like other infrastructure initiatives, for greater electricity generation and energy efficiency in developed and developing countries. Such infrastructural projects need long-term financing and capital intensiveness. It is further suggested to sustain growth, development, and energy poverty reduction, and around $26 trillion would be required, in terms of green financing, in the developed and developing countries alone by the year 2030 to enhance energy efficiency. To achieve energy sustainability goals in developed and developing countries, recent research suggested some policy implication considering the post COVID-19 time. If such policy implications are implemented successfully, there are chances that green financing would make energy generation and energy efficiency effective.

Cell-Derived Vesicles for mRNA Delivery.

The clinical translation of messenger mRNA (mRNA)-based therapeutics requires safe and effective delivery systems. Although considerable progress has been made on the development of mRNA delivery systems, many challenges, such as the dose-limiting toxicity and specific delivery to extrahepatic tissues, still remain. Cell-derived vesicles, a type of endogenous membranous particle secreted from living cells, can be leveraged to load mRNA during or after their biogenesis. Currently, they have received increasing interest for mRNA delivery due to their natural origin, good biocompatibility, cell-specific tropism, and unique ability to cross physiological barriers. In this review, we provide an overview of recent advances in the naturally occurring mRNA delivery platforms and their biomedical applications. Furthermore, the future perspectives on clinical translation of cell-derived vesicles have been discussed.

Age- and sex-dependent increase in self-harm among adolescents with mental health problems in East China during COVID-19 related society-wide isolation.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about child and adolescent mental health issues, such as self-harm. The impact of society-wide isolation on self-harming behaviors among adolescents in China is unclear. In addition, adolescents of different ages and sexes have varying abilities to cope with environmental changes. However, these differences are rarely considered in self-harm studies. We aimed to characterize the age- and sex-dependent effects of COVID-19-related society-wide isolation on self-harm among adolescents in East China. Methods: We collected 63,877 medical records of children and adolescents aged 8-18 who had an initial visit to Shanghai Mental Health Center in China between 2017 and 2021 and charted annual self-harm rates for each age and sex. Using interrupted time series analysis, we modeled global and seasonal trends and the effect of COVID-19-related society-wide isolation on self-harm rates. Results: Females aged 10-17 and males aged 13-16 exhibited significantly increasing trends in self-harm rate (p fdr < 0.05) in the past 5 years. Eleven-year-old females in 2020 showed a self-harm rate (37.30%) that exceeded the peak among all ages in 2019 (age 13, 36.38%). The COVID-19-related society-wide isolation elevated self-harm rates in female patients aged 12 [RR 1.45 (95% CI 1.19-1.77); p fdr = 0.0031] and 13 years [RR 1.33 (95% CI 1.15-1.5); p fdr = 0.0031], while males were less affected. Further, females with emotional disorders dominated the increased self-harm rates. Conclusion: Society-wide isolation has had a significant impact on early adolescent females in East China, especially for those with emotional disturbances, and has brought forward the peak in adolescent self-harm rates. This study calls for attention to the risk of self-harm in early adolescents.

Rational Development of Hypervalent Glycan Shield-Binding Nanoparticles with Broad-Spectrum Inhibition against Fatal Viruses Including SARS-CoV-2 Variants.

Infectious virus diseases, particularly coronavirus disease 2019, have posed a severe threat to public health, whereas the developed therapeutic and prophylactic strategies are seriously challenged by viral evolution and mutation. Therefore, broad-spectrum inhibitors of viruses are highly demanded. Herein, an unprecedented antiviral strategy is reported, targeting the viral glycan shields with hypervalent mannose-binding nanoparticles. The nanoparticles exhibit a unique double-punch mechanism, being capable of not only blocking the virus-receptor interaction but also inducing viral aggregation, thereby allowing for inhibiting the virus entry and facilitating the phagocytosis of viruses. The nanoparticles exhibit potent and broad-spectrum antiviral efficacy to multiple pseudoviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its major variants (D614G, N501Y, N439K, Δ69-70, Delta, and Omicron; lentiviruses expressing only the spike proteins), as well as other vital viruses (human immunodeficiency virus 1 and Lassa virus), with apparent EC50 values around the 10-9  m level. Significantly, the broad-spectrum inhibition of authentic viruses of both wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and Delta variants is confirmed. Therefore, this hypervalent glycan-shield targeting strategy opens new access to broad-spectrum viral inhibition.

Functional nucleic acids as potent therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a severe threat to human life and the global economy. Although conventional treatments, including vaccines, antibodies, and small-molecule inhibitors, have been broadly developed, they usually fall behind the constant mutation of SARS-CoV-2, due to the long screening process and high production cost. Functional nucleic acid (FNA)-based therapeutics are a newly emerging promising means against COVID-19, considering their timely adaption to different mutants and easy design for broad-spectrum virus inhibition. In this review, we survey typical FNA-related therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 infection, including aptamers, aptamer-integrated DNA frameworks, functional RNA, and CRISPR-Cas technology. We first introduce the pathogenesis, transmission, and evolution of SARS-CoV-2, then analyze the existing therapeutic and prophylactic strategies, including their pros and cons. Subsequently, the FNAs are recommended as potent alternative therapeutics from their screening process and controllable engineering to effective neutralization. Finally, we put forward the remaining challenges of the existing field and sketch out the future development directions.

Efficacy of traditional Chinese exercises in patients with post-COVID-19 chronic fatigue syndrome: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Some patients develop long-term symptoms after Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is one of the main symptoms. CFS is characterized by fatigue lasting for more than 6 months accompanied by sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression, which causes a certain degree of harm to both physiological and psychological aspects of the individual. Traditional Chinese exercises (TCEs) are an ancient Chinese therapy and has recently been reported to be effective for CFS. Therefore, we will conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis aiming to accurately evaluate the efficacy of TCEs on post-COVID-19 CFS and provide an alternative treatment for post-COVID-19 CFS. METHODS: Seven databases (PubMed, Ovid Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine (CBM), and Wanfang) will be searched from establishment to August 2022, and we will only include randomized controlled trials of TCEs for post-COVID-19 CFS. Two reviews will independently include the research according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Review Manager 5.2 software will be used to analyze the accepted literature, and the relative risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) will be used as effect indicators for the outcome indicator dichotomous variables. For continuous variables, weighted mean difference (MD) and 95% CI will be used as effect indicators. The heterogeneity test will be assessed using the I2 statistic and Q statistic. The PEDro scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. Subgroup analysis was performed according to different TCEs, age, gender, and duration of CFS. RESULTS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will evaluate the efficacy of TCEs in post-COVID-19 CFS. CONCLUSION: The results of this study will provide reliable evidence for the effects of TCEs for post-COVID-19 CFS on patients' fatigue, anxiety, depression, sleep, and quality of life.

Small molecule angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors: A medicinal chemistry perspective.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), a zinc metalloprotein, is a central component of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). It degrades bradykinin and other vasoactive peptides. Angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors, ACEIs) decrease the formation of angiotensin II and increase the level of bradykinin, thus relaxing blood vessels as well as reducing blood volume, lowering blood pressure and reducing oxygen consumption by the heart, which can be used to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases and kidney diseases. Nevertheless, ACEIs are associated with a range of adverse effects such as renal insufficiency, which limits their use. In recent years, researchers have attempted to reduce the adverse effects of ACEIs by improving the selectivity of ACEIs for structural domains based on conformational relationships, and have developed a series of novel ACEIs. In this review, we have summarized the research advances of ACE inhibitors, focusing on the development sources, design strategies and analysis of structure-activity relationships and the biological activities of ACE inhibitors.

Chicken intestinal microbiota modulation of resistance to nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis virus infection through IFN-I.

BACKGROUND: Mammalian intestinal microbiomes are necessary for antagonizing systemic viral infections. However, very few studies have identified whether poultry commensal bacteria play a crucial role in protecting against systemic viral infections. Nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a pathogenic coronavirus that causes high morbidity and multiorgan infection tropism in chickens. RESULTS: In this study, we used broad-spectrum oral antibiotics (ABX) to treat specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens to deplete the microbiota before infection with nephropathogenic IBV to analyze the impact of microbiota on IBV infections in vivo. Depletion of the SPF chicken microbiota increases pathogenicity and viral burden following IBV infection. The gnotobiotic chicken infection model further demonstrated that intestinal microbes are resistant to nephropathogenic IBV infection. In addition, ABX-treated chickens showed a severe reduction in macrophage activation, impaired type I IFN production, and IFN-stimulated gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the spleen. Lactobacillus isolated from SPF chickens could restore microbiota-depleted chicken macrophage activation and the IFNAR-dependent type I IFN response to limit IBV infection. Furthermore, exopolysaccharide metabolites of Lactobacillus spp. could induce IFN-ß. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the resistance mechanism of SPF chicken intestinal microbiota to nephropathogenic IBV infection, providing new ideas for preventing and controlling nephropathogenic IBV. Video abstract.

The Relationship between Social Mentality and Health in Promoting Well-Being and Sustainable City.

In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), people's social mentality and mental health have been severely affected, which has hindered or even reversed the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there is a lack of investigation into the potential relationship between social mentality and health, as well as of the comparison between different databases worldwide and in China, in the current context of COVID-19. Hence, the aim of this paper is to explore the research hotspots and development trends of social mentality and health in China and worldwide, while improving people's health, building a sustainable society, and facilitating the achieving of the SDGs. A bibliometric method is employed in this paper from a macro-quantitative and micro-qualitative perspective to explore the research hotspots and trends of social mentality and health in the world and China from the two databases, namely the English-language Web of Science (WOS) and the Chinese-language China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The results indicate that: (1) By using keyword co-occurrence and clustering analysis via the CiteSpace software bibliometric tool, 11 current research hotspots have been identified and studies are increasing in terms of using the Chinese language and the English language. (2) The current studies in the CNKI database mainly focus on the macro social environmental factors affecting social mentality and population research, while the studies in the WOS database pay more attention to social mentality and health in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic situation and a variety of professions. Hence, future research could explore the influencing factors and cultivation methods toward a healthy social mentality from the perspective of methodology and toward achieving SDG 3, providing healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, and SDG 11, building sustainable cities and communities in the post-pandemic COVID-19 era.

SMRI: A New Method for siRNA Design for COVID-19 Therapy.

First discovered in Wuhan, China, SARS-CoV-2 is a highly pathogenic novel coronavirus, which rapidly spread globally and became a pandemic with no vaccine and limited distinctive clinical drugs available till March 13th, 2020. Ribonucleic Acid interference (RNAi) technology, a gene-silencing technology that targets mRNA, can cause damage to RNA viruses effectively. Here, we report a new efficient small interfering RNA (siRNA) design method named Simple Multiple Rules Intelligent Method (SMRI) to propose a new solution of the treatment of COVID-19. To be specific, this study proposes a new model named Base Preference and Thermodynamic Characteristic model (BPTC model) indicating the siRNA silencing efficiency and a new index named siRNA Extended Rules index (SER index) based on the BPTC model to screen high-efficiency siRNAs and filter out the siRNAs that are difficult to take effect or synthesize as a part of the SMRI method, which is more robust and efficient than the traditional statistical indicators under the same circumstances. Besides, to silence the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to invade cells, this study further puts forward the SMRI method to search candidate high-efficiency siRNAs on SARS-CoV-2's S gene. This study is one of the early studies applying RNAi therapy to the COVID-19 treatment. According to the analysis, the average value of predicted interference efficiency of the candidate siRNAs designed by the SMRI method is comparable to that of the mainstream siRNA design algorithms. Moreover, the SMRI method ensures that the designed siRNAs have more than three base mismatches with human genes, thus avoiding silencing normal human genes. This is not considered by other mainstream methods, thereby the five candidate high-efficiency siRNAs which are easy to take effect or synthesize and much safer for human body are obtained by our SMRI method, which provide a new safer, small dosage and long efficacy solution for the treatment of COVID-19. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11390-021-0826-x.

ACHIEVING GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION THROUGH CLIMATE CHANGE CONTROL WITH THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN COVID-19 PERIOD

The study inquired the role of financial development (FD) on climate change control in COVID-19 period to identify the ways useful to achieve greenhouse gas mitigation in BRICS economies. BRICS countries are included because of their high energy-environment dependence and their need for climate financing through FD promoting greenhouse gas emission. The projected role of FD activity on climate change mitigation is inferred using the generalized methods of moments (GMM). The study results indicated that five out of the six climate change mitigation indicators have a long-term correlation with BRICS’s CO2 emissions. On the other side, there is no evidence of integration between variables in Russia. Moreover, the findings revealed that there 18% rise in FD is estimated, this raised the probability of effective climate change mitigation by 39% in the post-COVID-period, and it reduces greenhouse gas mitigations by 24.7%. The results also highlighted that there is a one-way correlation between energy use and climate drifts. On these findings, policymakers and environmental regulators in BRICS could take inspiration from our study to plan and revisit greenhouse gas mitigation through proper environmental legislation. Additionally, it also encourages other countries and economies to perform comparable assessments and select the best course of action. Hence, this study provides detailed and viable recommendations for key stakeholders for consideration and application to achieve the intended objectives.

PUBLIC SPENDING AS A NEW DETERMINATE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL AND GREEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY: POLICY PERSPECTIVE ANALYSIS IN THE POST-COVID ERA

Green economy talks about combing final mechanisms that have ecological and macroeconomic system gains. Likewise, this research piece examined the effects of increased spending on fiscal policies and tightening fiscal policies concerning greening the economic activity as the globe reclaims itself from the COVID-19 in China. Analysis was done applying the China longitudinal data for the period 2008–2018. We utilized the ordinary least square as well as the quantile regression equation to meticulously approximate the influences of increased fiscal spending policies in addition to tightening fiscal policies has on greening the economic system acts as the countries reclaim themselves from the pandemic via a formulated green performance indicator of China nations. The findings indicate a rather exciting pattern by saying a percentage growth in fiscal policy led to nearly 6.5% growth, that is, less than 0.5 growth in the minimum carbon dioxide polluting vaporous from energy suppliers, such as natural gas, and a 0.2% less than 0.01 cuts in the midway carbon dioxide polluting liquefied energy suppliers, that is, hydrocarbon byproducts and a nonsignificant expansion of 0.2%, more significant than 0.5 in the entire case scenario coming from polluting dense energy suppliers, that is, from coal byproduct sources. At the same time, a 1% expansion in fiscal policy reduces cumulative carbon dioxide pollution to 0.2%, less than 0.05%. On this score, the presence of the environmental hypothesis was authenticated in all scenarios analyzed. Furthermore, the causality test indicated a dual movement causative correlation between fiscal policy and carbon dioxide pollution and one-way movement concerning the fiscal policy to energy use. The findings demonstrated that China witnessed a rising switch to green advancement in China;their Green Economic Efficiency increased steadily.

Characterization of oral and gut microbiome and plasma metabolomics in COVID-19 patients after 1-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Due to the outbreak and rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), more than 160 million patients have become convalescents worldwide to date. Significant alterations have occurred in the gut and oral microbiome and metabonomics of patients with COVID-19. However, it is unknown whether their characteristics return to normal after the 1-year recovery. METHODS: We recruited 35 confirmed patients to provide specimens at discharge and one year later, as well as 160 healthy controls. A total of 497 samples were prospectively collected, including 219 tongue-coating, 129 stool and 149 plasma samples. Tongue-coating and stool samples were subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing, and plasma samples were subjected to untargeted metabolomics testing. RESULTS: The oral and gut microbiome and metabolomics characteristics of the 1-year convalescents were restored to a large extent but did not completely return to normal. In the recovery process, the microbial diversity gradually increased. Butyric acid-producing microbes and Bifidobacterium gradually increased, whereas lipopolysaccharide-producing microbes gradually decreased. In addition, sphingosine-1-phosphate, which is closely related to the inflammatory factor storm of COVID-19, increased significantly during the recovery process. Moreover, the predictive models established based on the microbiome and metabolites of patients at the time of discharge reached high efficacy in predicting their neutralizing antibody levels one year later. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to characterize the oral and gut microbiome and metabonomics in 1-year convalescents of COVID-19. The key microbiome and metabolites in the process of recovery were identified, and provided new treatment ideas for accelerating recovery. And the predictive models based on the microbiome and metabolomics afford new insights for predicting the recovery situation which benefited affected individuals and healthcare.

A Conceptual Framework for Blockchain Enhanced Information Modeling for Healing and Therapeutic Design.

In the face of the health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, healing and therapeutic design (HTD) as interventions can help with improving people's health. It is considered to have great potential to promote health in the forms of art, architecture, landscape, space, and environment. However, there are insufficient design approaches to address the challenges during the HTD process. An increased number of studies have shown that emerging information modeling (IM) such as building information modeling (BIM), landscape information modeling (LIM), and city information modeling (CIM) coupled with blockchain (BC) functionalities have the potential to enhance designers' HTD by considering important design elements, namely design variables, design knowledge, and design decision. It can also address challenges during the design process, such as design changes, conflicts in design requirements, the lack of design evaluation tools and frameworks, and incomplete design information. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a conceptual BC enhanced IM for HTD (BC-HTD) framework that addresses the challenges in the HTD and promotes health and well-being. The structure of BC-HTD framework is twofold: (1) a conceptual high-level framework comprising three levels: user; system; and information, (2) a conceptual low-level framework of detailed content at the system level, which has been constructed using a mixed quantitative and qualitative method of literature analysis, and validated via a pre-interview questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with industry experts and academics. This paper analyzes the process of BC enhanced HTD and the knowledge management of HTD to aid design decisions in managing design information. This paper is the first attempt to apply the advantages of BC enabled IM to enhance the HTD process. The results of this study can foster and propel new research pathways and knowledge on the value of design in the form of non-fungible token (NFT) based on the extended advantages of BC in the field of design, which can fully mobilize the healing and therapeutic behaviors of designers and the advantage potential of HTD to promote health, and realize the vision of Health Metaverse in the context of sustainable development.

Combining effects of private participation and green finance for renewable energy: Growth of economy as mediating tool

As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, a worldwide economic slump has reduced the depletion of natural resources, lowering their costs. The loss of renewable energy profitability might hinder the attainment of specified goals of sustainable development goals. By using Chinese provinces data from 1995 to 2020, this research examined the relationships between renewable energy investment (REI), green finance (GFI), growth of the economy (GDP), renewable energy production (REP), and private sector participation (PSP) in China. According to this analysis, REI, REP, and GFI are more variable throughout the given period than GDP. And PSP. A bidirectional substantial causal correlation between R.E.I. and R.E.P. was identified using the Generalized method of moments (GMM). Still, the regression coefficient between GDP and REI and REI. and GFI has a one-way causal relationship. There was no evidence that the PSP directly impacted the REI. Based on the empirical findings of this research, we propose that policies be designed to reduce volatility in REI GFI, and REP and increase support to improve sustainable economic development and environmental and renewable energy production. Examine between green financing and environmental conservation for long-term environmental quality.

A New Method Based on LAMP-CRISPR-Cas12a-Lateral Flow Immunochromatographic Strip for Detection.

INTRODUCTION: Carbapenemase-mediated antimicrobial resistance is currently a hot spot of global concern. Carbapenem-resistant organisms are highly prevalent in hospitals associated with difficult-to-treat infections, resulting in poor clinical outcome due to limited treatment options. It is urgently needed to have a rapid, efficient, and convenient molecular assay for identifying such resistant strains. METHODS: For this end, we developed a new laboratory assay targeting Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) and New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase (NDM) based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification, CRISPR-Cas12a, and lateral flow immunochromatographic strip (CRISPR-Cas-LAMP-lateral flow strip). The method was designed to use a guide RNA (gRNA) to recognize the target DNA and guide Cas12a to cleave the target DNA, and simultaneously cleave any single-stranded DNA within the cleavage reaction system. RESULTS: The cleavage products are visible to the naked eye on the lateral flow strip. This method is highly sensitive in direct detection of bacteria in samples containing at least 3×105 CFU/mL without the need for bacterial culture. DISCUSSION: It provides shorter turnaround time and higher specificity than the conventional bacterial culture and susceptibility testing method. This new assay is applicable for extensive use in hospital infection control, as well as identification and treatment of resistant strains due to simple operation and inexpensive apparatuses.