Rapid exchange of a percutaneous gastrostomy tube during an early episode of COVID-19

We retrospectively report a case of rapid exchange of a percutaneous radiologic gastrostomy tube (balloon-occluded type catheter) via off-label use of a pigtail catheter for nutrition supply during a very early episode of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in an outpatient clinic. This case demonstrates that minimally invasive percutaneous procedures might be provided safely and effectively under appropriate precautions for preventing COVID-19 transmission during the pandemic.Copyright © 2023, Society of Gastrointestinal Intervention.

Epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of human rhinovirus in a primary school in northern shaanxi

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of a Human rhinovirus outbreak in a primary school in northern Shaanxi, and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and control. Methods On - site epidemiological investigation of an unexplained febrile aggregated outbreak reported in a primary school in northern Shaanxi on May 22, 2020. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from typical cases, and nucleic acid testing was performed to test for SARS COV 2, and 16 respiratory pathogens. Results A total of 37 cases were reported, including 1 adult teacher and 36 students, with the overall incidence rate of 1.75%, a male and female ratio of 3:1, and the incidence age mainly concentrated in 6 to 12 years old. The cases were mainly concentrated in 3 first-grade classes and 7 second-grade classes on the same floor, and the first grade cases accounted for 75.68% of the total number of cases. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence rate of the cases in the classes (χ2 = 49.29, P<0.01). The clinical features of the cases were mainly fever (body temperature between 37.3 and 38.8°C), sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion and cough, and some of which were accompanied by diarrhea and vomiting, and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Of the 33 nasopharyngeal swabs detected by laboratory, 14 were positive for Rhinovirus, and the positive rate was 42.42%. Conclusion This aggregated outbreak is caused by Rhinovirus infection. Primary and secondary schools in northern Shaanxi should be alert for aggregated unexplained fever due to Rhinovirus outbreaks during the epidemic season of respiratory infectious diseases. © 2023, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.

Diagnosis and treatment of spontaneous splenic rupture associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. TT -.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID - 19)is an acute viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS - CoV - 2)infection and is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract. It not only invades the respiratory system of human body, but also damages various organs and systems. Evidence has shown that there may be a causal association between SARS - CoV - 2 and spontaneous splenic rupture. This article recognizes the possibility of SARS - CoV - 2 - associated spontaneous splenic rupture and discusses its pathogenesis and related diagnosis and treatment regimens, so as to avoid missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis in clinical practice.Copyright © 2022 by the Author(s).

The effect of Pickering emulsion adjuvants on the immune efficacy of the COVID-19 polypeptide vaccine

Pickering emulsions were prepared by phacoemulsification in an ice water bath with squalene as the oil phase and an aluminum adjuvant as the particle stabilizer. The effects of formulation and process conditions on the size and distribution of the Pickering emulsions were investigated. Pickering emulsions prepared under the optimal prescription and process conditions were mixed with a peptide antigen to obtain a peptide vaccine. The optimal prescription and process condition of the Pickering emulsion is as follows: squalene as the oil phase, ultra-pure water as the water phase with 5 mg/ml aluminum adjuvant, and an ultrasonication time of 4 min at 200 W power. BALB/c mice were immunized with the peptide vaccine, and the ability of the Pickering emulsion as an immunological adjuvant to improve the efficacy of the peptide vaccine was evaluated. Under optimal conditions, a Pickering emulsion with a small particle size (430.8 nm), uniform distribution (polydispersion index of 16.9%), and zeta potential of 31.5 mV, was obtained. Immunological results showed that the serum specific antibody level in the vaccinated group reached 1×104 after three immunizations. The proportion of CD4+T cells and CD4/CD8 cells was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the vaccinated groups than the blank control group. Further, cytokine (TNF-α) secretion decreased in the aluminum adjuvant and Pickering emulsion groups but increased in the Freund's adjuvant group. All three vaccinated groups of mice exhibited low but detectable levels of IFN-γ secretion. © 2023

Successful Use of Biventricular Assist Devices in Fulminant Myocarditis

Background Fulminant myocarditis can cause biventricular dysfunction with a mortality rate over 40%. We report a case with severe biventricular failure due to fulminant myocarditis that was successfully supported by left and right ventricular assist devices. Case A 65-year-old woman presented with chest pain, abdominal pain and diarrhea. She was hypotensive and labs revealed elevated troponin-T of 13.5 ng/mL and lactate of 4.3 mmol/L. She was positive for COVID by antigen testing. She was started on multiple vasopressor infusions and admitted to the intensive care unit. Echocardiogram revealed a severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction of 15% and severe global hypokinesis. The following day, she developed a wide complex tachycardia that was refractory to amiodarone, lidocaine and multiple defibrillation attempts. She was transferred emergently to the cardiac cath lab where coronary angiography revealed an isolated 70% stenosis of the distal left circumflex artery. A Swan-Ganz catheter was placed that yielded a cardiac index by Fick of 1.2 L/min/m2, systemic vascular resistance of 1270 dynesseccm-5 and mixed venous oxygen saturation of 35%. Decision was made to emergently insert an Impella CP device. That evening, she developed complete heart block and transvenous pacing wire was inserted. Due to frequent suction alarms, decision was made to insert ProtekDuo device, which resulted in hemodynamic stabilization. A temporary coronary sinus pacing lead for atrial capture was inserted to improve atrioventricular synchrony. After several days of monitoring, repeat echocardiogram showed complete recovery of biventricular function and Impella CP and ProtekDuo devices were removed. Decision-making The decision of early implantation of ProtekDuo device was made to provide adequate blood flow to the left ventricular assist device for hemodynamic support. In addition, increased atrioventricular synchrony via insertion of temporary coronary sinus pacing wire improved cardiac output. Conclusion Fulminant myocarditis involving biventricular dysfunction can be supported by the use of simultaneous left and right ventricular assist devices.Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation

Screening and Identification of Host Proteins Interacting with PDCoV S1-CTD

The C-terminal domain (CTD) of porcine deltacoronavirus S1 subunit is the main region which induces the neutralizing antibody. S1-CTD was expressed by HEK-293T eukaryotic expression system and purified, and porcine ileal epithelium cells membrane proteins were extracted to investigate porcine host proteins that interact with it. Thirty-two suspected interacting host proteins were obtained by co-inmunprecipitation (Co-IP) and mass spectrometry. Eukaryotic expression plasmid of KIF1 binding protein (KIFBP) was constructed, and the interaction between KIFBP and S1-CTD was identified by Co-IP and laser confocal microscopy. All results proved that KIFBP interacted with S1-CTD and co-located in cytoplasm. Further research indicated that overexpression of KIFBP could effectively reduce the viral mRNA level and the viral titer in which the mRNA level decreased by about 70%, and the viral titer decreased by 101.6TCID50. In conclusion, a host protein KIFBP interacting with PDCoV S1-CTD was screened and identified in this study which provides a theoretical basis for understanding the pathogenesis of PDCoV.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of 104 Pregnant Women with Coronavirus Disease 2019 during delta wave, single-center observational study

Background. Pregnancy is one of the risk factor associated with the severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The perinatal complications also known to be increased when pregnant women become infected with COVID-19. However, there were not enough studies involving pregnant women with severe COVID-19, especially in Korea. The purpose of this study was to analyze the cases of pregnant women with COVID-19 infection with various severities, and to compare and describe the clinical course and the effects on pregnancy and perinatal prognosis according to severity. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of adults 18 years of age or older who were PCR-confirmed COVID-19 and proved pregnancy, from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2022. Through the epidemiological investigation report, the patient's medical history, obstetric history, date of diagnosis and variants of COVID-19, and vaccination history were collected. Clinical symptoms, oxygen demand, chest imagings, treatment, perinatal complications, fetal conditions, delivery results, and complications were collected through medical records. Results. A total of 104 pregnant women with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were hospitalized. The age at the time of diagnosis was 33 +/-4.24 (Mean +/- SD) years, and 4 patients (3.8%) were vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. During hospital stay, the most common complaints were cough (99 patients, 95.2%) and fever (85 patients, 81.7%). Oxygen was applied in 40 patients (38.5%), and in 19 patients (18.3%) in severe cases. Thirty-seven patients (35.6%) delivered during isolation treatment. Critical COVID-19 patients group has statisticaly significant higher rate of preterm delivery compared with mild COVID-19 patient group (31.6 % versus 6.3 %, p=0.009). One patient died from septic shock caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii during treatment. A total of 39 babies were born, of which 4 received postnatal oxygen therapy. Conclusion. Pregnant women with COVID-19 had higher mortality rates, aggravation rates, and premature birth rates compared to non-pregnant patients of the same age. In a situation where effective and safe COVID-19 treatments for pregnant women are limited, it is necessary to increase the vaccination rate to prevent undesired outcomes in both mother and child.

LibEpidemic: An Open-source Framework for Modeling Infectious Disease with Bigdata

With increased human mobility and the introduction of NPIs, the complex, dynamic spread of COVID-19 has diverged significantly from SEIR's single, static assumption. At the same time, the ability to obtain front-line data also limits the modeling capabilities of SEIR. For researchers who cannot program, they must find suitable collaborators to implement their research. Even for researchers who can program, they need to repeat the principle and application process of the infectious disease model. LibEpidemic provide an open-source framework for modeling infectious disease, especially COVID-19, with bigdata. Researchers can implement subdivided, multi-stage or even metapopulation with the support of LibEpidemic. © 2022 ACM.

TEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USE DURING COVID-19: PARENT PERCEPTIONS AND OVERSIGHT

The paper investigates how parents of American teenagers navigated teen social media use during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid school closures and stay-at-home orders. Through an online survey, parents of teenagers reported on teen engagement, happiness, and social media use along with their own levels and types of oversight related to that social media use. Findings showed that parents perceived their teens to be similarly or less engaged in school and social activities than usual, and generally happy with social media use contributing somewhat to that happiness. Parental monitoring of social media use was the same or lower than during pre-pandemic times overall, with some significant differences related to parent gender, teen age, and teen gender. © 2022 IADIS Press. All rights reserved.

Forest Environment Association Analysis for the Pandemic Health with Rectified Linear Unit Correlations

The covariance is a measure of the joint variability of two random variables forming a Cartesian coordinate. Variance is a special case of covariance, when two variables are the same. The root of variance is the standard deviation. The normalization of covariance to standard deviation is called Pearson correlation coefficient. The covariance for the region of first and third quadrant is called upper semi-covariance. The covariance for the region of second and fourth quadrant is called down semi-covariance. Here we present semi-covariance, an accurate ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit) way of measuring the non-linear correlation between variables. Our framework is applied to successfully analyze the association between alternative environment social life factors and the pandemic toll recovery health. The results of our analyses of the 2021 pandemic toll suggest that pesticide residual, annual precipitation, forest coverage, economy development, lifestyle, etc. have different impacts on toll of each country. The pesticide may kill immune system, pandemic lifestyle is impacted. We picked total 8 related factors from 22 countries in order to set up future model for digital twin that predicting pandemic trend. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

EFFECT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON LIVER ABSCESS ASSOCIATED WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Objective: To investigate the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on patients with liver abscess associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: Data about consecutive cases of T2DM-associated liver abscess diagnosed and treated during the pandemic (January-April 2020) or earlier (January-April in 2017-2019) were compared. Results: A total of 177 patients (122 men;median age, 66 years;124 treated in 2017-2019 and 53 treated in 2020) were included in the study. Antibiotic therapy alone led to abscess resolution in 75 patients;the remaining 102 patients underwent successful abscess aspiration (n=56) or drain placement (n = 46). The mean random plasma glucose (15.9±2.7 vs 12.7±2.7 mmol/L;P<0.001), fasting plasma glucose (11.4±2.0 vs 10.6±2.0 mmol/L;P=0.017), and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (9.1%±1.5% vs 7.8%±0.9%;P<0.001) levels at the presentation were higher among patients treated in 2020 than among those treated earlier. The mean interval between symptom onset and presentation was shorter for patients treated in 2020 (36.5±7.2 hours) than for those treated earlier (50.4±17.4 hours;P<0.001). The mean interval between presentation and diagnosis was longer among patients treated in 2020 (18.4±9.9 hours) than among those treated earlier (11.3±4.9 hours;P<0.001). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic may have promoted the occurrence of liver abscess among patients with poorly controlled T2DM, and control measures for the pandemic may have led to delays in diagnosis. © 2022 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved.

Dynamic characteristics and transmission mechanism of China's natural gas security situation

Building the index system of China's natural gas security and measuring the index have important meanings for on-line monitoring of natural gas safety, vigilance against potential risks of natural gas and guarantee of energy security. This paper innovatively applies the DMA-TVP-FAVAR model to build China's natural gas security comprehensive index (NGSI) from a dynamic perspective and systematically reviews its dynamic characteristics and transmission mechanism combined with the EEMD method and BP structure breaks test. The main conclusions are as follows: Since 2001, NGSI has shown a wavelike decrease. Specifically, short-term unbalanced factors mainly cause short-term fluctuation of NGSI, the effects of significant events are the main driving force for medium-term fluctuation of NGSI, and natural gas supply and demand fundamentals are the long-term inherent trend of NGSI. Besides, different monetary policy tools have different efficiency on NGSI, and price-based monetary policy instruments are more effective than quantitative monetary policy instruments. © 2022, Editorial Board of Journal of Systems Engineering Society of China. All right reserved.

Temperature-Responsive Multilayer Films Based on Block Copolymer-Coated Silica Nanoparticles for Long-Term Release of Favipiravir

Using surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization, temperature-responsive block polymers were functionalized on the surface of silica nanocapsules (SNCs) by a "grafting from" technique. Favipiravir, a potential medicine candidate for the treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), was encapsulated in polymer-coated SNCs and further incorporated into welldefined films by layer-by-layer self-assembly. The multilayer films composed of polymer-coated SNCs and poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) homopolymers exhibited swelling/deswelling behaviors under the trigger of a temperature stimulus. For the first time, the impact of steric hindrance on the assembling behavior, swelling/ deswelling transition, and delivering capacity of nanocapsule-based multilayer films was investigated. SNCs with coronae of higher steric hindrance resulted in a larger layering distance during film growth. Moreover, the difference in the sustained release rates of the drug indicated their diverse diffusion coefficients and intermolecular interactions within the multilayer films, due to the presence of a methyl spacer at the amino group of nanocapsule coronae and weaker ionic pairing between SNC coronae and PMAA homopolymers. The profile of drug release from the films was dependent on the temperature value of the surrounding environment. At 37 and 40 degrees C, the films were able to efficiently entrap favipiravir, with as low as 50% released in 80 days, whereas a faster favipiravir release was triggered by exposure to a lower temperature value at 25 degrees C. This work demonstrates the first proof-of-concept platform of temperature-responsive SNC-incorporated multilayered films with a well-defined internal structure and a sustained release profile for on-demand in vitro drug delivery.

FaceX-Zoo: A PyTorch Toolbox for Face Recognition

Due to the remarkable progress in recent years, deep face recognition is in great need of public support for practical model production and further exploration. The demands are in three folds, including 1) modular training scheme, 2) standard and automatic evaluation, and 3) groundwork of deployment. To meet these demands, we present a novel open-source project, named FaceX-Zoo, which is constructed with modular and scalable design, and oriented to the academic and industrial community of face-related analysis. FaceX-Zoo provides 1) the training module with various choices of backbone and supervisory head;2) the evaluation module that enables standard and automatic test on most popular benchmarks;3) the module of simple yet fully functional face SDK for the validation and primary application of end-to-end face recognition;4) the additional module that integrates a group of useful tools. Based on these easy-to-use modules, FaceX-Zoo can help the community to easily build stateof-the-art solutions for deep face recognition and, such like the newly-emerged challenge of masked face recognition caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, FaceX-Zoo can be easily upgraded and scaled up along with further exploration in face related fields. The source codes and models have been released and received over 900 stars at https://github.com/JDAI-CV/FaceX-Zoo. © 2021 ACM.

[Epidemic Characteristics of the Novel Coronavirus Delta Variant in Guangzhou and Grid Crowd Management Based on Public Security Forensic Perspective].

ABSTRACT: Abstract： Objective To analyze the first epidemic spread of the novel coronavirus Delta variant in China based on public security forensic perspective, investigate its transmission characteristics, contributing factors, and epidemiologic research experience, and provide a reference for the prevention and control of the epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus variant. Methods Based on the information that public security forensic experts obtained from front-line epidemiologic research, the gender, age, place of residence, transmission route and infectivity of the coronavirus disease 2019 （COVID-19） confirmed cases, asymptomatic infected persons and their close contacts in Guangzhou caused by the novel coronavirus Delta variant were analyzed. The basic reproduction number （R0） during this epidemic in Guangzhou was calculated. Results Among the 153 cases infected with novel coronavirus Delta variant in the epidemic, 63 cases were male and 90 cases were female, their age ranging from 1 to 92 years, with a median age of 49 years. The main route of transmission was close contact, including dining together, co-living, and close contact in the same residential building. There were 31 cases of family clusters, 25 of which were in Liwan District. The epidemic lasted from May 26 to May 29, and the R0 remained above 4.0. After May 30, R0 began to decline and remained below 1.0 from June 7. Conclusion The novel coronavirus Delta variant is highly infectious, the crowd is generally susceptible to infection and family cluster cases are easy to occur. So, it is necessary to precisely prevent and control this strain. Public security forensic experts have both medical literacy and criminal investigation capabilities, they can play a more professional role in epidemic prevention and control.

Forecasting the impact of COVID-19 on GDP based on Adaboost

Covid-19 Pandemic has a unique impact on the economy as other infectious diseases. Epidemics affect people's daily consumption activities, for example, by causing them to shop less, travel less, consume less and invest less. The reduction of a large number of economic activities leads to the suppression of social demand and the reduction of consumption level, which further affects the GDP of various countries around the world. It is necessary to investigate and analyze the impact of the epidemic on GDP in order to control and analyze the economic situation under the impact of the epidemic. In this paper, we take the impact of COVID-19 on the GDP of each country as a regression problem, and propose to forecast GDP through feature engineering combined with Aaboost model. The model was tested on more than 50, 000 data records from more than 200 countries provided by the Kaggle platform to prove the validity. The experiment shows that Adaboost has stronger robustness compared with other methods, such as random forest, SVR. Adaboost improves the MSE of random forest by 2.39 and SVR by 0.38. © 2021 IEEE.