Heterogeneous changes in mobility in response to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 outbreak in Shanghai.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the measures taken by authorities to control its spread have altered human behavior and mobility patterns in an unprecedented way. However, it remains unclear whether the population response to a COVID-19 outbreak varies within a city or among demographic groups. Here, we utilized passively recorded cellular signaling data at a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km for over 5 million users and epidemiological surveillance data collected during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron BA.2 outbreak from February to June 2022 in Shanghai, China, to investigate the heterogeneous response of different segments of the population at the within-city level and examine its relationship with the actual risk of infection. Changes in behavior were spatially heterogenous within the city and population groups and associated with both the infection incidence and adopted interventions. We also found that males and individuals aged 30 to 59 y old traveled more frequently, traveled longer distances, and their communities were more connected; the same groups were also associated with the highest SARS-CoV-2 incidence. Our results highlight the heterogeneous behavioral change of the Shanghai population to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 outbreak and the effect of heterogenous behavior on the spread of COVID-19, both spatially and demographically. These findings could be instrumental for the design of targeted interventions for the control and mitigation of future outbreaks of COVID-19, and, more broadly, of respiratory pathogens.

Infection rate and factors affecting close contacts of COVID-19 cases: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Contact tracing plays an essential role in mitigating the impact of an epidemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, studies of those who have been in close contact with confirmed cases offer critical insights to understand the epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 better. This study conducts a meta-analysis of existing studies' infection rates and affecting factors. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI from the inception to April 30 2022 to identify systematic reviews. Two reviewers independently extracted the data and assessed risk of bias. Meta-analyses were conducted to calculate pooled estimates by using Stata/SE 15.1 software. RESULTS: There were 47 studies in the meta-analysis. Among COVID-19 close contacts, older age (RR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.70, 2.21), contacts in households (RR = 2.83, 95% CI: 2.20, 3.65), and people in close contact with symptomatic infections (RR = 3.62, 95% CI: 1.88, 6.96) were associated with higher infection rates. CONCLUSION: On average, each primary infection corresponded to 5.8 close contacts. Among COVID-19 close contacts, older age and contacts in households were associated with higher infection rates, and people in close contact with symptomatic infections had three times higher risk of infection compared to people in close contact with asymptomatic infections. In general, there are significantly more studies from China about close contacts, and the infection rate among close contacts was lower compared to other countries.

Mobility in China, 2020: a tale of four phases.

2020 was an unprecedented year, with rapid and drastic changes in human mobility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the variation in commuting patterns among the Chinese population across stable and unstable periods, we used nationwide mobility data from 318 million mobile phone users in China to examine the extreme fluctuations of population movements in 2020, ranging from the Lunar New Year travel season (chunyun), to the exceptional calm of COVID-19 lockdown, and then to the recovery period. We observed that cross-city movements, which increased substantially in chunyun and then dropped sharply during the lockdown, are primarily dependent on travel distance and the socio-economic development of cities. Following the Lunar New Year holiday, national mobility remained low until mid-February, and COVID-19 interventions delayed more than 72.89 million people returning to large cities. Mobility network analysis revealed clusters of highly connected cities, conforming to the social-economic division of urban agglomerations in China. While the mass migration back to large cities was delayed, smaller cities connected more densely to form new clusters. During the recovery period after travel restrictions were lifted, the netflows of over 55% city pairs reversed in direction compared to before the lockdown. These findings offer the most comprehensive picture of Chinese mobility at fine resolution across various scenarios in China and are of critical importance for decision making regarding future public-health-emergency response, transportation planning and regional economic development, among others.

[Experimental analysis of microRNAs related to cardiac development differential expression].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the differential expression profiles of microRNAs in the knockout Pax-8 mice by miRNA microarray analysis and study the function of microRNA during cardiac development. METHODS: The knockout Pax-8 mice model was established and the total RNA derived from Pax-8 KO-/- and Pax-8 KO+/- mice heart. MicroRNA microarray containing 567 mammalian microRNA probes was used to investigate the microRNAs differential expression between Pax-8 KO-/- and Pax-8 KO+/- mice. The candidates of microRNAs were confirmed by real time RT-PCR assay. RESULTS: The heart of pax-8 KO-/- mice became spheroidal. Left ventricle enlargement, left ventricular wall and interventricular septum thickening and papillary muscles in left ventricle enlargement were found. Furthermore, many apoptotic cells were discovered in left ventricular wall and interventricular septum in pax-8 KO-/- mice. The MicroRNA microarray result displayed 10 microRNAs differential expressions, in which 2 microRNAs became down-regulated and 8 microRNAs up-regulated by more than two folds in pax-8 KO-/- mice. This was in accordance with the result of real-time RT-PCR. CONCLUSION: Some microRNAs may play important roles in cardiac development and ventricular septal defect pathogenesis.

Transient cerebral ischemia/reperfusion-induced acute lung injury in rats associated with protein kinase C alpha expression.

OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis and development timing of acute lung injury (ALI) following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) are not fully understood. In this study, the development timing of ALI induced by transient global cerebral I/R as well as the underlying mechanisms of action were investigated. METHODS: A cerebral I/R-induced ALI model in Wistar rats was established by electrocoagulation of bilateral vertebral arteries combined with ligation of the transient bilateral common carotid arteries. Rats were randomly divided into control and cerebral I/R groups. The latter was subdivided into 3 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h post reperfusion. Lung injury was assessed by histological examination. The mRNA and protein expression of protein kinase C alpha (PKCα) were determined using qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence analysis, respectively. RESULTS: Lung histological injury could be detected as early as 3 h after global cerebral I/R, and was significant between groups at 48 h and 72 h. Compared with the control group, mRNA expression of PKCα in the lung was enhanced in rats in the cerebral I/R groups (P<0.001), and the highest expression was observed at 48 h (P<0.001). The intensity of PKCα reactivity gradually increased starting at 3 h, and peaked at 72 h after cerebral I/R (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The lung is very susceptible to transient global cerebral I/R injury in vivo. Lung histological injury occurred within hours of cerebral I/R induction and aggregated in a very short period after cerebral I/R. Moreover, PKCα expression was implicated in the pathogenesis of cerebral I/R-induced ALI.

Diffuse cystic lung adenocarcinoma: a case report and literature review.

Lung adenocarcinoma can exhibit a variety of radiological manifestations. However, the presence of diffuse cystic lesions in both lungs is extremely rare. Here, we report a case of a middle-aged woman with a primary lung adenocarcinoma that manifested as diffuse cystic lesions in bilateral lungs. Histopathological examination ultimately confirmed the lung adenocarcinoma. The patient was treated with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor Gefitinib and remained stable during 18 months of follow-up. Knowledge of uncommon radiological performances of lung adenocarcinoma characterized by diffuse cystic imaging is important in suggesting the diagnosis and preventing misinterpretation.

Increased osteopontin protein expression may be correlated with poor prognosis in non-small-cell lung cancer: A meta analysis.

AIM: The present meta-nalysis investigates the prognostic value of osteopontin. (OPN) expression in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Web of Science (1945 ~ 2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), PubMed (1966 ~ 2013), EMBASE (1980 ~ 2013), CINAHL (1982 ~ 2013), and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1982 ~ 2013) were searched, without language restrictions, to retrieve studies related to OPN and NSCLC. We compiled carefully selected data and a meta-analysis was conducted using STATA software (Version 12.0, Stata Corporation, and College Station, Texas USA). Hazard ratios (HR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Ten clinical cohort studies were selected for statistical analysis, representing a total of 1,133 NSCLC patients. The main findings of our meta-analysis are that patients who were OPN-positive had significantly shorter overall survival than OPN-negative patients. (HR = 1.47, 95%CI = 1.15. ~ 1.79,P< 0.001). Ethnicity.stratified analysis revealed a significant correlation between expression levels of OPN and poor prognosis of NSCLC patients among both Caucasians and Asians. (Asians: HR = 1.53, 95%CI = 0.95. ~ 2.11, P < 0.001; Caucasians: HR = 1.56, 95%CI = 1.08. ~ 2.03, P < 0.001; respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The present meta-analysis is consistent with the hypothesis that increased expression of OPN protein may be significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC.