The Nexus Between China’s Global Image and Attitudes Toward Diasporic Chinese: A Comparison of Australia and the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified unfavorable international news coverage of the Chinese Government with consequences for the Chinese diaspora broadly. To understand these relationships, we conducted surveys in Australia and the United States from 8 to 21 June 2021. Using a survey experiment, we find a significant negative impact of the Chinese Government’s early handling of COVID-19 on public sentiment toward the Chinese Government in Australia but not in the United States. In both countries, expressing unfriendly feelings toward the Chinese Government tends to harm Chinese temporary residents more (compared to permanent residents). The associations between attitudes toward the Chinese Government and diasporic Chinese differ significantly across demographic groups but overall, holding cold attitudes toward the Chinese Government has stronger negative implications for diasporic Chinese in Australia. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Contemporary China is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Reflections on China's primary care response to COVID-19: roles, limitations and implications.

This study focuses on the role of primary care in China's response to COVID-19. A retrospective, reflective approach was taken using data available to one of the authors who led the national community response to COVID-19, first in Wuhan and then multiple cities in ten provinces/municipalities across the country. At the peak of the pandemic, primary care providers shoulder various public health responsibilities and work in close partnerships with other key stakeholders in the local communities. Primary care providers keep playing a 'sentinel'/surveillance role in identifying re-emerging cases after the elimination of community transmissions of COVID-19. Critically, however, the pandemic once again highlights some key limitations of the primary care sector, including the lack of gatekeeping, limited capacity and weak integration between medical care and public health.

The HIV-1 Nucleocapsid Regulates Its Own Condensation by Phase-Separated Activity-Enhancing Sequestration of the Viral Protease during Maturation.

A growing number of studies indicate that mRNAs and long ncRNAs can affect protein populations by assembling dynamic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules. These phase-separated molecular 'sponges', stabilized by quinary (transient and weak) interactions, control proteins involved in numerous biological functions. Retroviruses such as HIV-1 form by self-assembly when their genomic RNA (gRNA) traps Gag and GagPol polyprotein precursors. Infectivity requires extracellular budding of the particle followed by maturation, an ordered processing of ∼2400 Gag and ∼120 GagPol by the viral protease (PR). This leads to a condensed gRNA-NCp7 nucleocapsid and a CAp24-self-assembled capsid surrounding the RNP. The choreography by which all of these components dynamically interact during virus maturation is one of the missing milestones to fully depict the HIV life cycle. Here, we describe how HIV-1 has evolved a dynamic RNP granule with successive weak-strong-moderate quinary NC-gRNA networks during the sequential processing of the GagNC domain. We also reveal two palindromic RNA-binding triads on NC, KxxFxxQ and QxxFxxK, that provide quinary NC-gRNA interactions. Consequently, the nucleocapsid complex appears properly aggregated for capsid reassembly and reverse transcription, mandatory processes for viral infectivity. We show that PR is sequestered within this RNP and drives its maturation/condensation within minutes, this process being most effective at the end of budding. We anticipate such findings will stimulate further investigations of quinary interactions and emergent mechanisms in crowded environments throughout the wide and growing array of RNP granules.

Profiling racial prejudice during COVID-19: Who exhibits anti-Asian sentiment in Australia and the United States?

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, anti-Asian racism increased around the world, as exhibited through greater instances of abuse and hate crimes. To better understand the scale of anti-Asian racism and the characteristics of people who may be expressing racial prejudice, we sampled respondents in Australia and the United States over 31 August-9 September 2020 (1375 Australians and 1060 Americans aged 18 or above; source YouGov). To address potential social desirability bias, we use both direct and indirect (list experiment) questions to measure anti-Asian sentiment and link these variables to key socioeconomic factors. We find that, instead of being universal among general populations, anti-Asian sentiment is patterned differently across both country contexts and socioeconomic groups. In the United States, the most significant predictor of anti-Asian bias is political affiliation. By contrast, in Australia, anti-Asian bias is closely linked to a wide range of socioeconomic factors including political affiliation, age, gender, employment status and income.

Minimally instrumented SHERLOCK (miSHERLOCK) for CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for diagnostics that can be rapidly adapted and deployed in a variety of settings. Several SARS-CoV-2 variants have shown worrisome effects on vaccine and treatment efficacy, but no current point-of-care (POC) testing modality allows their specific identification. We have developed miSHERLOCK, a low-cost, CRISPR-based POC diagnostic platform that takes unprocessed patient saliva; extracts, purifies, and concentrates viral RNA; performs amplification and detection reactions; and provides fluorescent visual output with only three user actions and 1 hour from sample input to answer out. miSHERLOCK achieves highly sensitive multiplexed detection of SARS-CoV-2 and mutations associated with variants B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1. Our modular system enables easy exchange of assays to address diverse user needs and can be rapidly reconfigured to detect different viruses and variants of concern. An adjunctive smartphone application enables output quantification, automated interpretation, and the possibility of remote, distributed result reporting.

Emotional and financial health during COVID-19: The role of housework, employment and childcare in Australia and the United States.

During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world witnessed major economic, school, and daycare closures. We sampled respondents in Australia and the US during the height of the first restrictions to understand how the first quarantine structured their emotional strain and financial worry (825 Australians and 835 Americans aged between 18 and 65; May 2-3, 2020; source YouGov). We apply structural equation modeling to demonstrate that the emotional well-being impacts of COVID-19 are not only gendered but also vary between childless people and parents. Specifically, we show that compared to Australians, Americans were more impacted by changes in their financial circumstances. Further, while the financial worry and emotional strain impacts were similar between childless people and parents in Australia, significant differences existed between the two groups in the United States. In particular, we identify American mothers as the most disadvantaged group-feeling the most anxious and financially worried about both employment and domestic changes under COVID-19. Policy wise, we argue that COVID-19 is exacerbating gender inequality in emotional health. To slow down this trend, more adequate mental health supports are needed, particularly for mothers.

SARS-CoV-2 ORF8 Forms Intracellular Aggregates and Inhibits IFNγ-Induced Antiviral Gene Expression in Human Lung Epithelial Cells.

Infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, a disease that involves significant lung tissue damage. How SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to lung injury remains elusive. The open reading frame 8 (ORF8) protein of SARS-CoV-2 (ORF8SARS-CoV-2) is a unique accessory protein, yet little is known about its cellular function. We examined the cellular distribution of ORF8SARS-CoV-2 and its role in the regulation of human lung epithelial cell proliferation and antiviral immunity. Using live imaging and immunofluorescent staining analyses, we found that ectopically expressed ORF8SARS-CoV-2 forms aggregates in the cytosol and nuclear compartments of lung epithelial cells. Using in silico bioinformatic analysis, we found that ORF8SARS-CoV-2 possesses an intrinsic aggregation characteristic at its N-terminal residues 1-18. Cell culture did not reveal any effects of ORF8SARS-CoV-2 expression on lung epithelial cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, suggesting that ORF8SARS-CoV-2 aggregates do not affect these cellular processes. Interestingly, ectopic expression of ORF8SARS-CoV-2 in lung epithelial cells suppressed basal expression of several antiviral molecules, including DHX58, ZBP1, MX1, and MX2. In addition, expression of ORF8SARS-CoV-2 attenuated the induction of antiviral molecules by IFNγ but not by IFNß in lung epithelial cells. Taken together, ORF8SARS-CoV-2 is a unique viral accessory protein that forms aggregates when expressing in lung epithelial cells. It potently inhibits the expression of lung cellular anti-viral proteins at baseline and in response to IFNγ in lung epithelial cells, which may facilitate SARS-CoV-2 escape from the host antiviral innate immune response during early viral infection. In addition, it seems that formation of ORF8SARS-CoV-2 aggregate is independent from the viral infection. Thus, it would be interesting to examine whether any COVID-19 patients exhibit persistent ORF8 SARS-CoV-2 expression after recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection. If so, the pathogenic effect of prolonged ORF8SARS-CoV-2 expression and its association with post-COVID symptoms warrant investigation in the future.

Resilience, vulnerability and adaptability: A qualitative study of COVID-19 lockdown experiences in two Henan villages, China.

BACKGROUND: The Chinese government's early handling of COVID-19 has been perceived as aggressive and oppressive. Many of the most radical measures were adopted in Henan province, immediately north of Hubei, the pandemic's epicentre in China. However, little is known about how rural residents-a group systematically disadvantaged in Chinese society-responded to authorities' draconian restrictions. METHODS: To understand the lockdown measures and rural community responses at the grassroots level, face-to-face interviewers were conducted with both village cadres and villagers from two Henan villages in May and June 2020. The interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis methods, with the coding process guided by the concepts of resilience, vulnerability and adaptability from the literature on disaster risk reduction. RESULTS: We found that the lockdown measures were indeed radical and disproportionate relative to the level of risk presented; however, they were largely accepted by villagers. This contradiction can be explained by two key contributing factors: (i) shared interests of individual villagers and the converged goal of government and civil society, and (ii) tacit flexibility in COVID-19 adaption strategies to tackle conflict resulting from goal diversion between citizens and local governments. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the nuances of ground-level politics. Despite their 'radical' nature, the lockdown measures were not implemented as simple top-down coercion. Instead, they involved, importantly, the bottom-up, localised response of villagers, and they were negotiated and adapted according to local circumstances.

Clinical characteristics and predictive value of lower CD4+T cell level in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19: a multicenter retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Moreover, it has become a global pandemic. This is of great value in describing the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients in detail and looking for markers which are significant to predict the prognosis of COVID-19 patients. METHODS: In this multicenter, retrospective study, 476 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled from a consecutive series. After screening, a total of 395 patients were included in this study. All-cause death was the primary endpoint. All patients were followed up from admission till discharge or death. RESULTS: The main symptoms observed in the study included fever on admission, cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath. The most common comorbidities were hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Patients with lower CD4+T cell level were older and more often male compared to those with higher CD4+T cell level. Reduced CD8+T cell level was an indicator of the severity of COVID-19. Both decreased CD4+T [HR:13.659; 95%CI: 3.235-57.671] and CD8+T [HR: 10.883; 95%CI: 3.277-36.145] cell levels were associated with in-hospital death in COVID-19 patients, but only the decrease of CD4+T cell level was an independent predictor of in-hospital death in COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Reductions in lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets were common in COVID-19 patients, especially in severe cases of COVID-19. It was the CD8+T cell level, not the CD4+T cell level, that reflected the severity of the patient's disease. Only reduced CD4+T cell level was independently associated with increased in-hospital death in COVID-19 patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Prognostic Factors of Patients With COVID-19, NCT04292964 . Registered 03 March 2020. Retrospectively registered.

The influence of coronavirus disease 2019 on emergency department visits in Nanjing, China: A multicentre cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Influenza has been linked to the crowding in emergency departments (ED) across the world. The impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on China EDs has been quite different from those during past influenza outbreaks. Our objective was to determine if COVID-19 changed ED visit disease severity during the pandemic. METHODS: This was a retrospective cross sectional study conducted in Nanjing, China. We captured ED visit data from 28 hospitals. We then compared visit numbers from October 2019 to February 2020 for a month-to-month analysis and every February from 2017 to 2020 for a year-to-year analysis. Inter-group chi-square test and time series trend tests were performed to compare visit numbers. The primary outcome was the proportion of severe disease visits in the EDs. RESULTS: Through February 29 th 2020, there were 93 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients in Nanjing, of which 40 cases (43.01%) were first seen in the ED. The total number of ED visits in Nanjing in February 2020, were dramatically decreased (n = 99,949) in compared to January 2020 (n = 313,125) and February 2019 (n = 262,503). Except for poisoning, the severe diseases in EDs all decreased in absolute number, but increased in proportion both in year-to-year and month-to-month analyses. This increase in proportional ED disease severity was greater in higher-level referral hospitals when compared year by year. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 outbreak has been associated with decreases in ED visits in Nanjing, China, but increases in the proportion of severe ED visits.

Prognostic value of NT-proBNP in patients with severe COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in China has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. The cardiac injury is a common condition among the hospitalized patients with COVID-19. However, whether N terminal pro B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) predicted outcome of severe COVID-19 patients was unknown. METHODS: The study initially enrolled 102 patients with severe COVID-19 from a continuous sample. After screening out the ineligible cases, 54 patients were analyzed in this study. The primary outcome was in-hospital death defined as the case fatality rate. Research information and following-up data were obtained from their medical records. RESULTS: The best cut-off value of NT-proBNP for predicting in-hospital death was 88.64 pg/mL with the sensitivity for 100% and the specificity for 66.67%. Patients with high NT-proBNP values (> 88.64 pg/mL) had a significantly increased risk of death during the days of following-up compared with those with low values (≤88.64 pg/mL). After adjustment for potential risk factors, NT-proBNP was independently correlated with in-hospital death. CONCLUSION: NT-proBNP might be an independent risk factor for in-hospital death in patients with severe COVID-19. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials, NCT04292964. Registered 03 March 2020.