The Moderating Role of Family Resilience on the Relationship between COVID-19-Related Psychological Distress and Mental Health among Caregivers of Individuals with Eating Disorders in Post-Pandemic China.

COVID-19 has amplified long-standing emotional distress for vulnerable families. While abundant research highlights the importance of resilience under adverse circumstances, little has been undertaken to understand its effectiveness in helping caregivers of individuals with eating disorders (ED) navigate pandemic-related challenges. This paper presents findings of a cross-sectional study investigating the effects of COVID-19-related life disruptions (COLD) and COVID-19-related psychological distress (CORPD) on caregivers' depression, anxiety and stress, as well as the moderation role of individual resilience (IR) and family resilience (FR) during the post-pandemic period in China. A total of 201 caregivers of individuals experiencing ED participated in our online survey from May 2022 to June 2022. The association between pandemic-related stressors (i.e., COLD and CORPD) and mental health conditions were confirmed. FR moderated the relationship between CORPD and mental health outcomes, while IR independently contributed to low emotional distress. We call for intervention programs strengthening caregivers' FR and IR, which might benefit both patients and caregivers' well-being in the post-pandemic period.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode Based Fluorescence-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Detection.

Immunodiagnostics have been widely used in the detection of disease biomarkers. The conventional immunological tests in central laboratories require expensive equipment and, for non-specialists, the tests are technically demanding and time-consuming, which has prevented their use by the public. Thus, point-of-care tests (POCT), such as lateral flow immunoassays, are being, or have been, developed as more convenient and low-cost methods for immunodiagnostics. However, the sensitivity of such tests is often a concern. Here, a fluorescence-linked immunosorbent assay (FLISA) using organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) as excitation light sources was investigated as a way forward for the development of compact and sensitive POCTs. Phycoerythrin (PE) was selected as the fluorescent dye, and OLEDs were designed with different emission spectra. The leakage light of different OLEDs for exciting PE was then investigated to reduce the background noise and improve the sensitivity of the system. Finally, as proof-of-principle that OLED-based technology can be successfully further developed for POCT, antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in human serum was detected by OLED-FLISA.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA elements share human sequence identity and upregulate hyaluronan via NamiRNA-enhancer network.

BACKGROUND: Since late 2019, SARS-CoV-2 infection has resulted in COVID-19 accompanied by diverse clinical manifestations. However, the underlying mechanism of how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with host and develops multiple symptoms is largely unexplored. METHODS: Bioinformatics analysis determined the sequence similarity between SARS-CoV-2 and human genomes. Diverse fragments of SARS-CoV-2 genome containing Human Identical Sequences (HIS) were cloned into the lentiviral vector. HEK293T, MRC5 and HUVEC were infected with laboratory-packaged lentivirus or transfected with plasmids or antagomirs for HIS. Quantitative RT-PCR and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay detected gene expression and H3K27ac enrichment, respectively. UV-Vis spectroscopy assessed the interaction between HIS and their target locus. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay evaluated the hyaluronan (HA) levels of culture supernatant and plasma of COVID-19 patients. FINDINGS: Five short sequences (24-27 nt length) sharing identity between SARS-CoV-2 and human genome were identified. These RNA elements were highly conserved in primates. The genomic fragments containing HIS were predicted to form hairpin structures in silico similar to miRNA precursors. HIS may function through direct genomic interaction leading to activation of host enhancers, and upregulation of adjacent and distant genes, including cytokine genes and hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2). HIS antagomirs and Cas13d-mediated HIS degradation reduced HAS2 expression. Severe COVID-19 patients displayed decreased lymphocytes and elevated D-dimer, and C-reactive proteins, as well as increased plasma hyaluronan. Hymecromone inhibited hyaluronan production in vitro, and thus could be further investigated as a therapeutic option for preventing severe outcome in COVID-19 patients. INTERPRETATION: HIS of SARS-CoV-2 could promote COVID-19 progression by upregulating hyaluronan, providing novel targets for treatment. FUNDING: The National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1005004), Major Special Projects of Basic Research of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (18JC1411101), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31872814, 32000505).

Multiplexed analysis of circulating IgA antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 and common respiratory pathogens in COVID-19 patients.

Previous studies have revealed a diagnostic role of pathogen-specific IgA in respiratory infections. However, co-detection of serum specific IgA for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and common respiratory pathogens remains largely unexplored. This study utilizes a protein microarray technology for simultaneous and quantitative measurements of specific IgAs for eight different respiratory pathogens including adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus type A, influenza virus type B, parainfluenza virus, mycoplasma pneumoniae, chlamydia pneumoniae, and SARS-CoV-2 in serum sample of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A total of 42 patients with COVID-19 were included and categorized into severe cases (20 cases) and nonsevere cases (22 cases). The results showed that co-detection rate of specific-IgA for SARS-CoV-2 with at least one pathogen were significantly higher in severe cases than that of nonsevere cases (72.2% vs. 46.2%, p = .014). Our study indicates that co-detection of IgA antibodies for respiratory pathogens might provide diagnostic value for the clinics and also be informative for risk stratification and disease management in patients with COVID-19.