Patients with Omicron variant infection can safely undergo elective orthopedic surgery: a retrospective cohort study (preprint)

Background COVID-19 is believed to be associated with significantly increased risks of morbidity and mortality. However, there are lack of reports on how infection with the COVID-19 Omicron variant affects the perioperative prognosis. Therefore, this study sought to find out perioperative differences in laboratory test results and complications between orthopedic surgery patients who were COVID-19 positive and negative at admission, to explore whether patients infected with the Omicron variant need to delay their orthopedic elective surgery.Methods A single-center cohort study of 54 orthopedic inpatients with COVID-19 Omicron variant infection were 1:1 matched to those who did not have a history of COVID-19, laboratory parameters including blood routine, inflammatory factors, coagulogram markers and postoperative complications were recorded and compared.Results Differences can not be found in the incidence of perioperative complications and mortality rates between the group infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and the uninfected group, as well as no statistical differences in laboratory test indicators.Conclusions The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant does not appear to pose a huge threat to elective orthopedic surgery, patients with Omicron variant infection can safely undergo elective orthopedic surgery without delay.

Causal relationship between COVID-19 and the risk of asthma: A Mendelian Randomisation study (preprint)

Background Existing research has focused on new-onset asthma and viral infections, particularly respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). However, studies on whether COVID-19 can induce asthma are limited.Methods We performed bidirectional two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) to assess the potential causal relationship between COVID-19 and asthma using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data obtained from the COVID-19 Host Genetic Initiative GWAS Meta-analysis Round 5 (release date: 18 January 2021). Several methods (random-effects inverse variance weighted, weighted median, MR-Egger regression, and MR-PRESSO) were used to ensure the robustness of the causal effects. Heterogeneity was measured using Cochran's Q value. Horizontal pleiotropy was evaluated using MR-Egger regression and leave-one-out analyses.Results We observed a significant causal association between COVID-19 hospitalisation and asthma (odds ratio (OR) = 1.042, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.004–1.081, p = 0.031), indicating a significantly increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation associated with asthma. However, no statistically significant causal relationships were observed for COVID-19 susceptibility (OR = 1.023, 95% CI = 0.931–1.124, p = 0.637), COVID-19 severity (OR = 1.006, 95% CI = 0.978–1.035, p = 0.669), and asthma.Conclusions COVID-19 can trigger the onset of asthma. Individuals experiencing prolonged coughing, chest tightness, or difficulty in breathing long after recovery from COVID-19 should remain vigilant about the possibility of developing asthma.

Online Learning and Its Short-term Impact on Digital Engagement and Digital-related Health Symptoms Amongst University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated a rapid shift of learning and education from traditional means to digital platforms. This paper aims to examine the impact of online learning on digital engagement and digital-related health symptoms among university students one year into the coronavirus pandemic. Methods: Data was collected through a self-administered online questionnaire after ethical approval. The questionnaire was adapted from the previously published Lifestyle Study in Youth Questionnaire. Through the questionnaire, the perception of students toward online learning was probed and recorded. Digital engagement and digital-related health symptoms were compared before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Results: The majority (97.5%) of respondents preferred face-to-face learning. The time spent on digital devices was 1.8 times higher during COVID-19 than before the COVID-19 lockdown (t-test = -18.86, p<0.0001). The total hours of sleep were reduced during COVID-19 lockdown (0.6 hours lesser) (t-test = -3.92, p<0.0001). The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test revealed significant changes in digital-related health symptoms (15 out of 17) due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Digital eye strain, dry eye syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, and upper quadrant postural and muscle strain emerged (p<0.05). Conclusion: Most university students favoured face-to-face learning compared to online learning. There was a two-fold rise in digital engagement during the COVID-19 lockdown. As a result, it has seemed to translate into reduced sleeping hours. The short-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic on digital-related health symptoms amongst university students was apparent. The long-term effects require further investigations to facilitate fact-based decision-making. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Malaysian Journal of Medicine & Health Sciences is the property of Universiti Putra Malaysia 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.)

Training certified detectives to track down the intrinsic shortcuts in COVID-19 chest x-ray data sets (preprint)

Deep learning faces a significant challenge wherein the trained models often underperform when used with external test data sets. This issue has been attributed to spurious correlations between irrelevant features in the input data and corresponding labels. This study uses the classification of COVID-19 from chest x-ray radiographs as an example to demonstrate that the image contrast and sharpness, which are characteristics of a chest radiograph dependent on data acquisition systems and imaging parameters, can be intrinsic shortcuts that impair the model’s generalizability. The study proposes training certified shortcut detective models that meet a set of qualification criteria which can then identify these intrinsic shortcuts in a curated data set.

No increase in body mass index in a healthy Chinese population during the COVID-19 outbreak (preprint)

Background The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic continues to spread worldwide. This study aimed to investigate (1) the change in body mass index (BMI) before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and (2) the impact of behaviours on BMI during the quarantine period. Methods We recruited 197 healthy adults who underwent a physical examination within two months after the Spring Festival holidays of 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Taizhou, China. Of them, 138 respondents answered a questionnaire on lifestyle behaviours during the quarantine period. Univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression models were used to analyse the impact of behaviours during the quarantine period on changes in BMI. Results The average BMI of the population increased from 2018 to 2019 (P<0.05) and then decreased from 2019 to 2020 (P>0.05). The proportion of BMI increase after the COVID-19 outbreak was significantly lower than that in the previous year (41.6% vs. 59.4%, paired χ2=8.151, P=0.002). Young age and living in an urban area were risk factors for a BMI increase in men from 2019 to 2020 (P<0.05), while the habit of eating late-night snacks increased the risk of higher BMI in women (OR=6.11, 95% CI: 1.87–19.98, P<0.05). Conclusions The results of this study demonstrated that there was no significant increase in BMI among the healthy population during the COVID-19 outbreak. Late-night snacking should be discouraged to prevent BMI increases, especially in at-risk women. Level of Evidence: Level III，well-designed cohort

Modeling and Analysis of the Sustainable Development of Chinese Archival Work in the Past Four Years

People used physical or pictorial note-taking methods to record and memorize in ancient times. With the development of productive forces, the emergence of classes, the formation of the state, and the invention of writing, many official documents appeared and were sorted, which then became archives. The natural attributes of archives are closely related to the development of human society. On the one hand, archival work develops with the development of human society. On the other hand, the status of archival work will affect the development of civilization as well. To fill the gap in the research on the sustainable development of archival work, we established a comprehensive evaluation model to analyze the development of Chinese archival work from 2018 to 2021. We found that the overall level was gradually flourishing and was less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in some aspects. This study provides valuable insights for formulating targeting strategies to improve the development of archives.

A Generalizable Artificial Intelligence Model for COVID-19 Classification Task Using Chest X-ray Radiographs: Evaluated Over Four Clinical Datasets with 15,097 Patients (preprint)

Purpose: To answer the long-standing question of whether a model trained from a single clinical site can be generalized to external sites. Materials and Methods: 17,537 chest x-ray radiographs (CXRs) from 3,264 COVID-19-positive patients and 4,802 COVID-19-negative patients were collected from a single site for AI model development. The generalizability of the trained model was retrospectively evaluated using four different real-world clinical datasets with a total of 26,633 CXRs from 15,097 patients (3,277 COVID-19-positive patients). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to assess diagnostic performance. Results: The AI model trained using a single-source clinical dataset achieved an AUC of 0.82 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.84) when applied to the internal temporal test set. When applied to datasets from two external clinical sites, an AUC of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.82) and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.84) were achieved. An AUC of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.81) was achieved when applied to a multi-institutional COVID-19 dataset collected by the Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center (MIDRC). A power-law dependence, N^(k )(k is empirically found to be -0.21 to -0.25), indicates a relatively weak performance dependence on the training data sizes. Conclusion: COVID-19 classification AI model trained using well-curated data from a single clinical site is generalizable to external clinical sites without a significant drop in performance.

Development and clinical value evaluation of IgM-IgG antibody detection kit for SARS-CoV-2 infection in 15 cases. (Special Issue: Spatio-temporal dynamics analysis, risk assessment and emergency management for COVID-19 epidemic.) [Chinese]

Objective: To develop a colloidal gold kit for rapid detection of IgM-IgG antibodies of SARS-CoV-2, optimize the development and application strategy, and investigate the diagnostic value of SARS-CoV-2 IgM-IgG antibodies by detecting serum of clinically confirmed patients.

Specific Pupylation as IDEntity Reporter (SPIDER) for the identification of Protein-Biomolecule interactions (preprint)

Protein-biomolecule interactions play pivotal roles in almost all biological processes, the identification of the interacting protein is essential. By combining a substrate-based proximity labelling activity from the pupylation pathway of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , and the streptavidin (SA)-biotin system, we developed S pecific P upylation as IDE ntity R eporter (SPIDER) for identifying protein-biomolecular interactions. As a proof of principle, SPIDER was successfully applied for global identification of interacting proteins, including substrates for enzyme (CobB), the readers of m 6 A, the protein interactome of mRNA, and the target proteins of drug (lenalidomide). In addition, by SPIDER, we identified SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant specific receptors on cell membrane and performed in-depth analysis for one candidate, Protein-g. These potential receptors could explain the differences between the Omicron variant and the Prototype strain, and further serve as target for combating the Omicron variant. Overall, we provide a robust technology which is applicable for a wide-range of protein-biomolecular interaction studies.

Mutations in RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant result stronger binding to human ACE2 protein (preprint)

The spreading of SARS-CoV-2 virus resulted the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused more than 5 millions of death globally. Several major variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged and placed challenges in controlling the infections. The recently emerged Omicron variant raised serious concerns about reducing efficacy of antibodies or vaccines, due to its vast mutations. We modelled the complex structure of human ACE2 protein and the receptor binding domain of Omicron variant, then conducted atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to study the binding interactions. The analysis shows that the Omicron variant RBD binds more strongly to the human ACE2 protein than the original strain. The mutation at the ACE2-RBD interface enhanced the tight binding by increasing hydrogen bonding interaction and enlarging buried solvent accessible surface area.

COVID-ONE-humoral immune: The One-stop Database for COVID-19-specific Antibody Responses and Clinical Parameters (preprint)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, varies with regard to symptoms and mortality rates among populations. Humoral immunity plays critical roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery from COVID-19. However, differences in immune responses and clinical features among COVID-19 patients remain largely unknown. Here, we report a database for COVID-19-specific IgG/IgM immune responses and clinical parameters (COVID-ONE humoral immune). COVID-ONE humoral immunity is based on a dataset that contains the IgG/IgM responses to 21 of 28 known SARS-CoV-2 proteins and 197 spike protein peptides against 2,360 COVID-19 samples collected from 783 patients. In addition, 96 clinical parameters for the 2,360 samples and information for the 783 patients are integrated into the database. Furthermore, COVID-ONE humoral immune provides a dashboard for defining samples and a one-click analysis pipeline for a single group or paired groups. A set of samples of interest is easily defined by adjusting the scale bars of a variety of parameters. After the "START" button is clicked, one can readily obtain a comprehensive analysis report for further interpretation. COVID-ONE-humoral immune is freely available at www.COVID-ONE.cn.

COVID-ONE-humoral immune: The One-stop Database for COVID-19-specific Antibody Responses and Clinical Parameters (preprint)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, varies with regard to symptoms and mortality rates among populations. Humoral immunity plays critical roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery from COVID-19. However, differences in immune responses and clinical features among COVID-19 patients remain largely unknown. Here, we report a database for COVID-19-specific IgG/IgM immune responses and clinical parameters (COVID-ONE humoral immune). COVID-ONE humoral immunity is based on a dataset that contains the IgG/IgM responses to 21 of 28 known SARS-CoV-2 proteins and 197 spike protein peptides against 2,360 COVID-19 samples collected from 783 patients. In addition, 96 clinical parameters for the 2,360 samples and information for the 783 patients are integrated into the database. Furthermore, COVID-ONE humoral immune provides a dashboard for defining samples and a one-click analysis pipeline for a single group or paired groups. A set of samples of interest is easily defined by adjusting the scale bars of a variety of parameters. After the START button is clicked, one can readily obtain a comprehensive analysis report for further interpretation. COVID-ONE-humoral immune is freely available at www.COVID-ONE.cn.

SARS-CoV-2 Exploits Sexually Dimorphic and Adaptive IFN and TNFa Signaling to Gain Entry into Alveolar Epithelium (preprint)

Infection of the alveolar epithelium constitutes a bottleneck in the progression of COVID-19 to SARS presumably due to the paucity of viral entry receptors in alveolar epithelial type 1 and 2 cells. We have found that the male alveolar epithelial cells express twice as many ACE2 and TMPRSS2 entry receptors as the female ones. Intriguingly, IFN and TNF- signaling are preferentially active in male alveolar cells and induce binding of the cognate transcription factors to the promoters and lung-active enhancers of ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Cotreatment with IFN-I and III dramatically increases expression of the receptors and viral entry in alveolar epithelial cells. TNF and IFN-II, typically overproduced during the cytokine storm, similarly collaborate to induce these events. Whereas JAK inhibitors suppress viral entry induced by IFN-I/III, simultaneous inhibition of IKK/NF-{kappa}B is necessary to block viral entry induced by TNF and IFN II. In addition to explaining the increased incidence of SARS in males, these findings indicate that SARS-Cov-2 hijacks epithelial immune signaling to promote infection of the alveolar epithelium and suggest that JAK inhibitors, singly and in combination with NF-KB inhibitors, may exhibit efficacy in preventing or treating COVID-19 SARS.

Pulmonary Function of 449 Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Which Including 141 Asymptomatic Carriers and 308 Mild and Moderate Cases (preprint)

Background: Since the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a few articles on pulmonary function studies in COVID-19 patients discharged one month later or three month later. However, there is no literature mentioned about the pulmonary function of hospitalized COVID-19 patients so far.Methods: In this study, we firstly performed a retrospective study to identify the pulmonary function changes with 449 COVID-19 inpatients including 141 asymptomatic carriers compared with 228 non-COVID-19 outpatients which accepted pulmonary function test in health examine center.Results: We found that COVID-19 patients included asymptomatic carriers had worse pulmonary function compared to non-COVID-19 patients even when they were hospitalized. In addition, age may be an important factor which contributes to pulmonary dysfunction in COVID-19 patients. Besides, the IL-6 level in the blood may affect the evaluation of lung function results and may be used to predict the pulmonary function of COVID-19 patients.Conclusion: Early rehabilitation training for COVID-19 patients is critical to their recovery.Funding Information: Supported by Novel coronavirus pneumonia emergency treatment and diagnosis technology research project of Heilongjiang provincial science and Technology Department, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.81571871, 81770276), Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital Haiyan Fund (JJMS2021-10), Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund (LBH-Z20070).Declaration of Interests: All the authors have no conflict of interest to declare.Ethics Approval Statement: A written informed consent was regularly obtained from all patients upon admission into the 1st affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical University (the intensive care center for severe COVID-19 patients in Harbin, Heilongjiang province). The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of 1st affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical University.

Time to Inquire Workspace of the Eye Examination Room in Optical Outlets in Malaysia for Post-Covid-19 New Norms

Introduction: Careful consideration of what is necessary for the workspace is inevitable to curb the spreading of COVID-19. Work from home is a logistic challenge for the health, retail, and manufacturing sectors. Hence, a workspace probe is imperative to obtain elementary evidence to fine-tune implementation strategy in pandemic crisis management. Sparse information concerning the workspace of the eye examination rooms inducted this investigation to gather the footing data towards impending preparation of post-COVID-19 new norms for optical outlets in Malaysia. Methods: Nine optical outlets with a combination of commercial chains, individual practices, suburban and urban areas were selected to represent assorted types of retail settings. The on-site workspaces' data were measured and recorded in a logbook with a laser meter and measurement tape. Self-assessments of workspaces were gathered through structured interviews. Results: The on-site data revealed that all-optical outlets did not comply with the minimum requirement for an optimal eye examination in terms of space area and illuminance. None of the eye examination rooms had a built-in air filtering system and handwash infrastructure. Paradoxically, the functionality of the workspace was self-graded as 'above average'. Conclusion: Variation in the eye examination room designs and deviance from the standard requirement may just be a noticeable part of a larger problem about the service quality of optical outlets. Lack of basic hygiene facilities requires action for preventive measures. The incongruity between the self-assessment and the on-site data might indicate a conjectural challenge to efficiently self-implement the post- COVID-19 workspace new norm in optical outlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Malaysian Journal of Medicine & Health Sciences is the property of Universiti Putra Malaysia 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 abstract 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 abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Clinical characteristics and risk factors affecting outcomes of the patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019

Objective　To investigate the clinical characteristics of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and explore the relevant risk factors that affect outcomes of the patients. Methods　A retrospective analysis was performed on the data of the patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the ICU of Huoshenshan Hospital of Wuhan City during the period from February to April, 2019. The patients were classified into survival group and death group. The general data, clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, and treatments were compared between the 2 groups. Results　A total of 122 severe COVID-19 patients were included in the study, 56 died and the fatality rate was 45.9%. The proportion of comorbidities of coronary heart disease in death group was significantly higher than that in the survival group [19.6%(11/56) vs. 7.6%(5/66), P=0.049]. Compared with patients in the survival group, the platelet count in the death group decreased [190.1(132.3, 245.0)×109/L vs. 217.0(176.0, 262.3)×109/L, P=0.015] and the levels of C-reactive protein and brain natriuretic peptide in the death group increased [37.4(4.3, 125.6) mg/L vs. 8.9(2.7, 51.4) mg/L, P=0.027 and 65.17(18.84, 167.71) pg/ml vs. 16.60(0.01, 67.68) pg/ml, P=0.007]. The prothrombin time and thrombin time in the death group were longer than those in the survival group [14.20(13.22, 15.86) s vs. 13.27(12.16, 14.27) s, P<0.01 and 16.32(15.11, 18.02) s vs. 15.75(14.81, 16.62) s, P=0.037]. Dynamic observation data showed that there were significant differences in neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and levels of both lactate dehydrogenase and α-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (α-HBDH) between the two groups. ROC curve analysis showed that LDH and α-HBDH were of high value in predicting outcome, and the area under the curve was more than 0.7. Conclusions　We should pay close attention to the changes of blood routine, LDH, and α-HBDH for older patients with underlying diseases. This will help us to identify the patients with high risk of death in the early stage, and take effective treatment measures as early as possible to improve the prognosis.