Wearing Masks Implies Refuting Trump?: Towards Target-specific User Stance Prediction across Events in COVID-19 and US Election 2020

People who share similar opinions towards controversial topics could form an echo chamber and may share similar political views toward other topics as well. The existence of such connections, which we call connected behavior, gives researchers a unique opportunity to predict how one would behave for a future event given their past behaviors. In this work, we propose a framework to conduct connected behavior analysis. Neural stance detection models are trained on Twitter data collected on three seemingly independent topics, i.e., wearing a mask, racial equality, and Trump, to detect people's stance, which we consider as their online behavior in each topic-related event. Our results reveal a strong connection between the stances toward the three topical events and demonstrate the power of past behaviors in predicting one's future behavior. © 2023 ACM.

Impact of death anxiety on mental health during COVID-19: The mediating role of the meaning in life

The aim of this article is to explore whether COVID-19 aroused an awareness of death, inflamed death anxiety, and affected mental health and to assess the degree that meaning in life played in the relationship between death anxiety and general mental health. A total of 197 participants were recruited using convenience sampling and were divided into an experimental group (n = 100) and a control group (n = 97). All participants completed the Death Anxiety Scale (DA), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Death anxiety had a significant positive predictive effect on general mental health and meaning in life. When death anxiety and meaning in life were included in the regression equation, death anxiety still had a significant positive predictive effect on general mental health, and meaning in life had a significant positive predictive effect on general mental health. These results indicated that meaning in life played a partially mediating role in the influence of death anxiety on general mental health. In the COVID-19 context, death information was found to arouse awareness of death and death anxiety, which adversely affected mental health, and it was also confirmed that meaning in life played a partially mediating role between death anxiety and general mental health, which suggested that mental health problems could be alleviated in the future by helping people find meaning and value in their lives and cope more positively with death.

Energy-environmental-economic assessment of green retrofit policy to achieve 2050 carbon-neutrality in South Korea: Focused on residential buildings

To achieve carbon emission reduction target (CERT) by 2030 and carbon-neutrality in 2050, it is important to actively reduce the emission gap in the private building sector. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war are threatening the green remodeling policy (GRP) worldwide. Therefore, this study analyzed energy consumption savings, GHG emission reduction, and net present value when applying green remodeling to a private building to predict whether or not the current GRP could achieve 2030 CERT and 2050 carbon-neutrality. The main findings are as follows. First, yearly electricity and gas consumption of 84.97 m2 type households can be reduced by 6.19% and 15.58% through green remodeling. Second, based on the energy saving, yearly GHG emission can be reduced about 0.34tCO2eq. Third, the economic feasibility of green remodeling cannot be achieved via the current policy, and NPV17 decreases up to USD-51,485 depending on the credit loan interest rate and the green remodeling interest subsidy program. In other words, it is difficult to reach 2030 CERT and 2050 carbon-neutrality via the current policy. Therefore, the South Korean government is required to reorganize financial policies, establish active systems, increase public awareness of the policy, and improve energy efficiency technology. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Evolution Analysis of Network Public Opinion Theme Based on LDA Model

Online public opinion is a collection of netizens' emotions, attitudes, opinions, opinions and so on. With the development of the Internet, the influence of online public opinion on social stability is increasing day by day. This paper takes the 'COVID-19' event as an example, crawls the relevant news and comment data released by People's Daily, and firstly divides public opinion events into four stages according to the news popularity and life cycle theory: Tf-idf algorithm is used to strengthen the selection of key feature words in the corpus. Finally, LDA theme model is used to identify the topic of public opinion and mine the evolution law of network public opinion, which is helpful to effectively guide and control network public opinion and plays an important role in social stability. © 2022 IEEE.

Optimization of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain expression in Pichia pastoris and evaluation of its immunogenicity.

Objective To effectively express the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in Pichia pastoris and to evaluate its immunogenicity. Methods The gene encoding the RBD protein was synthesized and cloned into the pPICZalphaA plasmid. After linearization, the plasmid was transferred and integrated into the genome of Pichia pastoris. The expressed RBD protein in culture supernatant was analyzed by Western blot and Biolayer interferometry. After screening, a single clone expressing the RBD protein was selected. The high-level expression of RBD protein was achieved by optimizing the fermentation process, including the salt concentration adjusting of the medium and induction condition optimization (pH, temperature and duration) . The immunogenicity of the expressed RBD protein was evaluated in a mouse model. Results A single clone with a high expression level of RBD protein was obtained and named RBD-X33. The expression level of RBD protein in the fermentation supernatant reached up to 240 mg / L after optimization of the induction condition (HBSM medium, pH = 6. 5 +/- 0. 3, 22 and 120 h) . In the mouse experiment, the recombinant RBD protein was formulated with Alum + CpG dual adjuvant and injected into mice. The binding IgG antibody levels were up to 2. 7 x 106 tested by ELISA and the neutralizing antibody levels were up to 726. 8 tested by live virus neutralizing antibody assay (prototype) . Conclusions The RBD protein could be efficiently expressed in Pichia pastoris and induce stronger immune response in animals. This study suggested that the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RBD protein expressed in Pichia pastoris could serve as a candidate antigen in the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.Copyright © 2022 Society of Microbiology and Immunology. All rights reserved.

INITIAL EFFICACY OF AN APP-BASED MINDFULNESS MEDITATION FOR BEREAVED KOREAN OLDER ADULTS DURING THE PANDEMIC

Given the onset of COVID-19, older adults who recently lost their significant others feel more stressed. There yet exist a study utilizing smartphones for web-based delivery of mindfulness intervention among bereaved older adults. Therefore, this study aimed to test the initial efficacy of an app-based mindfulness-meditation (AMM) to alleviate stress and depressive symptoms and improve stress resistance, social support, and self-esteem in Korean older adults experiencing bereavement. Participants included 22 Korean older adults who had been bereaved within the preceding year. AMM involved sound therapy, breathing exercises, and narrated meditation sessions, and the program was conducted over eight weeks. The linear regression results showed that stress level among participants was significantly lower after the intervention, with decreased scores from the baseline. By confirming that AMM is an effective way of reducing stress, more active usage of devices like smartphones should be promoted to develop mental health interventions for older adults.

Impact of the Risk Perception of COVID-19 Pandemic on Physical Activity and Body Weight in CKD Patients

Background: The recent novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to restrictions in physical activity. We evaluated the impact of risk perception on physical activity, and its impact on kidney function in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients during the pandemic. Method(s): A population of CKD patients registered in a SKETCH (Study on Kidney disease and EnvironmenTal Chemicals, Clinical Trial No. NCT04679168) cohort recruited from June 2020 to October 2020 was included in the study. Patients were followed-up every 3 months for a year. We obtained risk perception and physical activity information by a questionnaire survey. Physical exercise, 3-times/week, was categorized into three groups according to the frequency of positive response during 5 visits: group 1, 0-2;group 2, 3-4;group 3, 5. We used Logistic regression analysis to identify the significance of risk perception to physical activity. The cox-proportional hazard model was used to identify the significance of physical activity for kidney function. Result(s): A total of 262 patients were included, and the mean age was 60.5+/-12.8 years old. Mean eGFR was 43.4+/-20.9 mL/min/1.73 m2, and there were 220 (84.0%) with eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2. There were 122 (46.6%) of patients who showed higher risk perception for COVID-19 infection. After adjustment with age, sex, comorbidities, and laboratory results, higher risk perception was significantly associated with decreased physical activity (adjusted OR 0.44, 95% CI, 0.23, 0.84). During 364.8+/-38.6 days, 52 (19.8%) patients showed decreased kidney function with decreasing eGFR >=30%. Group 1 showed a significantly increased risk for kidney dysfunction (adjusted HR 3.36, 95% CI 1.23, 9.20). This result was prominent in age over 60, male sex, patients with hypertension. Conclusion(s): Decreased physical activity related to higher risk-perception, and that was significantly increased risk for kidney dysfunction. Healthcare provider needs to consider a new strategy to encourage physical activity irrespective of risk perception.

Optimization of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain expression in Pichia pastoris and evaluation of its immunogenicity

Objective To effectively express the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in Pichia pastoris and to evaluate its immunogenicity. Methods The gene encoding the RBD protein was synthesized and cloned into the pPICZαA plasmid. After linearization, the plasmid was transferred and integrated into the genome of Pichia pastoris. The expressed RBD protein in culture supernatant was analyzed by Western blot and Biolayer interferometry. After screening, a single clone expressing the RBD protein was selected. The high-level expression of RBD protein was achieved by optimizing the fermentation process, including the salt concentration adjusting of the medium and induction condition optimization (pH, temperature and duration) . The immunogenicity of the expressed RBD protein was evaluated in a mouse model. Results A single clone with a high expression level of RBD protein was obtained and named RBD-X33. The expression level of RBD protein in the fermentation supernatant reached up to 240 mg / L after optimization of the induction condition (HBSM medium, pH = 6. 5 ± 0. 3, 22℃ and 120 h) . In the mouse experiment, the recombinant RBD protein was formulated with Alum + CpG dual adjuvant and injected into mice. The binding IgG antibody levels were up to 2. 7 × 106 tested by ELISA and the neutralizing antibody levels were up to 726. 8 tested by live virus neutralizing antibody assay (prototype) . Conclusions The RBD protein could be efficiently expressed in Pichia pastoris and induce stronger immune response in animals. This study suggested that the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RBD protein expressed in Pichia pastoris could serve as a candidate antigen in the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. © 2022 Society of Microbiology and Immunology. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Characteristics of Blood Platelet Count in COVID-19 Patients

Background and purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was spreading all over the world. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) primarily invades and infects the lungs of humans leading to COVID-19. Mild to severe clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath were existed in those patients. One of the most common changes in these patients was abnormal blood routine. However, uncertainty remains regarding the dynamic characteristics of platelet in COVID-19 patients due to limited data. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the association between dynamic characteristics of blood platelet and disease severity, and to identify new monitoring indicators to treat the COVID-19 patients.Methods:In this cohort study, 398 COVID19 patients treated in the Shenzhen Third People's hospital from December 16, 2019 to March 26, IP: 182.75.148.10 On: Thu, 20 Jan 2022 08:58:32 Copyright: American Scientific Publishers 2020 were collected and participated. All data of participants including the clinical characteristics, Delivered by Ingenta imaging and laboratory information were collected. All patients included in our study were classified as four groups (mild, common, severe, and critical types) regarding clinical symptoms and relevant severe failures based on the Diagnosis Criteria. Platelet count was examined at the baseline and every 3-5 days during hospitalization. Results: The platelet count varied with clinical classifications. The platelet count in mild type was normal without significant fluctuation. While the blood platelet count of most common and severe patients had obvious fluctuations, showing as a dynamic change that first rose and then fell to the level at admission, which was consistent with the trend of lung inflammation. Bone marrow smears further showed that bone marrow hyperplasia was normal in mild, common and severe type patients, and megakaryocytes and their platelet-producing functions were not abnormal. Conclusions: Our results suggested that the dynamic changes of platelet count might be a predictor of lung inflammation alteration for COVID-19 patients. The changes in platelet count might be a responsive pattern secondary to lung inflammation. The function of bone marrow may be slightly affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease: A Case Report

[Formula presented] Kikuchi-Fujimoto: A Case Report Hickman, JD. MD LT MC USN and An, Joseph, DO. LCDR MC USN Naval Medical Center Portsmouth 620 Johns Paul John Cir, Portsmouth VA 757-953-2223 The views expressed in this are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or the United States Government. We are military service members and employees of the U.S. Government. This work was prepared as part of my official duties. Title 17 U.S.C. 105 provides that “Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government.” Title 17 U.S.C. 101 defines a United States Government work as a work prepared by a military service member or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease is a rare benign disorder often presenting with tender cervical lymphadenopathy, fever, and malaise. While first described in Japan, its distribution is worldwide and predominantly seen in young adults. Diagnosis is based on characteristic histopathologic findings of patchy necrosis occupied by karyorrhectic debris and abundant histiocytes on node biopsy. The origin is unclear but associated with a preceding viral illness as well as cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Treatment is generally supportive and focused on managing tender lymph nodes. We present a case of a 28-year-old female presenting with a 2 month history of night sweats, fever, and weight loss in the setting of painful neck swelling. CT and PET/CT imaging demonstrated numerous hypermetabolic and enlarged nodes in the bilateral cervical and axillary regions. Lab studies were notable for leukopenia, anemia, and elevated inflammatory markers. A COVID-19 screening was negative. Excisional biopsy of a cervical node revealed extensive cortical necrosis and apoptotic debris with scattered histiocytes and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in absence of neutrophils or a monoclonal B cell or T cell population. Treatment was initiated with NSAIDs and close monitoring. The patient exhibited a complete response after two months. Our case is an important reminder that lymphadenopathy, fever, and night sweats in a young adult are not pathognomonic for lymphoma. Nonetheless, a high suspicion for lymphoma should be maintained and followed with an expedited workup. Kikuchi-Fujimoto can certainly mimic Hodgkin lymphoma or other serious conditions like lupus erythematosus and tuberculosis. The diagnosis is largely one of exclusion following a careful examination of a lymph node histopathology and must be considered in young previously healthy adults to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary escalation of treatment. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

COVID-19 prevention measures reduce dengue spread in Yunnan Province, China, but do not reduce established outbreak.

ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 pandemic and measures against it provided a unique opportunity to understand the transmission of other infectious diseases and to evaluate the efficacy of COVID-19 prevention measures on them. Here we show a dengue epidemic in Yunnan, China, during the pandemic of COVID-19 was dramatically reduced compared to non-pandemic years and, importantly, spread was confined to only one city, Ruili. Three key features characterized this dengue outbreak: (i) the urban-to-suburban spread was efficiently blocked; (ii) the scale of epidemic in urban region was less affected; (iii) co-circulation of multiple strains was attenuated. These results suggested that countermeasures taken during COVID-19 pandemic are efficient to prevent dengue transmission between cities and from urban to suburban, as well to reduce the co-circulation of multiple serotypes or genotypes. Nevertheless, as revealed by the spatial analysis, once the dengue outbreak was established, its distribution was very stable and resistant to measures against COVID-19, implying the possibility to develop a precise prediction method.

Behavioral characteristics and related factors among CKD patients in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The recent novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to unprecedented changes in behavior. We evaluated the current status of precautionary behavior and physical activity in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A population of CKD patients (n=306) registered in a SKETCH (Study on Kidney disease and EnvironmenTal Chemicals, Clinical Trial No. NCT04679168) cohort recruited from June 2020 to October 2020 was included in the study. We conducted a questionnaire survey related to (1) risk perception of COVID-19, (2) hygienic behavior, (3) social distancing, and (4) physical activity during the past year (before the pandemic) and during the pandemic. To compare behaviors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wilcoxon-signed rank test was used. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the relative factors related to risk recognition or behavior changes. Results: There were 187 (61.1%) patients with eGFR <45 mL/min/1.73 m2. This population showed a higher degree of risk perception for COVID-19 than the general population. During the pandemic, social distancing and hygiene-related behavior was significantly increased (P <0.001). The frequency of exercise was decreased only among those with regular exercise, without diabetes, or with a lower Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) (P <0.001), with no change among the other groups. Socioeconomic status and comorbidities significantly affected behavioral characteristics regardless of the category. Age was the most significant determinant of risk perception among CKD patients. Education and income were significantly associated with precautionary behaviors such as staying at home and hand sanitizer use. Also, patients with higher CCI status significantly increased their frequency of exercise (adjusted OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.01-4.38). Conclusions: CKD patients showed higher risk-perception with active precautionary behavioral changes than the general population. Healthcare providers should be aware of the characteristics to comprise precautionary behavior without reducing the physical activity.

Highly Resolved Dynamic Emissions of Air Pollutants and Greenhouse Gas CO2during COVID-19 Pandemic in East China

The unintentional emission reductions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to investigate the impact of energy, industry, and transportation activities on air pollutants and CO2 emissions and their synergy. Here, we constructed an approach to estimate city-level high resolution dynamic emissions of both anthropogenic air pollutants and CO2 by introducing dynamic temporal allocation coefficients based on real-time multisource activity data. We first apply this approach to estimate the spatiotemporal evolution of sectoral emissions in eastern China, focusing on the period around the COVID-19 lockdown. Comparisons with observational data show that our approach can well capture the spatiotemporal changes of both short-lived precursors (NOx and NMVOCs) and CO2 emissions. Our results show that air pollutants (SO2, NOx, and NMVOCs) were reduced by up to 31%-53% during the lockdown period accompanied by simultaneous changes of 40% CO2 emissions. The declines in power and heavy industry sectors dominated regional SO2 and CO2 reductions. NOx reductions were mainly attributed to mobile sources, while NMVOCs emission reductions were mainly from light industry sectors. Our findings suggest that differentiated emission control strategies should be implemented for different source categories to achieve coordinated reduction goals. © 2021 American Chemical Society.

Brain to Music: Musical Representation from Stress-Induced EEG

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is making the social problem of stress-induced depression even more serious. This so-called the Coronavirus Blues has been bringing high level of stress to many people and in turn they are suffering worse and worse changes in their daily lives. This study is designed to resolve these social problems. It aims to represent stress states musically by use of stress-induced EEG features known to be highly correlated to stress, and also attempts to intuitively show whether stress is relieved by scent therapy through changes in musical expression of brain signals. The theta/alpha enhancement protocol is utilized to generate music from stress-evoked EEG features. Four subjects (19 similar to 24 age, all right-handed) participated in the experiment. Their stress levels measured by the cognitive stress scale-14(PSS-14) before and after the experiment. While measuring their EEG data in stress or non-stress condition, music is generated in line with their stress states. The results showed that music changed from slow tempo and calm mood toward faster and louder, while the brain state transits from normal to stress by stimulation inducing stress and subject becomes deeper in stress. During aromatherapy in stress condition, there was no noticeable change in music as compared with stress condition. Nevertheless, all participants show lower stress scores after aromatherapy and two subjects has gained higher theta/alpha ratio during aromatherapy. This is because aromatherapy for stress alleviation is considered to be highly inter-subjective variable or some specific subjects are still exposed to stress in spite of sufficient scent to them. Thus, we expect that sometime after stress condition, aromatherapy could mitigate stress and music could be returned to normal state.